Blog

My newsletters have transitioned to a new provider, and I’m delighted to share the new subscription link.

The past two weeks have been rough. I’m not even going to dress it up. My sleep, or the lack of it, has pushed me to the edge. (Stupid perimenopause, well, that is what I think it is.) I’ve tried everything. The first round of prescription meds I got earlier this year didn’t work. The second left me feeling drugged and groggy, even more tired than before. A third script followed, but I decided not to fill it right away. I’d rather face my bad sleep head-on than risk going through that again. I am tired of experimenting on top of being physically exhausted. ...

I’ve done enough 10km time trials by now to know my typical reactions: either I dread them, feeling unprepared, annoyed, and not in the mood, or I go in too confident, sure I’ll crush it… only to be disappointed. That disappointment has started to weigh on me more than I realised. It lingers. I work so hard, consistently, and still, the outcomes sometimes—uhm, often—don’t reflect the effort I’ve put in. Over time, something in me has quietly shifted. I’ve started not wanting to try—not because I don’t care, but because I care so much. I hate the hurt that comes with feeling like I’ve fallen short. ...

I baked some resurrection rolls the other day for our Easter Sunday service. It was my first time making them. I’m fairly confident in baking, but I don’t usually bake bread, and this recipe was particularly odd. Somehow, I forgot that I was supposed to halve the marshmallows, and well… my rolls looked less like an empty tomb and more like an explosion from within one. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but they didn’t look quite how they were supposed to. ...

And just like that, some good things — and things I wasn’t looking forward to — ended. The school holidays disappeared in a flash. Why only a week? My husband and son’s trip to the South African National Track Cycling Champs in Cape Town is now behind us. I’m so proud of my eldest, Erik, who brought home two silver medals and a bronze — such a big moment for him. ...

Yesterday we received new family photos, and I could not be happier with them. Here is a look back at our pictures over the years. Jackie from adore’ photography captured all of these photos.

Anyone who has spent time with me on the road this year—or in the comments on Strava—has probably heard me curse this ridiculous distance goal of mine. My coach, Michelle, has probably rolled her eyes at me for complaining about it more than once. In 2024, I ran 2,500 km. My goal was 2,400 km, but I managed it well and exceeded it by 100 km. When Michelle and I had our recap and planning meeting at the end of last year, we decided to aim for 2,600 km in 2025. Even then, it felt like a heavy goal—something I told Michelle right from day one. ...

These past two weeks have been challenging. First, I did something strange to my knee during my track session on the morning my last newsletter went out. That forced me to take a few days off running—not ideal, but necessary. My knee is improving, though it’s still not 100%. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, my sleep took a turn for the worse. For some reason, I’ve been sleeping restlessly and waking up exhausted, despite getting more than eight hours of sleep every night. ...

The other day, a WhatsApp conversation with a friend made me stop and think again about why I do what I do. We were chatting about her Comrades plans, and she asked about my running goals for the year. “I’ll probably keep supporting at Comrades until, someday, I’m strong and fast enough to run it myself. If that ever happens.” “2027 would be a good year to run it,” she replied. ...

With Valentine’s Day that has just passed, love is in the air—but what about self-love? It’s easy to focus on showing care for others while neglecting ourselves. Loving yourself means being kind to yourself even when you have low motivation. We all get there, and it’s a tough feeling to sit with—that sense of “what’s the point of continuing?” or “I might as well stop trying.” Lately, I’ve been feeling like that again. And I’m not sure why—sometimes motivating myself is difficult! ...