Apologies for the late stats-posting. But better late than never!!
Yesterday morning we ran to up to Rhodes Memorial. While always a thoroughly enjoyable route, we do tend to question our sanity on the way up. And big-time question the sanity of the person who suggested this route - me...! But once everyone is at the top, cold water splashed and sipped, all is forgiven, and we can all enjoy the view and look forward to the lovely down-hill awaiting us.
Tuesday morning was still dark at 5:30 - and it seems to be staying dark for longer of late. A few Hillbillies are running with flashlights in the mornings, although we still run most of our routes in daylight.
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| Route Profile |
As expected, not a single vehicle sharing the road with us on the way up, we didnt' see a cyclist until we were headed back down a little later (and even then he turned onto a trail long before reaching us). And this time no gunshots in the distance!!! (the last time Dy and I ran this route there were some clowns firing shots out of their car up and down the M3 - thankfully no stray bullets along Rhodes Memorial Road, that wouldn't have been too much fun...)
We made it to the top without any fuss - Dy leading the pack, Charlene hot on her heels, and Jen and I following some distance behind. A lovely cool drink of water from the tap at the top, we looked out of the sunrise but the clouds were too thick. It was pleasantly cool though, for which we were all thankful, especially after the tremendous heat waves that have been passing through lately - some morning's we've starting running in mid-20's temperatures, approaching at the end of some of our early morning runs!
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| Route Map |
We sped along the M3, Dy still in the lead (whatever you had for breakfast yesterday morning was really working!) About half-way down the M3 Jen took a tumble. After a few moments to assess the damage and catch her breath, she hopped back up and promptly took the lead!! She led us all the way to the Shell where we stopped for water once again. The pace was a little easier from this point on. Everyone a little tired and a lot cautious.
From Shell we headed for for Protea Road, and up towards Main Road. Here Jen bid us farewell and headed back to Greate Westerford, while Charlene, Dy and I continued on past Newlands cricket grounds - passing a burnt-out car along the way. It looked to me like the left-overs of an Opel Cub, the old round shape like I used to drive many years ago. No, wait, 'left-overs' is too generous for what was lying in the front parking lot/display lot of the Jeep/Chrysler dealership. It was more like the toasty frame of an Opel Cub with wheel rims welded on. The Jeep closest to it seems to have gotten a taste of the action too, with its front licence plate curled and smoke-stained.
But moving on from that little distraction: the rest of the run went smoothly. We passed a people as we ran past the cricket grounds, up Campground, through the neighbourhoods of Rondebosch and over Belmont. The plan was to take the Liesbeek River Trail back from here, but it was roped off and had piles of construction sand heaped in the way, so we headed along Main Road instead. By the time we reached the next possible road to the River Trail, we were all tired and opted to just continue straight back to Great Westerford.
A few minutes later we arrived. Tired but happy with a good hard run. 14km and some change, a good way to start the day :)
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Dean Street Hillbillies
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