trail running

Ultra Running; Love. Can. Do.

October 13, 2016adventure, photography, sportsdesert relay, dibba, dubai, long distance running, photographer, photography, production, run, salomon, trail running, uae, ultra running, wadi bih

I always mean to write this post during a big race, when the thoughts are most fresh in my mind, but somehow I never get round to it and then on return home, reality kicks in and the routine takes over. So I went back to a voice memo I recorded during the 50k Urban Ultra Race.

Why is (long distance) running such a key part of my life? Why am I doing this? The hours on your feet, top to toe pain, negative self talk, dizzy sun rises and complete exhaustion. Why?

It’s hard to pin point what it comes down to but I’ll give it a try. For me, it’s about being out on nature’s trails because… well, because I love it. Because I can. Because this is what I do. These three words; LOVE, CAN & DO kinda sum it up for me. It’s about putting momentum towards the stuff I love, which works for running but also other passions in life. It’s important to walk your talk, even if it’s a long walk. It’s also about sharing the field with like-minded, driven and ambitious people. We’re all here, from all walks of life, for the experience. Being out there, running together and embracing your surrounds is all that counts.

Earlier this year, I ran the Salomon Wadi Bih 72k solo and below is the brief race recap…

It’s 4.30am as the start gun goes off and we’re pounding through the sleepy town of Dibba. Once we pass the empty dam on the edge of the village, the race continues in a pitch black wadi (dry riverbed) filled with nothing but the meditative spotlights of fellow runners’ headlamps. After years of being on the other side of the lens and shooting the this Desert Relay, I thought it was time to sign up to run solo and give it my best bash.

Needless to say, it was tough. We basically ran through the wadi for 30 or so kilometres followed by a 1,000m mountain climb towards the turnaround point at 36km. The route returns back down the same way to finish at the Golden Tulip Hotel on the beach. The first part was amazing, running at night amongst these big rock faces and witnessing a new dawn. I even quite enjoyed the big mountain climb as a good, strong hike proved a welcome relief from trail running. I checked off the first half of the race in a little under four hours which I was pretty pleased with and I passed the 50km marker in reasonable shape, but the remainder, I recall, went downhill (no pun intended).

My nutrition was ok but my legs were screaming and the hallucinations, that all us runners can associate with, began with me seeing no other than Elvis stepping out of a 4×4 and strutting his stuff. These crazy thoughts at least brought me some much needed distraction. It’s fascinating during a long race, to observe how the brain behaves, the mad mind games it plays. And then there’s the constant inner voice telling you to stop, to give up, to reserve your body and mind for the hectic work and home life that lies beyond the race. It’s insane.

Of course, all “good” things come to an end… as does the finish arch eventually appear in the far distance followed by great applause and a well-deserved medal. Bingo. “What next?” I immediately ask myself. We’re a strange bunch, that you cannot argue!

The following day I shot the relay race, working on capturing some beauty shots for sponsor, Salomon. Surprisingly, I had a pretty swift recovery from my own race. My legs were sore yes, but my joints had held up pretty well, which is always my biggest concern. Knowing the course and the experience that fellow athletes are going through certainly helps to create strong imagery. Knowing where to shoot, where the landscape is best, is often the hard part but luckily I’d seen it all the day before.

My thanks to John Young and the entire Wadi Bih team for putting on an amazing race. Anyone considering an epic mountain running experience, stay tuned to their webpage. Next year’s race marks their 25 year anniversary so it will no doubt be a special one.

Wk.

I ran 555km!

August 30, 2016reflective, sportseurope, goals, injury, matterhorn, mount ventoux, photographer, photography, race, run, running, sport, switzerland, trail running, trails

Last summer I decided to do something different… to run every day that I was in Europe. This meant 55 days straight, with the aim of clocking 555km. The adventure started as soon as I touched down at Amsterdam airport. As I loaded my family and luggage into the taxi, I tightened my laces, waved goodbye and got started…

I ran mostly on trails, away from tarmac and cars, away from the concrete jungle and urban surrounds. It wasn’t about clocking mileage… more about the spirit of adventure… about exploration, about discovery, about checking out new sights and sounds in my running shoes. I relish the simple things that life has to offer, like drinking water from source, smelling fields full of flowers, breathing in fresh mountain air, enjoying the sunrise, watching cows graze, picking berries and chasing wildlife. I pretty much always returned to base long after I’d promised my wife…

I’ll be honest though. It was a push to run every day. Trying to fit running time in with family time and a pretty ad hoc holiday schedule didn’t come easy but often the runs that started with a “because I have to” attitude, turned out to be the most awesome.

My biggest fear throughout was getting injured and a pretty serious ankle injury lingering from last summer acted as a strong reminder to be cautious. The key, I think, was to build up slowly mileage-wise and hit the rocky trails with respect. Thankfully, my body didn’t let me down. Towards the end of the summer as my runs got longer, there was little or no time for recovery. At the start of the last few early morning runs, I felt like a stiff, old man but once my body warmed up, I loosened up and fell into a nice rhythm. Lesson for next time? More yoga in between.

I got lost multiple times, ran out of water, got caught out by darkness and was attacked by dogs. I ran in the mountains, got to the top of Mount Ventoux, turned around and raced back down, played around the Matterhorn, ran through farmlands, across rivers and amongst vineyards and fruit farms. I ran races, with a hangover once or twice and shared runs with friends, family (always a highlight) and with strangers. I clocked up some insane elevation gain, enjoyed an awesome night run in Switzerland, upset mountain bikers by running on their tracks, got soaked in the rain and found myself bruised, cut and chaffed in all manner of places. Need I mention that I loved it all?

Wk.

Adventure HQ Photoshoot

November 22, 2015adventure, photography, sportsabsolute adventure, adventure, adventure hq, camping, dubai, experience, fat biking, fishing, kayaking, mountains, photographer, photography, road cycling, rock climbing, skate boarding, sports, surf skiing, trail running, uae, yoga

That million-dollar question… how long will it take to shoot? Rock climbing, mountain biking, skate boarding, road cycling, kayaking, surf skiing, camping, trail running, yoga, fat biking, diving, fishing, BBQ… and the shoot list didn’t end there. I looked at the client and replied with “10 days”. They looked back, grinned and responded with “how about three days?” I laughed… and then we settled on five.

Five days… and I still don’t know how we fitted it all in. Days were jam-packed with crew call times at 3 or 4am making for 16hrs day. Pre-production was key, with extensive location scouting and setting up the shots at the best outdoor locations in both the UAE and Musandam in Oman. We pretty much crafted a minute by minute production schedule, making the best of the sweet early morning and afternoon light. I can’t remember how many brands were represented with hundreds of items and dozens of athletes / talent. But most importantly we all an amazing time in the great outdoors.

Why do I love shooting adventure sports? Because we’re all in it for memories, all keen to create stories. And stories are so powerful. It’s a great opportunity to work with amazing athletes and adventurers. And its a grand excuse to head out into the mountains, live it to the max and enjoy the great outdoors. For me, it’s pretty much second nature but for some of the crew it meant first-time camping or getting high up in the mountains. Seeing their enormous grins during those long days was super rewarding.

I created a mood board with images I’ve shot in the past or collected from adventure brands for years, just as a reference to dig into when stuck on site or to explain individual concepts to the team. In an ideal world, you’d shoot a real and raw adventure over a ten day expedition where gear, people and clothing naturally gets worn in and roughened up. Instead, in this shoot we sped up time by rolling in the sand and using other dirty tricks. At the end of the day, the images had to look genuine, unstaged, real and inspiring. I know that’s what we delivered.

Have a look at my main site where you’ll find the full image gallery and seriously check out the behind the scenes video on the top of this post, which besides the production side of things also shows the adventures YOU can have in our region. We do live in an amazing playground with unlimited access.

A big shout out to the crew at Absolute Adventure for keeping us out of trouble and being our partner in ground support. Anyone who gets inspired and is keen to venture off should contact these guys. They’ll take you outdoors, look after you and give you an amazing adventure experience.

I’ve got a few amazing brands that support me with the work I do. Many thanks to Goal Zero for keeping us powered up, fstop gear for their fab pack to haul our gear around the mountains, Aquatec for keeping my camera bombproof dry in the ocean, SanDisk for their fast and uber reliable CF cards and Western Digital for safely storing 100’s of GB’s of data on their HD’s. These are amazing brands to rely on when digging it deep in far away places.

Finally, thanks to everyone for bringing their energy and making it all happen! When tempted to buy some new outdoor toys and gadgets. Check out the Adventure HQ stores around the UAE… and when you’re there, pick up the new catalogue. I heard it looks really nice…

Behind the scene image by Kish

Till the next adventure….

Wk.

555 Challenge

June 29, 2015adventure, reflective, sportsadventure, challenge, dubai, europe, france, holland, mountains, running, summer, suunto, trail running, trails, work life balance

I’m currently prepping for my annual escape from the heat… Dubai, you may have heard, was recently marked as the hottest place on the planet! As always the loose agenda involves quality family time in Europe, fresh air, green mountains, local produce and hooking up with friends. A little work but mainly play, a chance to take a breather from Dubai’s hectic work-life balance…

This trip is also pinned to be a chance to crank up my running mileage again, digging into my passion for trail running and exploring new places. So with 55 days in Europe, I’m up for a little challenge. The question is, what challenge? One that gives me ample chance to run but also falls in line with family time… I wouldn’t swap valuable time with my wife and kids for any race. Being too sore to play with my boys or falling asleep during dinners just isn’t an option.

So my decision landed on committing to run every day… 55 consecutive days and 555km total mileage. I’ll run a few trail races (listed below) and in between I’ll just crack on with daily jaunts myself. I figure by writing down my wish list, I’m making myself accountable… telling the world via the world wide web. I plan to record my runs too with my Suunto Ambition 3 so stay tuned to my Facebook page where I’ll be posting updates, stories and images.

19k Trail De Schaak – Holland
24k Oosterhoutse Trail – Holland
30k Utrechtse Heuvelrug Trail – Holland
26k Trail du Ventoux – France
31k Matterhorn Ultraks – Switzerland
31k Trail des Fantomes – Belgium
16.5k Trail Landgoed Bornia – Holland
29k Kromme Rijnpad – Holland

Why am I doing this? I’m not going to answer that question. If you can’t answer it yourself, just take the plunge and give it a try yourself. You’ll soon discover why!

As for how I came up with the 555 challenge?

I was inspired by my South African friend, Lisa de Speville, who started off running every day for the 35 days before her 35th birthday. She’s been doing this ever since, adding a day with each passing year. I loved the idea and started off with a 40 day running plan, to mark my turning 40 this year. Somehow that evolved into 55 days! Lisa runs her own adventure blog and also www.AR.co.za… a must visit for avid runners.

To avoid running injuries and ease myself gently into the mileage, I’ve been doing some shorter runs here in Dubai. 5.30am starts mean I can beat the sun rise and the soaring heat. Each one acts as another reminder of why I’m escaping next week!

Wishing you all an awesome summer…

Wk.

The love for trail running

December 10, 2014adventure, photography, reflective, sportsalps, discovery, exploring, france, nokia lumia 1020, photography, trail running, trails, use photographer

Photography and running… where my two greatest passions meet!

When Stefan, a buddy who works for Nokia / Microsoft was raving about their new Nokia Lumia 1020 with a 41 megapixel camera phone, I looked at him and said… “Yeah right. You must be joking!” In my view, 41 megapixels is like working with a medium format camera like a Hasselblad or a Phase One… not with a 160 gram mobile phone! But he was adamant that the gear on hand was so worth it. “Just try it,” he urged, then just before we both set off on our annual summer sabbaticals, he dropped off a box with a brand new Lumia 1020. Naturally, I felt compelled to give it a good bash!

As many of you know, the months of July and August are when I switch off, leave my gear and worries behind and head to Europe… to family, to friends, to a green horizon and to the Alps. This summer I had in tow my iPhone, a Canon G1X and the above mentioned Lumia 1020. The Lumia, I decided, would join me on my trail running journeys. A perfect slim fit inside my trail running pack.

I pretty much managed to run every second day for the two months I was away and would have easily clocked around 300 km’s. I ran in Holland, France and Austria, mostly on forest trails, along shorelines, through mountains and up some serious cliff faces. It felt liberating… so fresh, so exploratory. With all the travelling we did, every run was different. On my more remote runs, I would take a picture of a portion of the map with an imaginary route and leave the map at the lodge. This works, provided you stay within the confines of the map! Once, I accidentally took a wrong turn at the base of Mt. Ventoux in France and ran off my picture, off the map. I was lost and loved it, thanks to the excuse to explore a little more and add an hour or so onto my run. I returned exhausted yet happy.

For a few years now, I’ve run without a watch or any other tracking device. It feels awesome making the focus more about freedom and less about performance. And that, for me, is what trail running is all about… letting the route and trails dictate how the session pans out. Granted, I did get an occasional stern look when I got home later than planned but that’s all part of the package.

I knew that I would be running in stunning places, the memories of which fade fast but with my little Lumia within reach, it was easy to capture the beautiful surroundings and at 40mp, these pictures could have the potential to feature on a massive billboard. The camera worked wonders and the images on the 4.5” screen looked amazing, nicely saturated in rich colours and with exceptional detail. I loved the simplicity of taking pictures, the movable focus point. It would need to operate a little quicker, in terms of frames per second, if I were to use it for pro assignments but I can easily imagine this could be rectified in future models. It’s only when bringing the images into Photoshop, that you’re reminded that these are pictures taken on a mobile phone. Size matters only when a particular size is needed and 41mp is a lot of pixels. A lot! The top image here, my favourite, I plan to print as a massive 4x2m wall graphic in our new office as a sweet reminder of the joys of trail running in the Alps and as proof that the 1020 is serious piece of kit.

Wk.

Trails & tales with The North Face

June 8, 2014adventure, photography, sportsadventure, dubai, outdoors, photography, running, sports, the north face, trail running, uae

My very first experience with The North Face goes back to a purchase some 25+ years ago and over the years, I’ve trashed their packs, duffles, tents, tops, base layers and shoes at exciting places all over the world. They’re an awesome outdoor brand just crying out to be played with.

So when the phone rang and Craig, their Middle East brand guy, asked if I wanted to do some trail running work with them, it was a no brainer. Their logo is on my ‘brands I would love to work for’ board so needless to say, I was eager to grab this opportunity. I did some work with The North Face brand ambassador, Dean Karnazes in ’08 and ’09 with some extreme running in Chile and China and my… (more…)