Back At It!

It's been one week since my return from Africa and I miss the kids at Kasisi terribly. I am so fortunate to have had the African experience that I did-- everything from the miles and miles of land that I saw, 3,700 kilometers to be exact, the people, the smells, the culture and yes even the bugs. I miss the "TIA" (this is Africa) moments and the moto "In Zanzibar" anything is possible! One of the things I learned from my trip was that all a kid truly needs to be happy is unconditional love and structure. The 200+ kids at Kasisi was hands down the largest group of happy kids I had ever seen and let me add well behaved! In the world that I live in, parents often give their kids what money can buy vs. something that is priceless: their time. The second thing I learned is about relationships. There was a guy on our trip named Rudy. We called him the International Man of Mystery. He is, I would say in his mid 60s, he is married with children but travels all over the world on his own. One rainy day in Malawi, Brittany asked Rudy about his wife and life. In telling his story, Rudy was praising how wonderful his wife is and then he went into a story about how his wide used to drive him nuts over how she dug into the butter. Rudy likes to shave it with a knife smoothly from the top and his wife would take chunks from it. Rudy would often make comments about it to his wife and finally one day, his wife asked, "does it really matter?" A light bulb went into Rudy's head and at the end of the day, it does not. I think anytime there is a conflict of some sort, that is a great question to ask! The third thing is more of an amazing discovery.. I had no idea how much influence and development China had over and in Africa. Billboards written in Chinese were pretty prominent in the main cities of Africa!

While I was in Africa in Vic Falls more specifically, I was going to bungee jump off the Vic Falls Bridge over the Zambezi River. I think it's the third highest bungee jump in the world. By the time we arrived in Vic Falls, I had changed my mind about the jump mainly because throughout the entire 2 weeks we have been overlanding in Africa, I've yet to see a big hospital or treatment center anywhere!! Fast forward to this week.. just read an article and saw a video about an Aussie girl who bungee jumped off that exact same bridge and fell into the river because her bungee snapped!! They had to air her into South Africa for treatment. Point proven.. I made the right choice- phew!

Anyway, back on the training wagon!

Happy 2012!!

Happy New Year, everybody!

I spent most of December in Africa... you can read about it here on my travel blog. Cheers!

http://www.theworldaccordingtoyi.blogspot.com/

Uh Oh... Northface 50k ?

Northface 50k is in jeopardy..

That is right... heading into month 3 of training and we have an issue. My feet! I have just ordered my 4th pair of trail running shoes to try to satisfy my high maintenance injury prone feet and if this 4th pair does not work then that's it.. it's just not meant to be.

1st pair- Brooks Cacadia- thought this would be the ultimate trail running companion as it's worked well before but little did I know it does not like being on my feet for longer than 3.5 hours. During the past month, I've driven home many times barefoot because they would be in so much pain. Starts in the middle of my big toe bone then leads to my arches and eventually to my knee. No bueno. I've even put in my pair of orthotics in there.. no good.

2nd pair- Brooks Pure Grit- oh how I love these shoes! They're Brooks new line.. light.. fits my feet like a glove.. tough for any rocks to get in there. Sounds all good right? Well... because this is a minimalist shoe.. not enough heel cup support leads to a different kind of foot pain- achilles. Pick your poison, right?

3rd pair- so today... on my what was supposed to be 4 hour run on a new pair of Brooks Adrenaline ASR. People at the Zombie Runner said either this shoe or the Pure Grit would be good. Well... I was better off with the Pure Grit than I was with these. The ASR's brought back the issues of the Cascadia's almost instantly making it relatively painful 3 hour run instead of the 4.

So... 4th pair- New Balance 915's have been ordered. My loyal New Balance 1226 running shoes have been very good to me these past years so I emailed NB to ask their suggestion on a trail shoe based on the 1226. I hope they're right! They should be here in time for next weekend's adventure in the trails.

And if the 4th pair doesn't work, well then, that's a sign!

2011- Ironman Worlds

Week as a spectator..

What a week! Once again, I found myself in Kona during Ironman Worlds. It's been two years since I've been to this event yet so much has changed! I wouldn't say it's for the better as it felt more like a trade show than an event. Regardless, the athletes put on a great race and a great show. Aside from supporting the AIMPers and friends of, I was rooting hard for three pro guys whom I met back in 2009 in Kona. Pete Jacobs ended up taking 2nd, Dirk Bockel I had a feeling would crack the Top 5 this year (he came in 4th) and though Rasmus Henning did not have the day he wanted, I have no doubts he'll be back stronger than ever in the coming years.

Below is a video of the week in review! New friends, new schwag, always fun. I love our sport!