~ musings and meanderings
about all things trail ~
Rockhoppin’ Trail
about Linda Doke
Three decades (plus) of ultra-distance running began with a chunk of years on tar (incl 10 Comrades, 16 Two Oceans) and followed with more than 20 years of trail, racing through canyons, on beaches, deserts, islands, glaciers, salt flats, over mountains, escarpments and peaks. Seven years ago I added a coaching focus, passing on the lessons I’ve learned to help others seeking to reach beyond their comfort zones discover their full potential.
The North Face Zagori 80km 2016
Harsh, rugged dolomite peaks and mountainous landscapes ripped, cut and carved over millennia of geological shifts, this is Zagori – a 1 000km2 region in northwestern Greece near the Albanian border, far off the tourist path and majestic in its...
Richtersveld Transfrontier Wildrun 2016
There are races. Many races. Short, long, single or multi-day, self-sufficient… they’re popping up everywhere and there’re loads to choose from. Every one of them is challenging – some more than others – and they’re all fun in one way or another. For most of us, as...
Brave.RUN – running to feel safe in our streets
Warning: this blog post is not for sensitive readers. It contains graphic stats that will shock and sicken, particularly those readers on distant shores. The stats speak of a reality that is South Africa - an angry, dark reality that can, and MUST, be changed. ...
Much ado about the Addo Elephant Trail Run 100 Miler
Which sounds further: 160km or 100 miles? I’ve now run six of them and I’m still not sure. But I’m certainly grateful that in South Africa the checkpoints are kilometres apart rather than miles – that way we can tick them off quicker! The...
EARWORMS in ultra running
EARWORM (noun): A song or tune that gets stuck in one's mind and repeats as if on a tape. Also called cognitive itch, sticky tune, stuck song syndrome, involuntary musical imagery. There I was, 47km into the fourth day of running through the desert, stage 4...
MAN versus BEAST
Seems I’m on again about beasts - this being my second blog in a few months about the topic (read my blog on The Beast 2015). But this time it’s different. Rather than a bunch of runners trying to run up, over and down a beast of a mountain, this time it’s...
Ultra Trail Cape Town 2015
Much has been said and loads already posted about Ultra Trail Cape Town 2015, but I couldn’t resist leaping onto the feedback bandwagon with a quick blog. This is not a race report – it can’t be, I ran neither the 100km nor the 65km. A dodgy Achilles peppered with a...
S is for summer… and for snakes
We’re now into summer and we’re not the only ones out there enjoying the trails – here in southern Africa there’re a few more “obstacles” to be hoppin’ over and around than just rocks… Snakes are ectothermic (cold blooded). This doesn’t actually mean they have cold...
SA’s oldest and newest trail races
Trail running has taken the running world by storm over the past decade, and South Africa’s no different. The sport has burgeoned at such a pace across Europe, the US, the UK, Australia and Asia, just as it has in our country, and the international calendar is ripe...
The Beast 2015
“What is man without the beasts? For if all the beasts were gone, man would die of a great loneliness of the spirit.” These wise words were uttered way back in the mid 1800s by a rather astute Native American chap named Chief Seattle. We must presume, of...
~ explore a world of trails ~
