Jozi is actually pretty darn peaceful at 05h30 on a Thursday morning in May. Sure, it's the kind of weather that suits polar bears rather than people and not even the sun's done a wake up but it's quiet. The city seems to stand still, if only for a few hours before the worker bees descend on the roads and buzz around dodging guys selling coat hangers and sunglasses and 'that was so made in Taiwan' Bafana Bafana tees.
I bet you're thinking: "how does she know this?" Which is understandable – I'm the kinda girl who is usually fast asleep, tucked deep under a gazillion blankets with a hubby to me right and a puppy to my left until the sun is in the sky. Linda Evangelista famously said that she wouldn't get out of bed for less than a hundred thousand dollars... Well, I definitely 'aint a supermodel (I'm a few sandwiches short of that picnic) but I used to have a demand of my own when it came to ringing in a new day – "I don't get out of bed until I can actually see my bedroom without turning a bedside lamp on." My, my how things have changed.
This morning my alarm went at 05h00 (you know it's early when I actually need an alarm because not even puppy can be bothered to wake me up that early) and I bounced out of bed as quietly as possible, tossed off my PJs in the dining room and I'd like to say slipped elegantly into my awesome new Adidas Winter running leggings but I must be honest and admit that I wiggled rather clumsily into my running gear (there's a lotta very firm lycra and not a lotta firm flesh – I blame the box of uneaten marshallow Easter eggs that hubby and I clean forgot about and I found last week).
Anyway, by 05h30 I was on the road slowly getting my body heat up and the shivering down. I plotted my route in my head, promised myself that I'd stick to it – even the nasty hill that is maxwell Drive – switched on my heart rate monitor and picked up the pace. There wasn't car on the road and the frosty tar glistened promisingly under the street lights. For a moment I thought I may be the only nutter exposing herself to potential frostbite in the pursuit of fitness... then, I saw them – a little swarm of flashing lights and reflective waist belts darting in the darkness towards me and ahead of me and on the opposite side of the road. I was far from the only nutter. I wasn't alone, slightly insane roadrunners were everywhere. In the chilled, dark stillness there was this fabulous display of fitness... a symphony of sweat complete with it's own LED mini firework display!
Just when you think you know everything there is to know about Jozi, the city of gold surprises you. I've got another date with my city at 05h30 tomorrow, same time, same place, same lights. Now I've just gotta pop into Totalsports to see if they do a reflective waistband thingee in pink...
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