I’m training to run the Two Oceans Half Marathon in April. I have to listen to music, otherwise I wouldn’t get very far. I have all my tunes loaded on to my iPhone.
When I run, I mix genres. There’s lots of Black Eyed Peas — their previous album was really fun and is good to run to. There’s also Love Lockdown from Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak album. I often like angry music when I’m working out — a lot of Alanis Morissette, Linkin Park, Audioslave, some Depeche Mode. I picked up a disc by Charlie Winston when I was in France — it’s amazing music. A folk version of John Mayer is probably the best way to describe him.
I’m trying to run every second day. I wasn’t able to run for two weeks because of knee problems. I’m doing a training programme that works more on time than distance. This week I’m running for eight minutes, walking for two. Next week I’ll run for nine minutes, walk for one. I do that for 60 minutes. Over the next few weeks I’ll build up to an hour and a half, then two hours.
I love being active. I used to do Bikram yoga but I can’t always make the class times. I discovered a lot about myself while I was doing that. I’ve just started playing Ultimate Frisbee. It’s the best thing ever, like a combination of netball and touch rugby. I enjoy getting to meet people.
I’m part of a book club that meets once a month. We have wine, talk about books and life. I’ve really got into Paulo Coelho lately. I’m reading Veronika Decides to Die. Coelho has a great way of describing things, especially women. He gets women so well.
When I have time to myself, I sit at home on the couch with my laptop on my lap and visit interesting sites. I “favourite” a lot of posts on Twitter so that I can go back to them later — links to articles that were too long to read on my phone, artists whose work I want to see more of. I also like cleaning up, sorting through my things. It sounds really boring and a bit OCD but my working hours are so bad I often just come home and dump stuff on the table. By the end of the week it looks like crap. I put music on repeat and tidy up.
I like the mix of music we play at 5FM and I enjoy most of it. I only have an issue playing Chris Brown’s music. I don’t believe we should support and generate royalties for a known woman abuser.
Last week I went to the launch of Flash Republic’s new album, Killer Moves. They’re fantastic. Tamara Dey has got it down — the whole package. She has a great voice and she knows how to work a crowd. You can’t fault her.
I like trying out new things. I want to do the “power swing” off the cooling towers in Soweto. And I can’t believe I’ve never been to the top of the Carlton Centre. I’ve lived here my whole life and I’ve never been. My friend who’s been in Jo’burg for four years has gone and I haven’t.
Nicole da Silva is on 5FM weeknights between midnight and 3am. Follow her on Twitter @ThatNicole.