Day 5 - all about R67

Trainer Nic

R67 isn't a road you've never heard of. But it is really fitting and magical how that number keeps turning up. It was the cost of my supper from Food Inn India, in Riverside Centre, Rondebosch. Mike's cooking night took a genius turn. I ordered what were supposed to be half portions of Chicken Biryani and Dhal, and a taste of two other curries- and it was enough food to feed about three people. As good or better than Zaika in Kromboom Road, an even wider selection, and incredible value for money.

Day 5 took a much harder turn- running to gym with my own personal trainer-son, Nic, a hard workout and then of course we had to run home. So with jelly legs and a face that was redder than my top, the game is getting tougher. Funnily enough, it felt much harder to run there than back, even after 40 minutes of pushing up the heart rate. It must have been the encouraging thought that I didn't have to cook supper tonight.

The mind plays really funny tricks- and can be persuaded to keep pushing the body in all kinds of ways, when the body is saying no. On family walks, as kids, my dad taught us rhyming walking songs to keep the reluctant brood of children going,  along the lines of "I had a good job that I left, left, left, It served me jolly well right, right, right" and again. I am sure his mother taught it to him.
I try listening to motivate myself with new playlists, from Haezer to Kings of Leon, but gym can still feel like a strange and lonely place.
No-one really talks to each , and with headphones off, the only sounds are the whirr of machines , the slap of feet on banks of treadmills and the periodic crescendo of the Spinning class, even at 5pm with every UCT student in the suburbs filling the gym. And we all face the same direction, which makes turning to stare at your neighbor on a cycle a big no-no. The etiquette of private space applies in this public space.

So the sweet girl on the step machine tonight who offered advice on the benefits of sucking in my stomach while on the step machine tonight was an exception. Thank you.