I was sitting here suffering from jet lag in the sweltering South African sun when I realised wallowing in self-pity was so unbecoming as a Kiwi.
I can't imagine Julie moping around in between athletic meets, netball trainings and tending to children feeling sorry for herself, and Dallas has shown that by taking on yet another physical and mental challenge in the form of the one-day Coast to Coast event, he isn't resting on his laurels as a former sevens star either.
I'm fascinated with ultra and adventure events at the moment. Does this have anything to do with my naughty forties fast approaching? Probably.
Whatever the reason, I find I select the "runner" magazine rather than women's weekly magazines as my in-flight reading material, and stories of individuals taking on crazy challenges intrigue me.
What drives people to take on these events, and if I was to add one to my bucket list, which one would I choose? Due to where I've come from and where I am currently, two events come easily to mind - the Coast to Coast and the Comrades.
The Speights Coast to Coast has a short history as a race that traverses the South Island from west to east over 243km by foot, bike and kayak.
The race was the brainchild of the slightly eccentric Robin Judkins and is nearing its 30 year anniversary. Another name synonymous with the event is that of Steve Gurney, who won the event nine times.
Since my visit to South Africa, I've also heard about the Comrades Marathon.
This ultra-marathon event of about 90km runs between Durban and Pietermaritzburg and is the world's largest and oldest ultramarathon race.
Just in case this wasn't difficult enough, the organisers decided the direction of the race would alternate each year between the "up" run (87km) and the "down" run (89km).
Athletes currently have 12 hours to complete the course. If an athlete fails to reach a cut-off point by a prescribed time, he or she is forced to retire from the race.
The race has been going since 1921 and was conceived by World War 1 veteran Vic Clapham as a way of commemorating the South African soldiers killed during the war.
Just as Gurney is a legend of the Coast to Coast event, Bruce Fordyce is a name associated with the Comrades, a race he too has won nine times.
Either competitors in the Coast to Coast are squeaky clean or their antics have not yet been recorded on the world wide web.
Nonetheless, there have been a few cheeky cheats in the Comrades worth mentioning.
In 1993, Herman Matthee finished among the top 10 medal winners but was later stripped of his medal after video evidence found he had caught a taxi along the route, cutting out almost 40km of the race.
An even more elaborate scheme in 1999 saw the Motsoeneng brothers cheat their way to a top 10 placing by exchanging places with each other at toilet stops and getting car rides at various stages. The brothers were only exposed as cheats when television footage revealed them to be wearing watches on different arms.
Dallas Seymour's goal this weekend is to finish the Coast to Coast one-day event in about 16 hours, while favourites such as Richard Ussher aim for 11 hours.
I'm pretty sure Dallas isn't a twin, and I doubt the likes of Ussher or former champion shearer Paul Avery would contemplate hitching a ride in a taxi to jump up the ranks.
Why would anyone want to claim victory in this manner?The human psyche is so difficult to understand, which is why these ultra-marathons and adventure races will continue to attract humans who like to push their physical and mental limits in order to see what they are capable of.
Unfortunately, some have found that, pushed far enough, they are capable of cheating in the most elaborate and audacious ways.
Surely we are a long way off identical twins doing the switch in a Portaloo while traversing the South Island? Just in case, Judkins may want to place CCTV cameras at toilet/drink stations and check video footage post-race. It just doesn't seem the Kiwi thing to do to take shortcuts.
Let's all invoke a bit of the Seymour spirit and just get on with it, no matter how tough the road ahead.
