Mom is an Ironman!

After 6 months of hard and strenuous training, I finally achieved my goal of completing the Ironman 70.3 in East London this last weekend. The 1.9km swim, 90km cycle and 21km run was a goal which I set myself shortly after giving birth. Thanks to some gentle persuasion from a few of my girlfriends I decided it would be a great achievement to get fit again and return this mommy's body back to its former state - that of an endurance athlete! I'm proud to say that I completed the race in a time of 6 hours and 34 minutes, well within my time of wishing to beat 7 hours. I was elated to have finally conquered this challenge after many hours of training, tiredness, exhaustion, struggling to stick to my training programme and continuously motivating myself for the last 6 months.

The conditions on the day were perfect: cool, overcast and little wind. We couldn't blame a poor performance on the weather. I was very excited to do the race - actually I was tired of all the training and just wanted to get it over and done with. So the nerves were calm as I didn't know what to expect. I had a very good swim, with no kicks or punches in the face and exited the water after 42 minutes. Running to the transition zone on wobbly legs while trying to strip off a wetsuit was interesting. Once on the bike, I tried to use my Tri bars as much as possible to rest my body but the harsh rolling hills didn't allow for such comforts. I had to be careful not to slipstream other cyclists as referees were continuously monitoring everyone's following distance. Transition into the run was slow as I slapped on as much suncream as I could before trying to find a steady rhythm. I started the run with a stitch and couldn't run very easily. I panicked as I thought of 21 painful kilometres to look forward to. So many times I felt like giving up - my body was sore, aching and had no energy. I pushed through and by 10kms felt alot better. I kept looking forward to the feeding points every 2kms where I would walk and drink as much as possible - that was the only thing that got me through the run. There was a nasty 1km hillclimb as well which saw me walking it both times (the run was 2 laps). I just kept telling myself that every step I took was one step closer to the finish. And finally the red carpet was there and I had done it!

Jaco and Milli supported me all the way! It was a long hot day for them but their cheering got me through my run. They were the best supporters that a mom could ask for!

I've been asked whether I'll do it again. The sore achy legs are enough for me to decline right now, but perhaps I'll look back one day and only remember the highlights and forget the pain!
Milli is 8 months old today and weighing 8kgs. She has found her voice in the last couple of days and babbles away non-stop. She is getting faster on her hands and knees and loves following Constance around the house. She is exploring every space in our flat which means we need to watch her every move. When there's silence, you know she's up to mischief. I miss those days that I could just plonk her down on the carpet and know she wasn't going to go anywhere....sigh!! You always want what you can't have ;-)

Milli on the Move

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2012 has already started out with a bang with my baby Milli going from sitting to crawling in no time at all! I am happy to report that after a frustrating month of balancing on her hands and knees with bum in the air and pointing her head down into the carpet, she has finally discovered how to mobilise those fat little legs and sumo arms and crawl. She's no longer happy to sit and play with her toys on the carpet anymore - she wants to see the world! Mom, dad and nanny are having trouble keeping a beady eye on her all of a sudden as she's quick as lightening to crawl from one spot to another. But, in true Cronje style, she's no longer happy to just crawl, she wants to start walking as well! Pulling herself up against the couch, TV cabinet, toy box and her bike (yes she got her first ybike for Christmas!) seems like such fun.....until she bliksems over and looks at you with puppy dog eyes before screaming.

I've suddenly realised (with sadness) that she no longer needs me. She can operate pretty much on her own these days. She told me that breastfeeding is for babies and only wants to eat proper food for brekkie, lunch and dinner. So its been a long and hard (in all senses of the word) road to dry these boobs out! She doesn't want me to hold her bottle while feeding her - she can do that all by herself. Her first tooth broke through this week, so she's getting ready to start chewing on some meaty biltong. We've dropped her bed down to the lowest level as we've often found her sitting up and crying when I go through in the middle of the night. She is very vocal about what she likes and doesn't like - don't ever think of taking a toy away from her when she's playing with it as she'll bite your head off with an angry scream! So she is becoming a real little missy....or just taking after her dad ;-)





Granny and grandpa were down in Cape Town for Christmas and Ouma was in town from the farm so she was a very spoilt little girl and spent many hours playing with them. Christmas day was so special with both my parents, Jaco's mom and brother with us to celebrate the day together. She was very spoilt with lots of pressies and I think loved the wrapping more than anything else! Actually mom enjoyed opening two lots of pressies on the morning as Milea didn't really know what to do with all of them! We really did get our money's worth from the ouma's in terms of babysitting as Jaco and I went training every morning in the holidays. The half ironman is next weekend and Jaco's cycling season starts this weekend. He's signed up with the BF team this season which means he's in line for a sponsored bike and all the kit which he's very happy about. 2012 seems to be a very big sporting year for both of us what with the half ironman in East London (Christie), Argus (both of us), Boland Tour (Jaco), Two Oceans Half marathon (both of us and Milli in her pram), and depending on training possibly the Epic for Jaco. It may just be the last time we'll be able to do all these things. I'm enjoying having my athletic figure back but have a feeling this is the most fittest, thinnest and well-toned I'm ever going to be in my whole life!! Sigh......



Milli was lucky enough to be selected to appear in 2 adverts recently: one for Huggies nappies and the other for a French catalogue. It was very exciting to see behind the scenes and take part in the photoshoots. She was such a star and behaved so well - the fame definitely didn't go to her head! It was very strange seeing her pose with an Italian model as her 'mom' in the Huggies photographs. And I didn't realise that they always cast 2 babies for photoshoots - 1 being the main baby and the other being the backup child in case the main baby doesn't feel up to posing that day. I'm pleased to say that she was great as the main baby and the other little one just sat around for 3 hours watching Milli strut her stuff. She will be appearing on the nappy packaging for Huggies from August 2012. The French catalogue photoshoot took place in the beautiful gardens of a Bishopscourt house. Milli had to pose with another little boy who had trouble sitting up by himself. They had to prop him up with lots of pillows so he didn't fall over. Milli took it in her stride and gave lots of big smiles while Constance (her nanny) jumped up and down and made funny faces at her behind the camera.

1 week to go before half iron man which means I need to stop typing and get out there and train!

Our Beautiful Girl at 6 months

So, as you can see, we are really into our photoshoots! Actually, we love our Groupon vouchers at the moment so could not resist to book a photoshoot with Milli to capture her smile at 6 months. It was not the easiest session to get through as the flashing lights really made her miff. It's not easy being a supermodel you know! The photographer captured some real beauties in the first 15 minutes.... and then it was game over!