The tempo is picking up here! #WorldCup fever hits the streets
June10
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This is the sound of the African vuvuzela! Fans from all over the world starting to mass here
June9
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The waiting is over…
May29
Two years after arriving here in South Africa for my first ever Comrades Ultramarathon I’m back again to test my mettle against the gruelling road race which over here is legendary. There are 20,000 runners for this the 85th race timed perfectly with the FIFA World Cup.
Afritrex was the start of something new for me, I’d run marathons before but always in the UK and touching down on the African continent ignited a passion in me for long distance running that I haven’t yet extinguished…and really don’t want to quite yet.
The Comrades is run between Durban and Pietermaritzburg, around 89kms/52miles, and this year is the ‘down’ run dropping some 1200m from the Drakensberg mountains down to the warm waters of the Indian ocean.
My last attempt in 2008 was the ‘up’ – the easier of the two apparantly as the down punishes your ankle and knee joints making the last half of the race even tougher. I completed the course in 10hrs 20mins and my goal this year is to try and beat it…but first of all just to finish of course!
Training as with my last run has been sporadic. Travelling to so many different countries for work in the first half of 2010 has meant I’ve never been able to establish a training routine that I can stick to. But what it has done has given me some awesome locations to run in – along Venice Beach, L.A., through Central Park in New York, in subzero Toronto, past the Tokoyo fishmarkets and in the desert heat of Dubai…I’ve been very lucky.
When back in Brisbane I’ve been hitting it hard with long runs around Mt Cootha, out to the coast and almost everyday along the boardwalk through the city building up to a couple of half marathons a week and a long 3-5hr run on a Sunday. Since I changed my running shoes to a size that fit my toenails seem to be staying on as well! Yuck I know
So as I sit here in the car on the way up the N2 to Pietermaritzburg the nervous energy is starting to build, the butterflies are starting to emerge and fly around inside me and the anticipation is almost complete. By this time tomorrow I hope to be within an hour of the finish and my second medal! Fingers crossed, holding thumbs etc
If you happen to be reading this prior to the race and in South Africa then get out of bed early and tune into SABC’s coverage – I’ve managed to organise a pre-race interview live on tv at 5.02am. So that’ll be no-one getting up at that time then, can’t say I blame you!
If you do want to track my progress on race day (30/05/10) then log onto www.comrades.com and click the ‘follow a runner’ link. My number is 12002 and I can tell you now I won’t be winning it!
Afritrex was the start of something new for me, I’d run marathons before but always in the UK and touching down on the African continent ignited a passion in me for long distance running that I haven’t yet extinguished…and really don’t want to quite yet.
The Comrades is run between Durban and Pietermaritzburg, around 89kms/52miles, and this year is the ‘down’ run dropping some 1200m from the Drakensberg mountains down to the warm waters of the Indian ocean.
My last attempt in 2008 was the ‘up’ – the easier of the two apparantly as the down punishes your ankle and knee joints making the last half of the race even tougher. I completed the course in 10hrs 20mins and my goal this year is to try and beat it…but first of all just to finish of course!
Training as with my last run has been sporadic. Travelling to so many different countries for work in the first half of 2010 has meant I’ve never been able to establish a training routine that I can stick to. But what it has done has given me some awesome locations to run in – along Venice Beach, L.A., through Central Park in New York, in subzero Toronto, past the Tokoyo fishmarkets and in the desert heat of Dubai…I’ve been very lucky.
When back in Brisbane I’ve been hitting it hard with long runs around Mt Cootha, out to the coast and almost everyday along the boardwalk through the city building up to a couple of half marathons a week and a long 3-5hr run on a Sunday. Since I changed my running shoes to a size that fit my toenails seem to be staying on as well! Yuck I know
So as I sit here in the car on the way up the N2 to Pietermaritzburg the nervous energy is starting to build, the butterflies are starting to emerge and fly around inside me and the anticipation is almost complete. By this time tomorrow I hope to be within an hour of the finish and my second medal! Fingers crossed, holding thumbs etc
If you happen to be reading this prior to the race and in South Africa then get out of bed early and tune into SABC’s coverage – I’ve managed to organise a pre-race interview live on tv at 5.02am. So that’ll be no-one getting up at that time then, can’t say I blame you!
If you do want to track my progress on race day (30/05/10) then log onto www.comrades.com and click the ‘follow a runner’ link. My number is 12002 and I can tell you now I won’t be winning it!
After the race I’m heading for a massage and then for a few days R&R into the Drakensberg Mountains to take photos, ride quadbikes and horses – legs permitting. Then it’s onto Cape Town to give a presentation about the Best Job before I return to Durban for the World Cup football match between Australia and Germany.
And of course I’ll blog whenever I can. Have fun wherever you’re reading this from and smile – life is out there for living!
Ben
Shark dive movie coming soon…
May22
I’ve just got back on dry land after a superb sunrise dive at Protea Banks off Shelley Beach in South Africa!
There were at least 70 Ragged Tooth Sharks on the bottom at 35m and some of the footage I took looks amazing! Once I get back to my mac I’ll edit it and post it on this site as soon as I can. Have a great weekend wherever you are in the world
Ben
Everythings changing…
May9
It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything on my Bestjobben site as I’ve been as busy as ever spreading the good word of Queensland across the planet with the last stop being Dubai.
Another amazing city and one I’d love to go and work in one day, met some truly beautiful people too – you know who you are! Thank you Rihab for an incredible 24hrs seeing inside your world – I will return
But now I’m back in Brisbane for a week before disappearing to South Africa for a holiday…well I say holiday there’s more to it than that. Relaxing on a beach just isn’t me
So two weddings, an 89km Ultramathon called the Comrades, some shark diving and a few presentations to boot mean that I’m doing it exactly as I wanted – busy busy Ben.
Bre is about to board her flight home back to Canada as over two years together have drawn to an end. We’ve had some of the most amazing times and experiences together and nothing will replace them. We came, we saw, we conquered Brester and made the impossible happen. I can only wish her the best of luck with everything in the future. So today heralds a new day in my life with a new housemate now moved in, a new outlook on life and a new city and state to really get under the skin of starting the day I get back from South Africa. In fact it could be the perfect time to sit down and plan another expedition or to write a book about it all….but that would be another story. Watch this space
Ben
Are we having fun or what?! International tourism convention goes a little crazy :)
May1
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Some of the other entries! Www.emirates-holidays.com – who’s gonna win, find out later!
May1
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Back on the road again
April29
In what was probably the shortest return trip to Brisbane ever – one week – I got a chance to catch up with the ever amazing Bre and talk about more things than we ever have done in the past.
We opened up and talked about our past together, our adventures, the next few weeks of life and well beyond. Closing the door on something as amazing as we have had together over the past two years is not an easy thing to do and we’re bothstruggling to see the sense in our decision to break up and go off on our own adventures for a while. She has been the heartbeat in my life, the motivator of all things crazy and my number one perfect-waste-of-time for as long as my brain cares to remember. There are more adventures together down the line I’m sure as watching the moonrise from the ocean at 4am, jumping off a bridge with the worlds longest bungee cord on your ankle and gripping her scared little hand when diving with sharks aren’t things you just forget or stop doing. Period. (normally I’d say fullstop but Canadians prefer period!) But today I left Bre for the penultimate time as I flew out to Dubai to present the experiences of the Best Job to the area and talk about all of the things Bre and I have done together. It’ll be difficult this time around… So another view for me to share, this time from level 18 at the Crowne Plaza in Dubai looking west towards one of the craziest skylines in the world! Desert meets architecture. The big one is the Burj Khalifa – the tallest building in the world at 2625ft or over 800 metres! Will update you all as I go! Keep smiling
Ben
Siaoyoukeng fumaroles/hot springs! Stinky but amazing. Geothermal power possibility? Location: http://j.mp/dtaC5D
April17
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View from Yangming Mountain
April17
After three days hard work in Taipei it’s time for the morning off and a chance to take in some of the sights.
First stop was to head up one of the mountains which overlook the city and take in some of the views from the north looking back. I’m off to the airport from here to the penultimate stop on this tour Ghongzou, China! Should have been running up this hill but drove it instead. Too early in the morning for that sort of thing
Ben
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