29 August 2026 | Fair Cape Farm, Malanshoogte, Durbanville
Sometimes the brain is a wonderful thing.
It protects us from unpleasant memories, helps us move on from difficult experiences and, apparently, selectively deletes the hard bits of a trail run while keeping all the fun stuff.
Which is probably why I found myself back at the Fair Cape Trail Run at Fair Cape Farm in Malanshoogte.
It wasn’t my first time doing this race.
It was just so long ago that I had completely forgotten the route.
And perhaps that’s a good thing.
Because if I remembered exactly how many hills there were, I might not have come back.
Sometimes the brain blocks out the suffering and leaves us with only the good memories.
And that’s why we keep going back.
We arrived at around 7am to collect our registration tags. It had started raining when we left home, so I was already wondering what sort of conditions we were going to get.
Thankfully, by the time we reached the farm, the rain had mostly stopped.
The wind, however, had clearly decided that it wasn’t going anywhere.
The gees was already vibing, though, and that always makes a difference.
There is something about arriving at a trail race where everyone is milling around in running gear, drinking coffee, chatting about the weather and pretending that they haven’t noticed the hills in the distance.
It’s one of my favourite parts of racing.
The Fair Cape Trail Run is one of those events that just feels fun.
Lans Peplar and his team know how to put on a trail race, and it was really good seeing the Onsite Events team again. They have their trail events down to an absolute art.
Everything feels organised without losing that relaxed trail-running atmosphere.
We lined up for the 7:30am start and headed out onto the trails.
The route was a lovely mix of fast singletrack and rolling hills, with the occasional blast of wind just to keep things interesting.
And today I had a very specific plan.
This was supposed to be a recovery run.
I had run Puffie the previous week, followed that with a six-hour hike, and I was also being mindful of my back.
So there was absolutely no need to turn this into a race against myself.
The instructions to my legs were very clear:
Nice and easy.
Enjoy the trail.
Don’t be stupid.
The last one is particularly important.
The wind was smacking us around, the rain was threatening to return and there were enough rolling hills to remind us that “recovery run” is a concept rather than a guarantee.
But I really enjoyed it.
I enjoyed the running.
I enjoyed the trails.
And I enjoyed not having to chase a particular time or prove anything to anyone.
Sometimes a run is just a run.
And that’s enough.
One of the highlights was getting to try out a new trail shoe brand, 361, as part of a demo.
And I have to say, I was impressed.
The support was excellent and the grip was particularly good. The shoes felt confident on the trail and I enjoyed running in them.
There is, however, one small issue.
My toes would like some personal space.
I need a bigger toe box.
So, 361, if you’re listening…
Give my toes some room and we can talk. 😂
Back at the race village, the good vibes continued.
The support was excellent, the atmosphere was lekker and, of course, there was a goodie bag.
Never underestimate the psychological importance of a good goodie bag.
A person can be tired, wet, windy and slightly suspicious of the next hill, but hand them a bag full of goodies and suddenly everything is wonderful again.
And then I remembered something.
Actually, Facebook remembered something.
It was our anniversary.
Neither of us had remembered.
Facebook, apparently, had decided that our marriage needed technological intervention.
So I told Chucky.
His response?
“We had a lekker anniversary.”
And you know what?
He’s absolutely right.
Some couples celebrate their anniversary by going out for a romantic dinner.
We celebrate ours by getting up early, driving to a farm, putting on trail shoes and running through the hills in unpredictable weather.
Apparently that’s our version of romance.
And I’m perfectly happy with that.
The Fair Cape Trail Run was exactly what I needed.
No pressure.
No heroics.
Just a fun morning on the trails, good people, a great race village and enough hills to make sure we earned our breakfast.
Sometimes you just need to go outside and run because it’s fun.
And sometimes you need to forget the hills so that you can happily come back and do them again.
Which is probably exactly what my brain is going to do.
I’ll remember the beautiful trails.
I’ll remember the gees.
I’ll remember the goodie bag.
I’ll remember the great atmosphere.
I’ll remember the 361 shoes.
And those hills?
What hills?
My brain has already deleted them.
Fair Cape Trail Run ✔️
And happy anniversary to us. ❤️
Because apparently, after all these years, our idea of a good date is still a trail race.
I’ll take it.
Until the next trail…
Trail Banter
Distance: A respectable morning’s worth of trail
Weather: Windy with a side order of “is that rain coming?”
Trail conditions: Good fun
Recovery-run success: Mostly successful 😂
361 shoes: Excellent support and grip, but please enlarge the toe box
Race village: Lekker
Goodie bag: Important
Anniversary: Remembered by Facebook
Marriage strategy: Keep running together ❤️