The long run to freedom...

Hello, sweet friends! I write to you today--my debut on this blog--as an official survivor of the 2009 Two Oceans half-marathon. Wooohoo!! I have blisters on both sides of each feet, a sunburned cheek, and knees that forced me to swallow a few Aleeve before I sat down to write this...but I am alive. And very proud of myself! Those of you that know me best know that I grew up a volleyball player--that & that alone was my sport. And then one magical day in seventh grade, I began going on short runs in my fancy forest-green Adidas windbreaker (ha!) down Clay Street...mostly just to catch a glimpse of my current crush, Wes Flowers, playing outside with his pet dog. But surprisingly enough, when my crush on Wes faded months later, my love of running did not. In college, I completed my first 5 & 1ok runs, and now most recently my first half-marathon. I have never thought of myself as a "runner"--I don't have a runner's body & I certainly haven't been in the game for very long, but I will tell you this: after running this half, my stereotype of "runners" has been shattered and re-defined. When a 70+ year-old man ran past me full-speed up Southern Cross drive and a 200lb.+ woman jogged alongside me for a few k's before eventually running ahead, I decided I had to let go of those pre-conceived notions of what a runner is to me. Anyone can be a runner, and today that anyone is me.

My goal was to finish the grueling 21.1 kilometers in under three hours and I did just that--crossing the finish line, hand-in-hand with Ali, at 2hours & 55 minutes. There are different time brackets for medals and if you come in after 3hours, sorry pal--no medal for you. Hence my push to finish in the 2hr mark. In between 2 and 3 hours gets you a bronze medal, so that's what we got. Your time is hardly counted after 3hours, as everyone is busy preparing for the first of the ultra marathon (56kilometers) runners to finish. This was Ali's fourth year running the half & to be truthful, his worst time yet because he was a sweet boyfriend & stuck with me the whole time. When I wanted to die the last 2ks up the hill to UCT, he was still trotting alongside me whispering "come on! almost there!" So! I am happy to have completed this great dream & journey. It was also so nice to see a few familiar faces along the way--Lyndsay (a fellow REACH tutor) was handing out water sachets with her church group & cheered us on, and my best friend Namita's house was actually ON the running route, so she was sitting at the edge of her driveway with a cup of coffee yelling our names as we ran by! I stood out a bit since international runners have bright orange running names & numbers, and just as I was about to cross the finish line, the announcer says "and here we have Rebecca Ponder from Norway!!" I had to laugh--I had asked for Ali's help with 2 long braids this morning, so apparently I looked Norwegian with them..a compliment I happily took!

This race was such a test of mindfulness & inner strength--certainly that more than physical. Had it not been for the jabbing stitch in my right side (I think I over-hydrated) or those painful blisters on my feet, I could have done a few minutes better. But I won't complain! Ali & I were two of 20,000 runners and not until about 5ks into the race did the "pack" thin out enough for us to actually have breathing room to enjoy ourselves. There was a full moon Friday night, so we were able to enjoy the beauty of that over the mountains as the sun began to rise around 7:30--halfway thru the run. Ali forgot to tuck his camera into his shorts, so unfortunately we don't have pics of us actually running the race--just a few of us recovering with our medals afterwards. So please enjoy what we have to offer below! One half-marathon down, many more to go...

Lots of love- Becca & Ali

pic: painful feet dotted with blisters...
pic: Norwegian braids! This is for all of you doubting Thomas' that didn't think I could do it...
pic: The crowds at the finish line, with the University of Cape Town in the background
pic: Proud owner of four of these medals!

Two Oceans Half Marathon!

Ladies and Gentleman,

We have a lift off! Almost...


It's the night before the big Two Oceans Marathon. Half Marathon here we come! And for those who don't know, a half marathon is 13.1 miles (21.1 km's) long. Are we anxious? Nah...never. Us? Nah... We're way beyond anxious! Becs is frantically sorting out the last of her "Two Oceans Race Mix" on her IPod. And me. Well, I'm just trying to breathe easy, and telling myself that I'll be ok.

We collected our registration packs today. It basically means that we had to pick up our Race numbers (all runners need those), T-shirts, loads of Race advertising from sponsors (Puma & Old Mutual), and odd bits and ends. Officially 19 862 runners have entered for the Race (the ultra -56km - and half marthon combined). And interestingly the official Two Oceans Race magazine notes that some 39 690 litres of Coca Cola, and 750 000 sachets of water will be distributed on Race day! What!?

Anyway. We have to get to bed. 04h15 am is waky waky time. We'll get up, get dressed, have a nibble (peanut butter toast for me, not sure if Becs will have anything), and be at the starting line before 6am. The Race starts at 6am. Crazy, I know. We'll have three hours in which we can finish the race. That's if we want a medal of course. And of course we want medals, even if it's a Bronze medals!

I'll be taking my camera along to catch some action during the Race. Will post some of the pics here, so be sure to check back on Saturday afternoon.

Wish us luck!





Alistar

I will not die an unlived life...

Dear friends,

Today is an emotional day for me. I'm not sure why yet. Maybe tomorrow I will know why I was so emotional today. Every so often I go through these patches in my life when I slow down, when I want to be left alone, and just be with 'me'. Now that sounds pretty normal to have times like this in one's life. No?

The only trouble with that is that it's slightly harder to just be emotional, or even sad within relationship. Or rather, that's how it is for me. It's on days like these that I have to make sure that I stay present within myself, enough to be able to show up in my relationship with Becs. So what do I do?

Well for starters, I have a collection of poems and inspirational sayings that I draw on every so often when I am sad, or down. And today, the one that comes to mind is this fantastic poem by Dawna Markova titled, I will not die an unlived life.

I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.

I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.

I choose to risk my significance;
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.

Dawna's poem silenced me when I first read it. It shook me to my core. It reminded me of the beautiful gift of life and love. And before I start getting soppy, let me also say that it has offered me many opportunities to pass it on to and inspire others.

So, in my emotional state, I am reflecting on how I can be "less afraid, more accessible." Can I trust enough that somehow things in my life will work out right now? And if I am more accessible, does it mean being transparent about my fears also? Maybe. So what am I so afraid of anyway?

I'm afraid of living fully. I'm afraid of dying young. I'm afraid of fighting with my girlfriend. I'm afraid of letting my parents down. I'm afraid of being on a boat on the open ocean. I'm afraid of being overly enthusiastic about things that excites me. So there you are, and there's many more.

So this poem then is apt for today. It's apt because it asks of me to not "die and unlived life." If I allow my fears to constantly be my 'Achilles heel', will that not prevent me from 'living'?

So maybe all of this writing was necessary. And maybe there is more. But this is it for now. You can be sure that I'll have another day like this. When that happens, it will be the next installment of "Ali's Life"!

Until then, peace and love!


Alistar

Earth Hour...what's that?

Dear friends,

So, Earth Hour (a friend refers to it as 'green hour'...) had come and gone. An hour of no lights or electrical appliances. At least that was the case for us at home.

We spent the evening with friends for dinner, celebrating the moment. A motley group of people gathered for delicious Indian cooking, with all sorts of desserts - including Becca's infamous lemon chess pie...! In between it all we had good wine, interesting conversations and a scattering of kids for entertainment.

At 8h30pm we switched all the lights off, and candles took center stage. We dipped outside to see if the streetlights or neighbors had switched off. Nope. What? How could this be? Are people just not interested or does it not make sense to switch lights and appliances of for an hour? Up to last night I had believed that the world (particularly neighbors...) will participate in this grand event to show our commitment to live more sustainably. I was even told that that the local City Council will turn the street lights off. I was wrong. I was naive. For now, I have to live with that.

Did anyone do anything during Earth Hour. If you did, I would love to hear about it! Just by chance, it might inspire to me remain hopeful. Alas, what keeps us alive if not hope? I discovered as I was writing this post that over 36 million people in the US switched off. If that's true, then I'm impressed!

So that's my story for today. Feel free to leave some comments.

Live large!


Ali

Earth Hour 2009!

If you have no idea what to do with yourself on the 28th of March 2009, here's an idea! Sign up for Earth Hour and commit to switching off your lights and appliances for an hour at 8h30pm on the 28th. We will be doing that. Join us!

Please pass this on to others that care about our Earth!





With love,


Ali and Becca

March Update...

Dear Friends, and blog

It's been two months since my last confession, I mean post... sad, but true. It seems like life just kinda runaway with you if you don't stop and catch it fast enough. My apologies for slacking off...

So much has happened in these last two months, with so many blessings and celebrations. Most notable is that I have become an uncle again, and Rebecca an aunt. On February 28th, my sister Alverisha gave birth to a strong, healthy and gorgeous boy named Keanu Jason! He is as cute and adorable as most babies are, but I think my sister is more cute, and suddenly she is so grown up and all mother-like. Is that normal, and do women just become natural mothers when they give birth? Grant, my sister's husband is a proud father! Below are some pics of Becs and Keanu.



Towards the middle of February Becs and I spent a few days at the Freewheeling Festival, which happened on a farm out in Stanford, a beautiful town on the South Coast of South Africa. The festival is a celebration of sustainable living, pushing our thinking on spirituality, creativity, and deepening our sense of self, the earth, other organisms and our future survival. It was an intense experience with lots of workshops and live events spread over four days. The people were fascinating, the food organic & delicious, the surroundings awe-inspiring, and the farm dams...oh those farm dams, they were breathtaking and cool to swim in! Below are a two pics.


I've also been very busy at work - from a Funder/Donor workshop, to school visits in Durban and Johannesburg, to a Climate Change Summit. And now you may wonder, what is his work? For those of you who have known me for a while now, will know that I have been in the outdoor/adventure education field. Well, I'm not anymore. I have shifted direction slightly. I now for work with a non profit organization called Project 90 by 2030. Say what?!

At Project 90 by 2030 we aim to work with South Africans to reduce carbon emissions and affect a lifestyle change of 90% by the year 2030. An audacious goal? Yes, but hey, let's dream big here! So we help schools, organizations and corporates establish 90 by 2030 Clubs, which enables them to work towards energy consumption reductions, improve waste management processes, reduce travelling, and promote positive behaviour changes. And this is all so that we, as a humanity, can dream and act together to live more sustainably, and just maybe avert the looming Climate Change Crisis. If you wanna know more about my work, check our Blog or Web Site.

In between it all Becs, Namita (Becs' best friend in Cape Town) and Anil (Namita's husband) and myself had time for a Summer Concert at the infamous Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. A trip to Cape Town will not be complete without a visit to Kirstenbosch, so put it on your itenary for your next visit! Anyway, every Sunday afternoon during our summer, Kirstenbosch hosts some great South African musicians and bands in a perfect setting on rolling lawns surrounded by lush indigenous vegetation, with a stunning mountain backdrop. The band was Malaika and Wendy Oldfield - what an awesome combination! They rocked the crowd to their feet and made the experience almost heavenly. Rock on Malaika!

And with that I leave you with wishes for an amazing next month, filled with many moments that will take your breath away! Of course I will try and post more regularly. Until then, love you mean it!

Ali and Becs

Kylemore - home sweet home!

Beyond the rolling-winelands-hills of the Stellenbosch region, lies the sleepy hamlet of Kylemore. Ask any Capetonian about it, and they will tell you that they have never heard of it. That's how unknown the place is. But, it exists. I was born in Kylemore and lived there for 23 years. The picture above is a view of the Dwars River Valley, with Kylemore nestled almost in the middle of of the slopes where the two mountain ranges meet.

My family (2 brothers, 3 sisters, mom, dad, cat, dog...) still lives out there. Every other week, Becs and I drive for about an hour to visit them. Growing up in Kylemore was one of the best things that happened to me. I am happy that I was born there. Happy because it was such a safe place to grow up in, surrounded by majestic mountains and where I knew almost everyone in the town. When we speak about Kylemore we often compare it to Franklin (Virginia, USA), where Becs grew up. It has the same small-town community feel to it.

During the last Christmas holidays I spent a lot of time with my family. When I was a kid, my mom, Mary-Ann, "forced" us to work in the garden - cleaning weeds, mowing lawns, etc. Although I hated it, it sowed the seeds for a later career in landscaping - albeit a short career. It was my life for a few years after school. I had a love-hate relationship with gardens, which nowadays is a love relationship only. Being back home in Kylemore over the holidays, I saw a patch in my mom's garden that needed some "lovin" and I sprung into action weeding it, composting it, and eventually planting vegetable seed and seedlings, and herbs on the patch. We've wanted to grow our own veggies and herbs for a while now, and finally its happening!

When we visited last weekend, it was so great to see the growth and some of my mom's well established butternut and green peppers in action. When I'm not there, my nephew Clarence takes care of the garden patch. Below are some pictures of what to expect and what to harvest soon! A recent book we read - called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - was very inspiring in promoting growing your own food, and or buying only what's in season, and preferably grown as close to home as possible. Living in the City it's very hard to grow your own food, if you live in an apartment complex. So, having a patch in my parents' garden in Kylemore, is wonderful!

Until harvest time, take care!

Peace and love!


Becs & Ali



My mom's butternut...she has about 8 butternut on one plant!



The rosemary...



And the bean plants...

Welcome to Cape Town!

Welcome to Cape Town!

Earlier this week Becs and I went for a run just below the infamous Table Mountain (this is all in preparation for the Two Oceans half Marathon - in April - of course...). From the road you have the most beautiful views of the City and Table Bay. The picture above gives you a sense of the development within the City, with the three round towers in the foreground being residential apartment buildings. Better known as the "salt-and-pepper-pots".

The road contours along the base of Table Mountain, where you have unlimited views of Lion's Head (see picture below), and the suburbs beyond the City borders. Cape Town is such a cosmopolitan city but has a quite a sad history to it. The City is host to a few different museums documenting its contentious past--from its colonial heritage to its devastating apartheid laws and forced removals of "non-whites" from within the City to the Cape Flats (literally flat land, below sea level, which floods during most winters). When you visit Cape Town, make sure to visit places like the District Six Museum, the Jewish Museum, the Cape of Good Hope Castle, the Bo-Kaap (traditional Cape Malay district), Long Street (for its frivolous night life!), and of course a trip up Table Mountain. And not to be missed is the notorious Robben Island, where exiled anti-apartheid political activists were imprisoned, including Mr. Nelson Mandela.

It's also a City that has much to offer for the outdoor enthusiast. Which is one of the reasons that Ali love this City so much! The greater Cape area is surrounded by two oceans (Atlantic & Indian), with the thin spine of the Table Mountain range being forced up in between it. The mountain range runs north to south, with the most south western point being Cape Agulhas. And the nothern end being the flat part (known as Table Mountain...). When Rebecca's mom, Ruthie, visited Cape Town a few years ago, we took her to see Cape Point and Cape Agulhas--she loved it!

If you're looking for a city that offers hiking, trail-running, mountain biking, kayaking, diving, surfing, paragliding, shark-cage diving, great food, wonderful people, the best wines, and more, then Cape Town has it all!

It ended being one of the best runs we've done so far, and we might have to go back again! So, clearly, if you have not been to Cape Town, then get yourself over here!

Peace and love!


Ali & Becca



Becs looking hot in her new running shorts! woohoo!



Lion's Head in the background, and look at those calfs...glistening in the sunlight.



And another City pic, with Robben Island in the background, and the new sports stadium going up in the upper left hand corner of the picture - for the Soccer World Cup 2010.

Kalk Bay, Cape Town

Dear friends and family,

Cape Town is arguably one of the best cities in the world! Yes, maybe we are slightly biased, but hey, if you don't believe us, come see for yourself. It has just the right mix of outdoor living, nightlife, restaurants, an eclectic mix of people, and great weather!

Being summer still, we went for a short walk along the False Bay coast to one of our most favorite towns - Kalk Bay. There's a pleasant little walk along the coast, from Muizenberg to Kalk Bay, probably not more than a mile long(1.4km). It is also the route for the local train, so we hopped on at our station, Wittebome, hopped off at Muizenberg station and walked to Kalk Bay. Muizenberg is renowned for its awesome surfing conditions, and its sharks...

Kalk Bay has cute little shops and eateries. From French artisan bakeries - with yummy baguettes - to antique furniture shops that are way overpriced... An all time favorite of ours is Olympia Cafe - Becs's first employer when she moved to Cape Town. The job lasted all of six weeks, then they dropped her like a hot potato. Too bad for them. But ultimately the best for Becs, since her job tutoring kids with autism arrived directly afterwards. (Ali wants me to say this is my life, but really- I just love it, it's not my WHOLE life!)

The False Bay coast is dotted with built tidal pools and Kalk Bay happens to be home to one of the best tidal pools, our favorite by far! Ali likes it best early morning and Becs late afternoon & only when it's warm. During summer, the beaches and pools are packed with people. And maybe more sharks in the waters also...

So, if you are from North America, and you would like to see Kalk Bay in all its splendor, we would be happy to host you here. But hurry, we might not be in Cape Town for long anymore...

Below are some of the pics from our walk. Enjoy!


Ali and Becs




Oh, we had to include the newest addition to our home - a bookcase that Ali and his dad made!

A small nursery on the main road.

Looking gorgeous!


The walkway along the coast.

Welcome to our blog!

Becs and I have had this blog for a few years now. We initially used it as a way of connecting to each other whilst we lived apart, she in the US and me in SA. It became our 'love nest'. A space to express our undying and hopelessly romantic love for each other. It was amazing! And then she moved to Cape Town, and the blogging stopped. We have deleted all the juicy blog posts of that time...sorry!

So it's 2009, and we are breathing new life into our blog. It's coming back as a place of connecting us to friends and family scattered across the globe. We hope to share with you our daily musings, some pics, our hopes, dreams and the challenges as they show up.

Bear with us. Enjoy with us. Explore with us! Welcome!



Becs and Ali