SOUTH Africans who habitually spend their weekend mornings having a late lie-in or slothing in front of the television don’t know what they are missing.
There is a whole community of early risers out there who have probably completed an exhilarating walk, hike, trail, run, cycle, swim, paddle, surf, birding session, game viewing drive or motorbike run before the slothful ones have had their first cup of coffee.
By saying indoors they are missing out on a whole lot of action – and frittering their precious weekend down-time away.
Take Saturday morning a few weeks ago, when we were up and on the road by 5am, heading to Ballito on another parkrun tourist mission.
Bill and I are hoping to complete parkruns at 20 different South African parkrun locations to earn our official parkrun tourist status by the end of this year.
My son and his family were spending time messing around with boats in Richard’s Bay.
Their recently acquired yacht had been out of the water to have its bottom scraped (or something like that) and my son and daughter-in-law had been very busy with other maintenance work, including adding child safety features to the boat.
The safety of their two small children – our beloved grandchildren – has to be paramount.
After much hard work they were now starting on the fun part, getting to know their yacht by sailing it around the harbour.
They wanted to take us out for a harbour cruise so we decided to combine a sleepover on the yacht with another parkrun tourist tick. We’d do the Ballito parkrun at Sugar Rush park, inland from the coastal town of Ballito, then we would head to Richards Bay to enjoy, weather permitting, our promised afternoon sail.
Knowing that the N2 can be busy and congested, we left in plenty of time for the 8am parkrun start.
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Near Ballito, we turned inland and followed the signs to the venue, finding our way through the sugar cane fields and arriving at Sugar Rush park just after 7am.
We were rather disconcerted to see the car park almost full already. Wow, this must be a huge parkrun – but why is everyone here so early?
We then noticed that most of the SUV’s and other sporty looking vehicles in the car park were equipped with bicycle racks. Tons of people were already out and about, riding mountain bikes on the adventure park’s many trails and making the most of their precious Saturday mornings.
We set off to find the parkrun start, stopping for a pre-run caffeine boost at the coffee shop. There was also a big restaurant, where some cyclists were already tucking into their post-ride breakfast.
The children’s playing area was also starting to attract budding action men and women and we noticed there was a big indoor play centre for them, too.
It was so great to see so many people of all ages out and about, keeping themselves fit, trim and healthy.
We found the start and stood around for a while, chatting to locals and visitors from other park runs.
It was such a beautiful morning, a sort of spooky mist keeping things a little cool although no doubt the mercury would soar once the sun burnt off the mist.
Whereever you do a parkrun in South Africa, you meet such lovely, friendly people – and the same applied to the four parkruns we did while visiting our other son in Australia.
By the time the volunteers were ready to set the stop watches in motion , a substantial crowd had accumulated. I am a parkrun shufflers rather than a runner, walking much of the way but breaking out into a gentle jog from time to time.
However, that is the beauty of the parkrun concept. You can do the events at your own pace and there is a place for everyone, from the fastest runner to the slowest walker, in the global parkrun family.
It also encourages you to push yourself just that little bit harder, upping your fitness levels a bit. It is a timed 5km run or walk and parkrunners, so even the least competitive find themselves chasing new PBs (personal bests).
The Ballito parkrun was a little undulating and much of the way was through the breaks in the sugar cane fields so you had to watch your steps.
It was a very pleasant run, though, and we thoroughly enjoyed ticking it off. That made 13 different South African parkrun locations for Bill and 12 for me.
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It didn’t take us long to scoot down the highway to Richards Bay where we met our family at the well-appointed Zululand Yacht Club.
My son and daughter-in-law had a bit of admin to sort out so we took our grandchildren off to play in the playground. After an on-board picnic lunch the wind started to pick up a little and conditions for a sail seemed good.
Except for a sail round Durban harbour with friends a few years ago, I haven’t been on a yacht since our children were young and we spent many happy holidays sailing on Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe.
The new boat was handling beautifully and the weather was just perfect. And it brought back so many happy memories for me of all our wonderful sailing holidays when our sons were young.
By the time we made it back to the safe sheltered berth at the yacht club we were more than ready for well-earned sundowners after a wonderful day of non-stop action.
What fun we’d had – and to think we could have lazed away a day better spent making those happy memories.
Enjoying an active weekend is not only about keeping fit, although health benefits should be weighed in the balance.
While the odd lazy Saturday or Sunday charges batteries, but by spending too much weekend time snoozing, slothing or staring into a screen, we miss out on all sorts of good stuff happening outside.
And, I was reminded when I woke up on a gently rocking boat, early on Sunday morning, then went on deck with my grandchildren to see the resident osprey flying past, people who sleep in on a weekend morning are missing out on the best part of the day.
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