Midmar 2022 - Another 8 Miles

[Jigghead]

Hubbers, as some of you may be aware, I have been participating in the Midmar Mile 8 Mile swim for some time now. In fact, I have completed six to date.

 

2022 was gearing up to be momentous as my daughter, at age 16, has become eligible to compete in this event as well and we were super excited to do this together. 2021 was strange as Midmar was cancelled due to COVID-19. We did, however, get permission to swim the 8 Mile event though and this was done on the Thursday and Friday, with no boat transport. A decision by the organisers was taken to swim Finish-Start-Finish-Start which was quite a change as I'd never swum Midmar backwards before. It was so successful though, that a decision has been taken to repeat this this year with the 8 Mile no longer taking place with the group swims but as a separate event on Thursday and Friday again.

 

The excitement of completing this event with my daughter was quickly dashed however, when on 21 August 2021 I was involved in quite a serious MTB accident that left me with a fractured vertebra in my thoracic spine, a broken nose, and serious dose of roasties, some of which required stitches. The neurosurgeon ruled me out of any exercise for six months. I healed a bit and was given permission to get onto a stationary bike at the end of November, although no resistance was allowed. Full recovery has been slow though with constant pain almost daily. The pain has disappeared over the last week or two and I'm gently getting into the pool again, with a view to hopefully being able to accompany my daughter on her first 8 Mile, although my ability to keep up with her, even at full fitness, is doubtful at best. She has promised that she'll hang back for us to complete our last mile together though.

 

Now the kicker, we are doing this for CHOC (Childhood Cancer Foundation of South Africa). These guys do amazing work, not only in assisting with the provision of care for childhood cancer sufferers, but also by providing accommodation and transport to the parents of these little fighters. Often this support is the difference between whether these kid's parents are actually able to bring them through to the major centers for treatment or not. In short, it's life saving. Please go an have a look on their website to see what they do: www.choc.org.za

 

Over the last four years swimming & cycling for CHOC, I have raised almost R100,000 for them and am super excited that my daughter has chosen CHOC as her charity of choice as well. We are obliged to raise R10,000 each for this worthy cause, failing which we are liable for this sum ourselves. Whilst I normally add to the total myself anyway, the time off work due to injury, coupled with the economic issues caused by COVID (I'm a commission only earner), makes this year a little tough to carry this.

 

Please can I ask that you consider supporting our cause? It's as easy as as online shopping and any amount will be greatly appreciated. Please send this to anyone who may be interested as well.  I'm happy to do some stupid stuff to acknowledge your donations, although it'll need to be contingent on full recovery.

 

Check out or fund raising pages and have a look:

 

Jason Raath is raising funds for CHOC | kydrin foundation

Edited January 27, 2022 by Jigghead

[Mike Mac]

Done

And all the best to you and your daughter with the swim.

 

M

[Jigghead]

On 1/3/2022 at 1:56 PM, Mike Mac said:

Done

And all the best to you and your daughter with the swim.

 

M

Thank you so much. 

[Jigghead]

Did I mention that S18A tax certificates are available on request! This donation is fully tax deductible.

Having been given the go ahead by my neurosurgeon to start swimming again, I was wondering how much swimming would be enough to feel well enough prepared for next month's swim. I figured a nice round number of 100km would do the trick. Now it's just a question of getting the time in the water.

 

I'm 1,650m in to this target so far. Watch this space....

Edited January 13, 2022 by Jigghead
There was extra information to add.

[Jigghead]

So pulled two swims out the bag this weekend, a little 2km on Saturday in a time of 1min 58 per 100m (that's just over a 40min swim), this was followed up by 3.55km yesterday, swimming at the same pace for a 1hr 9min swim. 

 

So my total is now sitting at 7.2km out of the 100km target, so I've got my work cut out for me. Seems, however, that 100km will be easier to pull of than R10K fundraising... 😉

[BigDL]

On 1/3/2022 at 10:05 AM, Jigghead said:

Hubbers, as some of you may be aware, I have been participating in the Midmar Mile 8 Mile swim for some time now. In fact, I have completed six to date.

 

2022 was gearing up to be momentous as my daughter, at age 16, has become eligible to compete in this event as well and we were super excited to do this together. 2021 was strange as Midmar was cancelled due to COVID-19. We did, however, get permission to swim the 8 Mile event though and this was done on the Thursday and Friday, with no boat transport. A decision by the organisers was taken to swim Finish-Start-Finish-Start which was quite a change as I'd never swum Midmar backwards before. It was so successful though, that a decision has been taken to repeat this this year with the 8 Mile no longer taking place with the group swims but as a separate event on Thursday and Friday again.

 

The excitement of completing this event with my daughter was quickly dashed however, when on 21 August 2021 I was involved in quite a serious MTB accident that left me with a fractured vertebra in my thoracic spine, a broken nose, and serious dose of roasties, some of which required stitches. The neurosurgeon ruled me out of any exercise for six months. I healed a bit and was given permission to get onto a stationary bike at the end of November, although no resistance was allowed. Full recovery has been slow though with constant pain almost daily. The pain has disappeared over the last week or two and I'm gently getting into the pool again, with a view to hopefully being able to accompany my daughter on her first 8 Mile, although my ability to keep up with her, even at full fitness, is doubtful at best. She has promised that she'll hang back for us to complete our last mile together though.

 

Now the kicker, we are doing this for CHOC (Childhood Cancer Foundation of South Africa). These guys do amazing work, not only in assisting with the provision of care for childhood cancer sufferers, but also by providing accommodation and transport to the parents of these little fighters. Often this support is the difference between whether these kid's parents are actually able to bring them through to the major centers for treatment or not. In short, it's life saving. Please go an have a look on their website to see what they do: www.choc.org.za

 

Over the last four years swimming & cycling for CHOC, I have raised almost R100,000 for them and am super excited that my daughter has chosen CHOC as her charity of choice as well. We are obliged to raise R10,000 each for this worthy cause, failing which we are liable for this sum ourselves. Whilst I normally add to the total myself anyway, the time off work due to injury, coupled with the economic issues caused by COVID (I'm a commission only earner), makes this year a little tough to carry this.

 

Please can I ask that you consider supporting our cause? It's as easy as as online shopping and any amount will be greatly appreciated. Please send this to anyone who may be interested as well.  I'm happy to do some stupid stuff to acknowledge your donations, although it'll need to be contingent on full recovery.

 

Check out or fund raising pages and have a look:

 

Jason Raath is raising funds for CHOC | kydrin foundation

Erin Raath is raising funds for CHOC | kydrin foundation

Donation made. Good luck to you both. What a great experience to share with each other 

[Jigghead]

9 minutes ago, BigDL said:

Donation made. Good luck to you both. What a great experience to share with each other 

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

[Jigghead]

OK, so maybe swimming 100km in the month between getting the all clear and the event was a little optimistic. I've managed only around 25km in the last two weeks which is a little disappointing. I do however, anticipate getting in around 20-25km per week for the next two weeks leading up to Midmar.

 

As you may or may not be aware, fundraising is still slower, even slower than my swimming. Don't forget peeps, that although I love this event, it is still all in aid of kids with cancer.

 

You can donate here: Jason Raath is raising funds for CHOC | kydrin foundation

 

you could also check out CHOC and see the awesome work the do here:

 

www.choc.org.za

EVERY PENNY COUNTS

[Jigghead]

This is this morning's swim.

 

Since being cleared for training on 12th January, I have managed to get 27.8km completed in the pool. 

 

Tomorrow, I will do my first open water swim in a long time, and the first since my accident. I'm nervous and excited all at the same time. I will be trying 4 miles, one after the other, something of a simulation of one day of the event. If all goes well, i may try the same on Sunday. 

 

Donations remain open, check out my site...

 

Jason Raath is raising funds for CHOC | kydrin foundation

Edited January 28, 2022 by Jigghead

[Jigghead]

So we kick off on Thursday, and time is running out, training wise and fundraising wise. Between the two of us we've managed to reach R7,800 for me and R5,900 for my daughter. Please can I ask anyone who has even R100 spare to go to our fundraising page and drop a couple of buck in for the kids of CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation. These guys really do amazing work. 

Jason Raath is raising funds for CHOC | kydrin foundation

I managed a long swim yesterday, although the weather has hindered getting too much open water time in. I'll do 2km's tomorrow and the same on Wednesday, with Midmar kicking off for the 8 milers on Thursday. Please help if you can.