This weekend I participated in my very first Impi Challenge 2014! You know from my blog that exercise and I are SO not best friends. Every female blogger is so damn gym-y with their trainer Instagrams, Sea Point sunset pics and great bodies. I, literally, may be the first who the closest I’ll get to a gym is taking pictures of boets, after party sunrises and NO body selfies! So me doing the Impi was literally a strange occurrence, but I managed to rope in some of my fit friends to spur me on.The Impi Challenge is an obstacle course fun run of various lengths. I took the first one up after kids, duh.
The weather said it was going to be 30 degrees on Sunday so I was doubly doubting if I could do it. Luckily the weather was a perfect 25. I drove out to the outskirts of Stellenbosch and made my way down the dusty road. After years of partying, it was pretty cool to feel functional on a Sunday morning. Families came to support their loved ones and made their way up the path to the activities.
I parked RIGHT on the top of a hill next to some cool cows. I saw numerous teams dressed up, it seemed people were really there for the fun. I was really worried I’d be with super fit people but “normal” people like me part-took too. I heard the zigzag on the hill was the worst part and they were right! I did about 8 out of the ten, down the hill, up the hill, down the hill, up the hill and then I cheated. Yeah I know. I never cheat but when it comes to exercise you’re only cheating yourself and I actually wanted to make it through the course to the end!
After the first ziggy hill we plunged into a dam, that was cold but fun. We then had to climb over walls. My team mates helped lift me over but then I cheated and skipped the second one. I don’t need to be a hero. We carried on running through the Port Jackson type forest. We had numerous other activities along the route that included monkey bars, jungle gyms, using a rope to climb over a slope, under some wire over a mud bath (skipped that too – was SO not in the mood for cement coloured mud in unexpected places), up a few more hills (there was one in particular that really did nearly kill me) and down to the home stretch.
The views across Stellenbosch were truly glorious. We started a bit late (11:20) which also meant it was quite hot but I survived! I didn’t actually die! Having said that, the race was meant to be 6km and according to my friend’s Garmin watch, we did 7.7kms. So that would explain why the last hill nearly killed me. At the 4km mark they gave us coke and water…coulda done with that at the 2km mark but hey! It was fun and I did ok! I’d love for someone from Impi to tell us where we may have added in that extra 1.7 kms! (PS I spoke to Mr Cape Town and his run was also much longer than it was meant to be!)
HUGE thank you to Impi for having me, to ReVite for the free vitamins and all the fun. I wasn’t able to go to pole dancing this week because my legs started to break on Monday afternoon and I’ve been getting up like I’m pregnant and walking like Walt Junior since Tuesday. It was a lot of fun and hey…I might actually do it again next year, you never know. (But don’t hold your breath.)
Thanks for reading, until next time 🙂
