Heading to New Zealand for a Half Marathon on my Seventh Continent in November...

I fly into Auckland and meet the Marathon Tours group for a three day exploration around the city before flying to Queenstown on the southern island.  I'll spend five days there including the Queenstown Half Marathon which will qualify me for the Seven Continents Club.  Queenstown is the "adventure capital" of New Zealand and I plan to do some hang gliding or hot air ballooning while I'm there.

The weather was “just ok” at best on this trip.....

My first full day there, when I went to the race expo, the wind was so bad that motorcycles were being blown over in the parking lots, trash cans were flying down the streets and people were literally leaning into the wind to walk.  That night, at the hotel, the wind was howling all night and I couldn’t sleep anyway because of jet lag.  I finally went to sleep around 6:00 am and when I woke up it was nearly 10:00.  I hustled down to eat breakfast before they closed but the day was absolutely beautiful outside.

After breakfast, I put on shorts and flip flops and headed down to the waterfront district.  The ferries out to the Robbin Island Ferry were sold out all day due to Easter weekend so I bought a ticket for the open-air double-decker buses and did a coastal tour.  I had been to the Cape of Good Hope before but had forgotten just how beautiful the coast is down here.

It was a “hop on, hop off” arrangement and I planned to get off and catch a connection at the wine country stop.  As we worked our way out of Cape Town, we passed the infamous District Six where the apartheid government relocated thousands of blacks then never used land.   It just stands there today—bulldozed and desolate.

The bus also passed the Cape Town city hospital where, in the 1960s, Dr. Christian Bernard and the South African medical staff performed the first successful heart transplant—several years before Houston even tried it.

The tour then wound through the countryside with beautiful scenery and unusual views and plant life. These trees supposedly pre-date the dinosaurs.

We wound along the famous South African wine country but the wineries and wine tasting was closed because it was Good Friday.  We worked our way along the coast back into Cape Town.  The weather and the views were just absolutely great.

We passed the Stadium built for the World Cup—it was under construction when I was here last time.

On Saturday, it was rainy when I got up but I walked down to the waterfront anyway and watched the seals work their way through the locks and out to sea—they could care less about the rain.  The sun came out and for a while it was beautiful again.  I ate lunch at a Portuguese café and tried one of the red wines they had described on the tour the day before.  The waiter saw my race chip on my shoe and brought me another free glass of wine.

I walked down to the old part of the waterfront and found a pub/brewery and it was trying to start raining again.  Since there wasn’t anything else to do, I had a couple of beers there.  It’s called Mitchell’s Microbrewery today but the building actually dates back to the 1700s when it sold grog to the Dutch, Portuguese and British sailors in port here.  I’ll bet those rock walls could tell some stories…..

It was starting to rain harder so I went back to the hotel and looked around the old prison grounds and took a nap.  Ate supper at the hotel later and went to bed early for the race on Sunday.

I only slept about three hours and just lay there awake until 4:00 when I got up and got dressed.  It was raining again and the wind had picked up when we caught the bus to the starting point.   It was frankly miserable in the dark.  People were standing under trees trying to get out of the rain which was now coming down in sheets.  The wind picked up again blowing the trees and shaking water on everyone.  I honestly didn’t want to do this but at 6:00 I lined up in the rain and took off when they shot off the cannon.  Cold weather does wonders for my running and I maintained a nice pace for about fifteen minutes until we hit the “monster hill” and I wasn’t the only one walking up it.  At the peak, there was a long, long downhill slope, maybe two miles or more, and I tried making up as much time as I could but didn’t want to completely blow my legs out for the rest of the race. 

The rain stopped and the wind died down but the sky stayed overcast which was overall good running conditions. I was aware of the strict cut-off at 9:20 and when I finished at 9:19 they had a rope ready to block off the finish line.  I finished with less than a minute, officially qualified, and got my medal so this was a successful race and a successful trip. 

Australia is the only remaining continent and then I will qualify for the Seven Continents Club.  Caught a bus back to the hotel, soaked my legs in the tub, ate a light lunch at the hotel and had a couple of celebratory beers and took a nap.

Sunday morning was one of those overcast and “not too bad” days and I walked around the waterfront one last time, ate lunch at an outdoor restaurant and caught the shuttle to the airport.

Mission accomplished.

These Flights are Getting Harder and Harder to Tolerate.....

.....but I made it here ok around 11:00 pm.  The Houston to Amsterdam connection actually went pretty well.  I was in a row of three empty seats and was able to lie down but couldn't sleep.  The Amsterdam to Cape Town was eleven hours and packed.  I really struggled with that one.  International airline food is absolutely the pitts.

The hotel really is an old converted colonial prison.  Not the one Nelson Mandela was at, but actually much earlier.

Part of the prison is a hotel and the rest is part of the University of Cape Town school of business.  It's an exotic and nice place to stay.

Got in just before midnight but couldn't sleep until around 4:00 am and nearly slept through breakfast.  I do have sketchy Internet here which is free but very slow.  I posted pictures on Facebook until I could sleep then woke up at nearly 10:00.

After breakfast--and I was surprisingly hungry--I took a cab to the Convention Center for the Marathon Expo.  Ironically, the Convention Center is between the Westin Hotel (where I used to stay last time I was here) and the Chevron Building where I worked.  I used to walk to work through the Convention Center every morning.  They're building high-rise buildings everywhere in this area now.

Race expos are the same all over the world.   I checked in, got my race kit of bib, timing chip and race shirt.  I walked around and looked at the vendors and bought another shirt that I really liked.

The race kit for this event was particularly nice and included energy bars, hand sanitizers, sun block, first aid kit and--a first--a bottle of South African olive oil.

After I left the expo, I walked over to the Westin Hotel and tried to catch the free shuttle to the Waterfront but it isn't working right now because of the construction so I caught a taxi back.

The Waterfront hasn't really changed since I was here.  It's very picturesque and laid back.

The old historic clock tower and swinging pedestrian bridge are the same as my last trip.  The swinging bridge is still active--Cape Town continues to be a major shipping and repair hub for world marine traffic.  

These are typical for ports all over the world.  The clock is elevated so the ship captains can maintain the correct time.  Directly across the harbor, and very near my hotel, is the old historic Ball Drop.  In the days of wooden merchant ships, loaded ships obviously sat lower in the water and could only leave harbor at the high tide.  The harbor master maintained tide logs and when the tide was at peak level, he would have the metal ball dropped on a iron plate creating a loud clang over the water and signalling to the ship captains that it was time to set sail and leave.  I've seen these in Australia, Hong Kong and all over the world.

I ate a late lunch on the waterfront and then fell victim to fatigue and walked back to the hotel and took a nap.  Tomorrow I'm just going to take it easy--no itinerary.  Saturday is race day.

Booked a Trip to Cape Town in South Africa in March to Run the Two Oceans Half-Marathon.....

.....and Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.



I did several jobs in South Africa and my last one included an assignment in Cape Town for two weeks and I really enjoyed my time there.  It's not as dangerous as most other South African cities, has beautiful weather and the scenery is amazing.

There are so many things to do and see there that I didn't get to see everything I wanted but I did get to go on a shark cage dive with Great White sharks last time.  On this trip I'll be going with the same marathon touring group that Devin, Alida and I used for Myanmar last November and a company I've traveled with six times now.  I should have time to see the things I missed when I was here before.

My objective with this trip is to close in on my goal of having run a half-marathon on all seven continents.  I now have only two continents--Africa and Australia--to complete but the race here is somewhat hilly and has a cut-off time shorter than I usually complete so I'm going to have to be ready and really push myself.  If this race works out, the Australian Outback Marathon is in August and has a cut-off time of eight hours (I usually finish 3:15).  So, basically, if I can knock this race out in Cape Town, it will be just a matter of going to Australia and doing a leisurely run.

My hotel is an old prison converted into a four-star hotel and is located on the historic Victoria and Alfred Waterfront to the left of the stadium in the above picture and this promises to be another amazing trip.

Visited three of the more interesting outer temples before having a goodbye celebration on Pub Street.....

.....one in particular involved about a 45 minute countryside ride in a tuk-tuk--the small motorcycle taxis.  It is referred to as the "Women's Temple" since it is the only one in the complex that was designed by women.  It has amazing ornamental detail:













Anther temple is probably the most famous outside of the Angkor Wat temple itself.  The backdrop for many movies, it has been taken over by giant trees that are slowly destroying the buildings--giving it a surreal look.











This is probably the most photographed spot in the Angkor Wat complex.  This is where Angelina Jolie jumped through the door and down a shaft in Laura Croft Tomb Raider:



In reality, it's only about six inches deep on the inside but no problem for Hollywood.....

We had a late-night flight so in the evening we went into Siem Reap to look at the market and visit Pub Street--the famous and infamous bar area of the city.

And there, of all places, we found a Tex-Mex restaurant that couldn't be passed up.



The general consensus was that it was surprisingly authentic and pretty good.  The basic staples like tortillas, burritos and empanadas were all actually really good.

Even the ambiance was good, however I have to say she wore it better than Devin did:



The flight back was a grueling 21-hour trip that was pretty uneventful.  Good to be back home.  The SE Asia Temple Run and Beer Tasting Tour has been classified a success.

This was the 20th annual running of the Angkor Wat Half Marathon.....

.....and I elected to run the 10K run after the Bagan Temple Marathon a week earlier.

Because of the Cambodian heat and humidity, the race started early in the morning before sunrise which supplied some spectacular views as we waited for the start.  It was a crescent moon and the bright star near the tree limbs is Venus.

After the "Killing Fields" wars of the 1980s, there are thousands of land mine victims and the race was dedicated to raising funds to help them.  As a result there was a particularly large field of wheelchair participants:

As the race started, I felt really good and had no lingering back effects from Bagan.  The race course was amazing.









The temple monkeys didn't seem particularly impressed with us:



And the some of the famous Cambodian elephants made an appearance:



I finished strong with a hard sprint for the last 100 meters.  I do and feel so much better doing the 10K rather than the half marathons (21K).



Mission accomplished:





Spent the afternoon getting a massage, swimming and lounging around the pool area.  A couple of beers were consumed.

Tomorrow is our last day with three more temples planed to visit.