So this is the week before Christmas !!! Training is going well with a run everyday and a longish one every weekend. My goal set for December to run with the pack ( 3 kilograms ) at least 15 times are done , with a few days to spare...so I have some credit ! Running in the sand becomes a bit easier , although not faster ?

Sahara Desert Race 2017

When living in Swakopmund , and training for a race like the Sahara race you are indeed a lucky soul......

Within 10 minutes or less of running, you are out of Town and in the Swakop River - which keep the dunes from entering the Town.

Running at a 5 minute per kilometer you hit the river sand and the pace drop to a 5:30 - 6:00........then you enter the dunes......and the pace drops even more ....... way over seven minutes....and your lungs scream ...slow down....this is 3 minutes per kay.......it feels at least like it !

And this is without a pack .....???? ....Hallo ...seven days of this ????

Well...... did a 32 kilometer river run this weekend......end up without water.....and extreme heat and got sun burn......after just more than three hours of running ...only about at max ....four kilometers from the cold ocean.

In January , we start our training for the Comrades Marathon , held annually in Durban in South Africa.......which is a 90 kilometer race between Durban and Pietermaritzburg , with a cut off time of 12:00 hours. The distance is not so much the challenge ....it is the route profile with long uphills and killer downs. This year my training will include mostly off road running as training for the Sahara race will include a lot of river and dune training. However...I wonder of any amount of training will help to ease the effort of my last run ??

To be able to run in Namibia must be one of the biggest privileges one can have !!

As a Competitor in the Sahara Race, to be held in Namibia in 2017 , you will have the honor to run in the oldest Desert in the world....The Namib Desert. You will have the chance to breathe the freshest and cleanest air ever.

Namibia went through a few years of little and no rain....and predictions are that we will have a normal to above normal rainy season in 2017. Being a summer rainfall country....we may be so lucky to experience rain during the race...... and you will smell the rain on hot desert sands ....the best there are and for a born and bred Namibian , no smell equals that.

Swakopmund is a small Town on the West Coast of Namibia, about 360 kilometers west of Windhoek , the Capital city of Namibia. Swakopmund have a population of about 45000 . Swakopmund is also the prefered holiday town for the rest of Namibia. Our sandy beaches faces the very cold Atlantic Ocean.

It is also this cold ocean that makes our weather in Swakop and to about 100 kilometer in land so unpredictable. You can wake up at six in the morning, with the sun shinning and within 30 minutes it can be cold and misty.