Went out yesterday for what I thought would be a fairly casual trail run with a group of new friends in Cape Town, led by Freda Walters. Turns out she is a relentless climbing and descending machine for which I was woefully underprepared. Jetlagged from return trip from Singapore, I also managed to skip dinner and breakfast, so had was running on fumes before we ever started. Despite, or perhaps because of that, I was in a surreal mental state and the weather just added to the mystique. The entire mountain was shrouded in mist so the entire ascent was done in visibility of maybe 15 meters (50 feet). At one point we stopped for a breather (Freda dialed it back either out of compassion or pity) and standing on a ledge peering into nothingness, someone joked that at least we were earning the view. Thankfully, as we crested the summit, we emerged above the clouds and were rewarded with an amazing view of the horizon. Much of Cape Town was still socked in below us, so we felt truly rewarded for the effort. The descent was also quite hectic as it was very steep and the fog had coated the rocks with a fine layer of mist. But alas we all made it down and I managed to cling to the back of the pack as they charged back to the parking area. My many years in the NYC area have left me woefully lacking in serious mountain trail running/hiking fitness, so I am delighted to have found a group of hard core athletes that are generous enough to let me latch on. Loving Cape Town!
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 08:58:32 +0000
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