April Roundup and Plan Bee

Training has been progressing well. The kilometers have been adding up with a healthy mix of hill and tempo training.

April just flew by with the Mt Mee Classic as my longest run while my longest week was the last one in April hitting 88kms total.

This being the first week of May, the goal is to average 100kms with a long run planned each week… or where this isn’t possible, two medium length back to backs.

For me, first and foremost the run is as much about the physical challenge as a chance strengthen the bond with my parents.

One thing that has been an ever-present part of our family is my father’s love for bees. I remember at the age of four being stung right between the eyes while sitting in our families Fiat 126 – pulling a trailer carrying a beehive.

After moving to Australia dad busied himself helping friends he made look after their hives and when we eventually moved into our own home and the backyard was cleared he managed to place a hive there. I remember cutting the wax off frames and placing them into the spinner… the sticking my finger under the drain and licking the delicious honey as it flowed into the bucket.

Dad’s hive and hobby continued to grow as we now had 3..5..10..30 hives.  And when times were tough he busied himself collecting honey and selling it by the kilo.

When the idea of the run began to form the question of whether i was running for a charity began to spring up. You don’t just run 1000kms for yourself! That’s selfish. I needed tip find a cause…but i couldn’t decide on anything. Ola suggested that I could raise awareness for some kind of environmental issue. The connection with bees, the environment and my family was easy.

My whole life I’ve been fortunate to have access to real fresh local honey – which by comparison to many supermarket varieties – is not only tastier, but also does not contain harmful GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) chemicals used in some crop sprays.

Not only this but the factory approach in some countries of feeding bees sugar (instead of letting them find real nectar) to promote quicker honey production is doing bees more harm than good. Unfortunately this honey is also imported to Australia as it is cheaper to produce for a bigger profit.

Colonies of bees around the world are dieing and with the loss of bees, pollination and therefore vegetation is at a real risk.

One very simple way people can help is to help local beekeepers and apiarists by buying local. If beekeepers do well, their colonies get stronger and nature benefits.

My intention is to help facilitate this by drawing attention to local beekeepers along the 1000km stretch of my run. If people learn about their local beekeepers they might be more inclined to buy local.