Of running and a high school reunion

I'm back from a fairly quick and very hectic trip to South Africa.  Still trying to catch up with some work-related things - that might take a couple more weeks.  The South Africa trip coincided with my recovery from the calf injury, which was great.  Always nice to take advantage of the hills in Pretoria where I spent the first few nights, and I also logged a few miles in Brits where our family lived for many years, as well as in Cape Town, Franschoek in the Cape winelands and the Walker Bay area.  The last few runs were very memorable.  None more so than in the Franschoek Valley with the sun setting over the Cape Fold mountains, and at Grootbos Lodge, with the sun literally dropping into the Atlantic Ocean, as I ran along the airstrip on the way back to the Lodge.  To date, I have logged 52 miles for the month of March, extremely happy about that!  Next week Kathleen and I will be racing the 8km Law Week Run. Always a good event, looking forward to it.

I really enjoyed a family get-together (barbecue with very nice vegan stew on the side..) at my mother's house in Pretoria and it was great catching up with my brothers and their SO's.   The 40th High School reunion in Brits was everything I had thought it would be - and more!  What a revelation to see people for the first time (again) after 40 long years.  Gone gone gone are those cute young girls who more than anything else got us boys to attend class.  Just like the fresh-eyed schoolboys we once were, they are no more.  Gone forever.  The boys and girls of 40 years ago have turned into sturdy and sometimes sturdier middle-aged citizens.  Alas.  We have become our teachers, our parents, dare I mention (in some instances) our grandparents...  Beyond the physical manifestations, happily, we are all still very much who we were, 40 years ago.  The imps are still impish, the jokers still have a smile on their now somewhat craggy faces, and the quiet ones can still be found on the fringes of the photograph and just on the edge of the boisterous crowd.  We are really not that different now, we just know a lot less than when we were 17 or 18.


More later about the trip (safari camps and Cape area accommodations and experiences).  And of course some photographs.