Patricia Avenue of Kirstenbosch lined with Camphor and Morton Fig trees In my mind’s eye, the terrain of South Africa is brown: dried grasses; elephant-damaged trees, blackened shadows against the open sky; lichen-covered rock outcroppings; murky ponds with hippopotamus eyes peeking above the water line; rutted and dusty dirt roads; barren mountains rising above the rolling …
We arrived mid-afternoon at Bodhi Khaya Nature Retreat, an eco-sanctuary nestled in a valley beneath the Overstrand Mountains southeast of Cape Town. The drive was an adventure in itself: A missed turn on the narrow road necessitated a very careful U-turn by our bus driver; an overhanging branch required one of the retreat’s staff to …
Running and Africa are almost synonymous, at least at the elite level with talented Kenya and Ethiopian runners training at altitude, breaking records, dominating the world stage. In South Africa, the Comrades Marathon is the world’s oldest and largest ultramarathon. Held annually in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa between the cities of Durban and …
The walk: Our nature walk was to be an hour, a few kilometers outside the fences of Idube Nature Retreat. Inside the fences, we were protected from this big beasts who are unable to crawl under them. The retreat is part of the Sabie Sands Natural Reserve, contiguous with Kruger National Park, South Africa. The …
The Biltmore Kiwanis 15k road race seemed the perfect opportunity for someone who doesn’t really like races: run through the Biltmore Estate here in Asheville, North Carolina, parts of which are not typically open to guests. The start only five miles from our house. The 15k distance new to me. Early May, the estate grounds …
What does a dedicated runner do when she cannot run, felled by injuries, inclement weather, or travel? Or perhaps she wants to cultivate cross training activities, to enhance her running but also to work other muscles and strengthen connective tissue? Maybe she wants to shake up her daily routine while maintaining aerobic capacity, muscle strength, …
On Saturday, I ran the Cooper River Bridge Run, a 10k run from Mt. Pleasant, SC, to downtown Charleston, SC, over the Arthur Ravenel, Jr. bridge. It’s been almost two years since I’ve run a formal 10k race. Yearly, my speed declines, my endurance falters, my recovery takes longer. I love running, though. I try …
The backdrop: For the past several years, we’ve visited warm spots in early March with our older son and his family: San Diego, California, in 2019. Bermuda in 2020 (days before the COVID-19 pandemic in March closed most of the world). Sanibel Island, Florida, in 2022 (only months before Hurricane Ian destroyed access to the …
The winter sun in Lisbon in mid-January is piercing, still low in the sky, lighting the white marble and pastel-colored buildings with a golden glow at the end of the day. The sky is intensely blue, not quite Mediterranean, as Lisbon is on the Atlantic Ocean, but deep and solid. The trees were not yet …
This year’s list of books stretched from the cell and its impact on medicine, to reconsidering history, to a deeper understanding of human nature. Books written by favorite authors (Louise Erdrich, Ian McEwan, Anthony Doerr, Isabel Allende, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Ali Smith) and non-American authors (Valerie Perrin, Giuseppe Di Lampedusa, Werner Herzog, Maggie O’Farrell). Science, nature, …