It Happens!

I read my last post, I saw the date and realised it was more then a year ago. Did I give up
did I give in, have I lost, what happened to the dream.

The dream to climb Mount Kilimanjaro is still there, it is implanted into my heart but so much has happened in the past year, which in so many ways is mapping the climb up the mountain.

Today I went walking, the first 1km is hell on earth. My legs have been enjoying their freedom of sitting the whole day, which I don't, they seem to think its what they are made for, but I don't so we force ourselves to walk.

One step, two steps, feels like I have bricks on my feet. The crazy thing is this is just how it will be and I need to push through the  lazy thoughts in my head, I need to push through the paralysis in my legs and keep walking one foot in front of the other, not giving up, not letting my feet drag and making sure after the 1km I walk the next 1km, and then the next 1km, and then the next.

This is not just about becoming fit and able to walk physically but my mind needs to push through the blocks it has built to just give up. We are not here to give up, there is a mountain to be climbed, and this will be done.

Whats the timeline, whats the purpose, whats the point, who is going.
This will all unfold in the next while as I find my feet again and push through into the DREAM

Don't give up on your dreams

So my swim did not go as planned.......but I have to know that there was more to it then just a swim.
The friday night before the race I found out that it was a run/swim. Great you had to run from the start line to a buoy way down on the beach then you do one lap in the sea then get out run to another bouy and then get back into the sea and swim another lap, get out and run to the finish line, well if anyone knows me you would know I can't run. I felt defeated before the day was even on us.

All ended in disaster when the weather reek havoc and the wind was nearly 40 knots the sea was crazy and I just was wondering what am I doing. Megan and I devised a plan that she would be my runner. So I waited by the first buoy and soon Megan came running. Getting into the sea was nearly impossible and I kept being smashed by the waves. I kept trying i probably swallowed more sea water then a should have and I wanted to give up, Megan my dear friend kept saying come on Cath you nearly out of the waves and to the first buoy. After a mean fight to get to the first buoy, I was told to get out of the water :(

I walked away feeling a lot of stuff and spent the day wading through my head.
But lets leave it with this song from Rod Stewart -

ROD STEWART
"Never Give Up On A Dream"

(Rod Stewart, Bernie Taupin / Jim Cregan)

If there's doubt and you're cold,
don't you worry what the future holds.
We've gotta have heroes to teach us all
to never give up on a dream.

Claim the road, touch the sun,
no force on earth could stop you run.
When your heart bursts like the sun
never never give up on a dream.

Shadows fall, daylight dies,
freedom never got a place to hide.
Search forever photo finish line
but never give up on your dream.

Crazy notions fill your head,
you gotta break all the records set.
Push yourself until the end
but don't you ever give up on your dream.

Now listen to me
you don't need no restrictions yeah
Oh, sing it again
you can't live on sympathy.
You just need to go the distance,
oh the distance
that's all you need to be free,
to be free, to be free, to be free.

Sing a song for me children
you don't need no restrictions yeah
you can't live on sympathy.
You just need to go the distance,
that's all you need to be free,

Now listen to me!
Inspiring all to never lose,
it'll take a long long time before they fill your shoes
it'll take somebody, somebody, who's lot like you
who never gave up on a dream.
No, you never gave up on a dream
no, you never gave up on a dream.

You never, never, never,
never gave up on a dream.

Where I am at!

This year has flown by and I find myself wondering what happened to it many times. I feel in some ways I have not made the progress I wanted to, considering I missed my date for wanting to be on top of the mountain, but I have to use Gods date, that way I probably will be in line with what He is doing.

I realised that if I set goals to reach for then the mountain will not be as big as it seems right now. So I entered a swimming competition, I am so excited about this. Its time to start pulling my love for sport out of the grave yard, and let it live again.

I was attending this church and they have been planning this sporting event. its called the Anchor Challenge on the 11th December. Its a four part event, Moutain bike25km, running12km, swimming1.5km and kayaking10km. http://www.anchorchallenge.co.za/

No I am not doing all of them. Dont plan on killing myself. I am opting for the swim. I rounded up a team and we are called "The Players".
I had to laugh because when I told some people they heard I would be swimming in the sea. The beach is known for its sharks. Nice so we get to swim with the sharks!
So now I am training, as I type type this my arms are a bit tired. I was up at 6am this morning heading to the gym to do a 1.5km swim in the pool!

I have set this as a stepping stone to the big mountain. Its getting me out of my bad fitness level and its a small goal towards the bigger one. I have realised I work better with small goals leading me to the bigger goal. It helps me get up at 6am to go swim knowing that in 3 weeks time I have to do this race.
Its also pulling out a deep passion that has been dying!

Find that small goal and reach for the big one, find that dying passion and get it sparked again!
Live for the now, it is what counts!

Love
Cath

Going Around!

More and more I find myself being drawn to adventure and something that will push me to the limits! And I find people who enjoy the same thing and then try make sure I either 'read" their book or follow what they are up to online.

Once such person is a guy who firstly road around Africa on his bicycle and now has circled Madagascar on his kayak. His name is Riaan Manser. I came across his book on Africa a few years ago, a few days ago I attended his book launch of his new book "Around Madagascar on my kayak".

Riaan signing a copy of his book

It was great, he is an amazing humble guy and left me feeling excited about my adventure.

Catherine and Riaan

With one good leg, US veterans climb Mount Kilimanjaro

The climb proved perilous for the men who struggled for purchase on Mt Kilimanjaro's loose rock and scree paths

Three US amputee veterans have climbed Mt Kilimanjaro, enduring tumbles and sores to reach Africa's highest peak with only one good leg among them.

The veterans - of Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq - hiked to the top of the 5,891m (19,330ft) high Tanzanian mountain in six days to show that disability need not lead to inactivity.

The trip typically takes five or six days, and the men had to stop frequently to adjust their titanium prosthetic legs, as they slipped constantly on the loose scree-covered paths.

At 26, Neil Duncan of Colorado, who lost his legs in Afghanistan, was the youngest of the trio The hikers were Dan Nevins, 37, who lost his legs in Iraq; Neil Duncan, 26, who lost both legs in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan in 2005; and Kirk Bauer, 62, who lost a leg in Vietnam in 1969.

"If three amputees from three different wars and two different generations with literally one good leg can climb Kilimanjaro, our other disabled friends can get out and go hiking or go biking or swim a mile, can get out and lead a healthy life," Mr Bauer told the Associated Press news agency.

Mr Nevins developed a bad sore on one of his stumps and after reaching the peak was evacuated on a wheeled stretcher.

see more pictures http://www.reedhoffmann.com/Kili2010/index.html

Mr Bauer is executive director of Disabled Sports USA, a Washington DC-area organisation that promotes physical fitness and sport participation for individuals with disabilities.

Head First

"It is because they have so much to give and give it so lavishly..that men love the mountains and go back to them again and again" Sir Fracis Younghusband

This must be me, you would think after the amount of times I have fallen that I would not go back and hike but for some reason I keep going back for more, and more I get!
I am in slight pain today as yesterday Megan, Nithasha, Terri, her 3 friends, My dog Jessy and of course me went walking in Cecilia Forest.

I was tired yesterday and did ot feel like walking, I had to push my thoughts and my body aside and concentrate on moving up the mountain. After about 10 minutes I found my rythym and slowly we got up the first few hills of our walk. I had decided that walking on the big jeep tracks was good but I needed to walk on the more harder places as easy walking is not going to cut it for me, we need some challenges. The amazig thing is that the harder tracks are getting easier which does mean my walking is improving, Megan can vouch for that, its a process of walking past my mind and seeing what is ahead.
We had to turn around eventually as it was gettig late and we still had to make our way back to the car, but deep down I wanted to walk on and on and on.......

Heading back down was a head first experience. Megan and myself were just strolling along this little single track with lots of rocks, the next thing I knew I was sliding down the side of the mountain head first into more rocks below me. Somehow my trekking pole had lodge itself into the sides of where I was falling and I held onto that which saved ,me from a head on collision with the rocks below.

Megan hauls me up onto the path and in true Cath style, she kind of just sits there for a while on the path and eventually gets up and keeps walking, Megan was wondering whether she should take some lessons in how to pull Cath out of situations like that. We had a good laugh about it, but I guess it could have been more serious if I had fallen further.

We still had a way to walk to get to the car but on we pioneered, through the pains in my calf and my shin, we eventually made it to the car. It was encouraging because even though I was sore and finding it hard to walk, I still kept up my training in walking like I am suppose to walk. I think my brain was on over drive!!!

I was relieved when we got to the car, yet sad that I had to leave the mountain, the mountain has grown on me in ways unbelivable and all I want to do now is climb. I have been reading a book..."Facing Up" Bear Gylls and he sums it for me in one part of the book. The book is about him climbing Everest. He had broken his back in 3 places 2 years earlier.

"That evening talking with Scott, he told of the years of preparation he had done for this climb. Being out here, seeing the mountain but with a weak ankle, his ambition now was just to get to the Western Cwm. That was all he wanted. I felt humbled. Why was I aiming for the summit? Scott was training for this climb while I was still at school, yet he is only hoping to reach the Western Cwm. Maybe I was reaching to high. This troubled me that evening as I sat alone in my tent. But I knew that I had to stretch myself further and reach beyond my grasp. I felt this burning urge to go higher and I longed to witness the summit. The beauty of the places on the way there was unquestioned - what I had seen so far had stunned me in its sheer scale and beauty, but I felt there was more. My eyes and heart were for the summit and my dream was to reach it with the Person who had created it. I wanted this to be my journey" 

My eyes and heart are for the summit of Kilimanjaro and my dream is to reach it with the Person who created it. The amazing thing is I am reaching summits of different places in my life not just physical mountains and Jesus is with me! God is teaching me through my physical moutain walks what spiritual moutain walks are and how to walk them till you reach the summit!

Love
Cath

Space between your DREAMS

" Dont be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality, if you can dream it you can make it so" Belva Davis

I go through these stages of writting and then not writting, of dreaming and then not dreaming, of walking and then dragging my feet. Constantly feeling the space between my dreams and the reality I face each day. My mind is what stops my dreams. I could not really care about what my body is saying at the moment, it has not earned any points in this conversation as yet. So what am I doing at the moment? Contending for my dream in that space of reality!!!

What a place to be especially when I feel the full force of reality constantly pulling at my heels.. BUT what have I learnt about dreaming in this space? Well for one....
- When we don't dream we die.
- The dreams in my heart are Gods dream because I am His dream :)

There are times when our dreams happen without us having to do much and then there are dreams which push us to our limits. In both of these situations it should bring out our determination, our perseverance and most of all what do we believe.

In all of this the one question or not really a question but a challenge, "How BIG is your God", which should make you ask the question " How BIG is your dream"

Remember don't put God into your dream, put your dream into God, that way when you might feel your dream is to big, remember how big your God is.

"but the plans of the Lord stand firm for ever, the purposes of His heart through all generations" Psalm 33:11