Reflective Road Runs

This week has been quite hectic in the office as the teacher’s strike is STILL on this week. Usually, most of the staff is out visiting the different schools and sites in the afternoons so it’s been very crowded and loud as we try to figure out our next steps. We can’t go into the townships and run our programs, even though they are after school programs, because we are seen as a threat to educating the kids and thus it is unsafe. The strike carried over into public servants as well so the public hospitals and clinics have a very limited staff. In other places in the country, the military has been called in to keep the peace as the demonstrations are getting stronger and more heated. As usual though, Cape Town is very tame compared to the rest of the nation so no worries for us!

Because of the strikes, I’ve been in the office all day from 9-5.30….in front of a computer screen….and I think my brain is fried. Yesterday I was about to go crazy so I rushed home from work to go on a run around the common area in front of my house. I just needed to clear my head and get some exercise so I suited up and off I went. Now, I try to run as often as I can, but it certainly has been at least a month since my last run and this one was beyond comparison to any other run I’ve ever had. The entire time I was running around the commons, I had a perfect view of the sun setting behind Table Mountain. How absolutely incredible it was! I’ve posted a picture below so that you can see the majesty of the view, but as you know, the picture doesn’t even come close to the crisp winter air and the evening light of the whole event. The sun had already set by the time I ran home for my camera, but just do me a favor and imagine streams of yellow and orange light streaming up from behind the mountain. I don’t think I will ever get tired of this mountain. Every hour, every minute, the light casts different shadows forming a new look to the Table itself. If this is what I have to look at while I run every day, I think I could run for hours! (Ask me again in 2 months to see if its true, ha!) All in all, it was a successful run and I was able to clear my head and use muscles other than my eyeballs for a change J