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! ...
These past two weeks a friend who had lost 80kg via bariatric surgery within the space of 2024 alone, made me again ask myself the question “Am I the fool for having done things the way that I did it?” My husband says it must feel to me like saving up to buy an expensive car for three years, and then having the car go on sale for a third of the price the day after I had finally bought it. That’s not a bad analogy. But it’s not the most accurate analogy either. Every journey and what’s gained or lost during each is different. ...
At the start of this year, I chose my word for the year: Lemon. Or rather, Lemon chose me. It happened during my New Year’s Day run when I picked up a lemon along the route. I don’t believe in coincidences, so I looked into the spiritual meaning of lemons and found themes of cleansing, protection, transformation, clarity, and focus. Those last two—clarity and focus—struck a chord. They seemed exactly what I needed for a year that already felt murky and directionless. ...
With the start of 2025 and a flurry of New Year’s resolutions, I wondered why we often wait for a Monday, the 1st of the month, or a new year to start something. Is it because we crave structure, the promise of a clean slate, or simply because everyone else is doing the same? Yet starting on a random Friday or the 14th of the month doesn’t seem to carry the same weight. Do you also reckon so? ...