One Good Deed…

…deserves 39 more. Or is that one good turn? Whatever.

I like this idea from PamieJane to celebrate her 40th birthday and I’d encourage others to join in and do their bit as I will on Saturday.

What I want to do is 40 random acts of kindness (or good deeds).  Now I know for a fact that I am not going to get through all 40 in one day, so I have taken Friday off work, but I am going to need more help – that is where you come in.

I would like each of you to do something “good” on Saturday.  It does not have to be huge, it can be not swearing at the person that cut you off in traffic (or not cutting someone off – I’ll take any good deed).  It can be making a donation to your favourite charity, picking up a piece of litter, helping somebody pick up something they have dropped or even just smiling at somebody.  Just something that is going to make somebody else feel better.

She has other ideas on her blog, so go and see if there’s something you can do to help someone else out and help Pamie celebrate her 40th.

Feel free to RT/Share this post and spread the love.

And Happy Birthday, PamieJane.
You know what they say: Life Begins To Suck At Forty. 😉

Catch up

A few things to document here today:

1. Last night I did my first run since the Two Oceans Half on Saturday. I’ve never had someone repeatedly beating my calf muscles with a scaffolding pole, but I would imagine that what I felt going up the hill between 3-4 kilometres last night would be pretty similar. Today should have brought with it a whole world of pain, but, concerningly, I’m actually feeling fine.

2. Had another decent night out last night at Societi Brasserie in Tokai (it’s not in Constantia – despite what they tell you). Company was great, food was really good, but the service was pretty disappointing. Still, their Filet au Poivre is rather spectacular and should form the basis of your main course when you’re there next.

3. Two new tumblrs to look out for: http://textfromdog.tumblr.com – as described here, and http://tweetsfromhelen.tumblr.com/ – for local fun-poking at the embattled leader of our opposition.

4. New music from Mike Skinner on The Beats and it’s gorgeous stuff:

After a few years break from running a record label, during which our previous signings sunk without a trace,  me and Mayhem have finally got round to getting another record together. It’s by a guy from Chepstow called Elro who we first heard rapping on the interwebs. It also features a new project of mine and my friend Rob Harvey called The D.O.T.  We’re really excited about this as its the first single on The Beats for a while and the first proper release for The D.O.T. I hope you like it. It’s out now.

You can see the video here.

I’ll be blogging about PamieJane’s 40th birthday idea later today. In the meantime, it being 40th season, many happy returns to the Ex-Haematologist who was the one responsible for introducing Mrs 6k and I all those years ago, one chilly Friday night in a soulless pub in Oxford and also to Jacob Zuma, who is 70 today. I need to find out what moisturiser he uses…

Meanwhile, in Newcastle…

Yikes. This is turning into a beer ad blog.

OK, not really, but as some of you will know, I spent some of my student years at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Coming from Northern England, I was delighted to find that Newcastle was just like a concentrated version of… well… Northern England. The Geordie people are rightfully and fiercely proud of their city and their culture, yet friendly and welcoming to visitors. They also share the Yorkshire no nonsense attitude. And that last point is why, even if I can’t really believe that this ad is genuine, I can certainly believe that it could be:

Yes, I think this looks like it’s actually set “Over the Pond”, where they are wholly unaware of the term “Bollocks”, so there’s a chance that this could be real. And now I’m left craving a bottle of Dog. Ah luv a bitta Broon, lake.

Anyone know where I can get some in Cape Town, and relive some memories of younger, wilder days at The Strawberry?

UPDATE: More from Sky. I could have written this. In fact, I almost did.

 

Turtley important

The 2 Oceans Aquarium today reissued its annual warning about what to do with stranded baby turtles you may find on local beaches.

Not only does this give me a great excuse for a 2 Oceans Aquarium themed quota photo:

Bigger on black here.

It also reminds me that I did my own take on that stranded turtle post last year.

Just Did It

I couldn’t have wished for a better race this morning. Aside from the weather, which hit hard as I headed up the infamous Southern Cross Drive, making everyone look like they had literally been dumped in a swimming pool, everything went according to my plan, such as it was. I finished my first (and last) Two Oceans Half Marathon in about  two hours and twenty minutes.

Before the rain hit, I was lucky enough to have some awesome support from my wife and kids at the top of Edinburgh Drive. There’s something very reassuring about watching your 5 year old son knocking back sachets of Energade at 6:30 in the morning and knowing that you don’t have to deal with the consequences. Running down the M3 seemed like a breeze compared with that.

My concerns about my dodgy right calf proved unfounded (although I ran with it strapped) and after a very slow start due to 15,999 other idiots out there, I got into a rhythm of between 6 and 6:30 minutes per kilometre and kept it there. The weather was outrageous: we were running through ankle deep water at times and watching bins floating down the gutters on Rhodes Avenue. Even the finishing straight on UCT sports field was covered in puddles and I got there much earlier than a lot of people (who, admittedly, were running a lot further than I was).

My headphones gave up at about 12km, my GPS at exactly 18.2km and me just about at the finish line. Perfectly paced by one out of three anyway.

After the finish, I found that the shuttle buses back to the start were non-existent and so I had to walk 3km back there (fortunately all downhill) and then cycle home from there (another 3.5km, all uphill). That 6.5km is probably why I’m feeling so broken right now. I got home at about 9:30, very cold, very wet and very cold.

After a quick shower and some breakfast, we headed up to watch the Insurance Guy come through Kirstenbosch in equally appalling conditions to finish his tenth Ultra (56km), putting my sense of achievement firmly in perspective.

But I’m contented enough. And I don’t ever have to do that again.

Happy days.