The Next Chapter

I have been amazed (and very surprised) at the feedback from my last post. My intentions were never to make you cry (mostly females although I hear a few males too…); however, this does mean I did manage to express my happiness from those two days in words. I’ll admit that I have reread that post more than a couple of times over the last week or so and still feel like I am reliving those moments all over again! It was and still is a lovely feeling.

The Coast to Coast was the end of one chapter for me, but also the beginning of another very exciting one. I am currently sitting in my sister’s office at Borana, Kenya while she does office work and I try my best not to interrupt her. I am hoping to get out and go for a run sometime today while she drives alongside me. Very different from the Port Hills of Christchurch!

Since the Coast to Coast, I have finished work, spent a fantastic week on a launch in the Bay of Islands, had a slightly out-of-control 30th/leaving party and am now in Kenya for seven nights on my way to London. Things are indeed different from the 30+ hours of training, and while I am missing the routine, I can only be excited for whatever lies ahead.

On to the London marathon training… not quite going to plan as I expected, whatever that was supposed to be! I had printed a training schedule out but in my packing, I actually consciously chucked that in the bin. Who was I kidding?! I managed to get in some runs on the flats around Mum and Dad’s before I left, but I’m hoping my fitness built up over the last year can help me cross the finish line. Going a lot better though has been the fundraising; I haven’t quite managed to reach the $10,000 target for the Rhino suit, but I am pleased to say I have only two prints left to sell (of 40) and a handful of tea towel 3-packs! So a massive thank you to all of you that have very generously donated towards this fantastic cause, and if you still want to purchase some tea towels I would love to sell out of them! Just email Mum and me will sort it out at home (thanks mum!).

This morning I headed out with my brother-in-law Sam and experienced first-hand what goes into looking after the Rhino on Borana ranch. Each Rhino has a radio transmitter in its horn that allows it to be tracked. Every day the Rhino's are located between 6am-10am and 3pm–6pm to make sure they are safe. All were located this morning, and we sighted three of them while the rest of Sam’s rangers sighted the rest. Borana Ranch offers riding safaris amongst lots of other things, that allows you to see the wildlife from horseback. Yesterday on our ride I was lucky enough to see a Rhino only 20m away; an incredible experience, especially when I was told that is the closest they have ever come to see a rhino from horseback. This place is truly amazing and quite a change from sitting behind my computer screen in a portacom in Hornby!

Many of you have asked if I will continue with my blog and yes, that is the plan. While I only have the London Marathon on the cards so far, once I touch down and get sorted in London I plan on finding some more adventures to blog about. So while it may not all be about adventure racing I have a few things in the pipeline, watch this space…