Away without leave - again

  My dear Blogger friends, once again I have been AWOL for more than two months. Thank you, all for your kind comments on my Spain Trip posts. 

Apart from my usual busy work schedule and long periods of Loadshedding which affects our Internet, I have been to Durban. TWICE.

Firstly, it was to an important Weigh-Less event with Mary Holroyd, Founder and Chairman of the company.

Again, I stayed with Gill, my dear aunt - by - marriage, in a retirement village in Howick. It's always good to catch up with Gill who now has reached her 88th year. She is sharp and healthy, but sadly suffering with macular degeneration. 

While in Howick, I popped into a business on the main street where one of my loyal Goal Weight Members sells beautiful goose down linen and, wait for it...

...a selection of Dutch sauces and snacks. Yes! She sells Stroopwafels which I'd discovered in Amsterdam. 

While visiting Corrie, he husband, who runs a Tax office adjoining her shop, called us to have coffee. Not only was Russell ultra friendly and answered my queries about business developments I saw taking place in town. He also suggested I do the Piggly Wiggly Parkrun the next day.

As many of my blog friends know, I reached my 100th Parkrun milestone, shortly after my 70th birthday Fortunately this took place three days before I tripped on my veranda, fell and cracked my knee in three places. 

Back to my 100th, I was one of the few Winterton Parkrun participants who had done all 100 in Winterton. I had never done an "away" Parkrun. I had already decided to do the Howick Parkrun before driving down to Durban on Saturday 30th September, and told Russ I would be at the start by 8am the next day. 

Back home with Gill, one of my other loyal Goal Weight Members, Judy, contacted me and asked if was intending to do the Parkrun. She had never done one and would like to go with me. 

The next morning, I collected Judy on the way to the Piggly Wiggly venue and we duly arrived at the Parkrun to be welcomed by Russ and several other gents who have already done 250 Parkruns. 

Oh, and the temperature that morning was 37° C.

Judy had already opted to walk for 20 minutes and then she'd turn around and return to the start. I told her that in 40 minutes she would probably have covered 3km so why not just persevere and complete the 5km . She agreed to try.

We were set off and I'd covered the about 750m when I heard a man calling: Jo Hedges/Jo Hedges.  I spent a week in in Howick in February, training new Group Leaders and opening Weigh-Less Groups so I suspect I am already quite well known in Howick. But here at Parkrun? As I turned to see a man running up behind me, he handed me my Parkrun barcode. Phew. I was relieved. I had dropped it when I started and would have been denied my completion at the end. You have to have your barcode to be scanned and counted at the Parkrun. 

 Unbeknown to her, I had selected a lady who seemed to be in my age group and used her as my pacer. At 2.5km, a younger, forty- something, woman ran up behind us. As she passed, she said: "Wow, you two are setting a cracking pace! Do you do race walking?" I shook my head; I don't think the other lady reacted. In fact, throughout the Parkrun, she was quite taciturn.  As I kept up with her, I asked if this was her home Parkrun. A terse Yes, was all I got! 

Oh OK.  I thought, suit yourself!  In any case, I now needed all my energy to focus on the task at hand. 

The walk wound through a pine forest, then out and through another pine forest. Pure bliss and relief from the heat. At one point, I took a left turn at the race marker tape and my "non-companion" barked:  wrong way. She continued straight. As I made to follow her, at the bottom of the track, a marshal pointed to me calling out: you are correct. This way please.  

Ahem! 

We emerged into the sunshine again. At 3.5km, I looked up and gulped.  The sand track rose up in front of me at a steep 60° incline. I was shattered. I couldn't imagine how I was going to get up it. The fence running on the right of this track is electrified, so no hope of using the wire to pull me up. I quipped to my silent companion: So, where's our cracking pace now? No reply. She was bent over double, gasping for breath. 

Just then a little dog ran past me. Her owner came up behind me and said: don't you wish you had four legs. As he came alongside me, he put his hand on my back and pushed me to the top. 

He patted my shoulder and said, now you can finish. 

How's that for camaraderie, hey? I literally skipped home on the last kilometer. Well, "skipped" is stretching it a bit, but I had much more energy than I had after 2.8km. 

And so, I clocked into my first "touring" Parkrun. Albeit, as one of my Parkrun friends at Winterton said, I chose the worst one ever. It turned out to be my baptism of fire. 

My very first "away" Parkrun: Piggly Wiggly in Howick, KZN

A little later, Judy appeared in the distance with a lady brandishing a hiking stick. I had told the Run Director that it was Judy's first Parkrun and although she's not registered, I would show her how to do it. From then they would have her and often her grandson at their Parkrun. When Judy came into the finishing stretch, I gave her a loud applause with some of the volunteers joining in. 

Judy at the end of the 5km Parkrun

After I'd dropped Judy at her home, I made a dash back to Gill to bath and prepare for a Group Leaders meeting at 12.30. In Durban: a 90-minute drive from Howick. 

I have posted about traveling the N3 before and this day it was no different. It was terrible!

However, I arrived at Weigh-Less Head Office at 12.25 where Mary, Chairman and Founder of the company welcomed me. Inside I greeted the Group Leaders whom I knew and was introduced to the new Group Leaders. We had not had a face-to-face meeting since January 2020. 

Mary gave us a very interesting talk on the history of Weigh-Less which she founded in February 1975. She also said that everything was in place for her daughter, Trasi (at the time CEO of Weigh-Less) to take over. But... Mary added, she is still very much at the helm and was not going anywhere (or on retirement).

Mary handed out long service badges - several Group Leaders at the meeting that day had been with the company for 20years and longer. 

When Mary gave me my six-year award, she said it felt as though I'd been with the company forever!

I was also awarded with a certificate for the most members online; the most members paying by debit order and the most members achieving their goal weight. 

Afterwards we all enjoyed a lovely lunch with fruit juice. Just as we thought we'd been spoiled enough, Mary arrived with chocolate iced cupcakes to celebrate one of the Group Leader's birthdays that day! How special was that!

By 3pm we said goodbye to Mary and each other, never realizing that this was the last time we would ever meet with her.

To be continued...