ça y est mon kiki

http://www.darbaroud.com/fr/html/mds/24mds/portraits/24mds_portraits_014_CILLIERS.php

Thank you Amanda for your superb translation from French of Kobus's interview.
Regarding "ça y est mon kiki", Amanda says: The kiki bit is rather difficult to translate as it means more than it translates to in a word - it really does convey in french the once in a lifetime challenge yourself to the limit essence of the mds.

29/03/2009 - Jacobus Cilliers (Competitor Number 14)

Here is one that immediately comments on the marathon: more atypical, it's hard to find! And if you take 10 minutes to talk with him, you discover someone who is passionate, animated equally by a sense of humour and strength of will …
To begin with some info: his first name is Jacobus, measuring 1.83 m. and weighs 137 kg.
And he signed up voluntarily for the marathon known as the most exhausting, the hardest of its kind!

He tells his story with that typical British eccentricity (sic) that conceals great modesty.

"I like extreme sports, for my 40th birthday, I was looking for a big impact, knowing that whatever I do, it would go down as ‘ a mid-life crisis’, but then after it whatever I do, even something really crazy, everything else seems bland ... Two days after this decision, I see on TV, a report on the MDS: I said to myself, that’s my challenge (French: kiki), you’ve found it, that's it! The English team is full up, so I am in the Korean team.
- How many are you?
- - There’s just me, I'm the only one... "
-
- That was nine months ago.
Here begins the training of someone who even calls himself a “couch potato" who does nothing, no physical activity...

At weekends, he trains to stay on his feet and to move, walking 6 to 8 hours per day, and not on an asphalt road to accustom himself to these new efforts. He walks 16 - 20 km, "to set off" on this new adventure.
He wants to mention "Likey", fan and experienced expert of extreme marathons, who opened a shop and offered this advice:
"To succeed,
15% depends on your fitness
30% of the system and the strategy of life that you put in place during the marathon
The rest is in the head".

He looks at me, smiles and says, I am counting on the 15% of my physical form!

In life, Jacobus is an inventor ... This is not made up!

In Birmingham, where he lives, he decided to raise £10,000 pounds for the children of Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Jacobus is a native of South Africa, he knows the conditions there, and he wants to fight for those "who have nothing".
Around him, many people support this.

Today, the eve of departure, Jacobus is determined to not think about anything and live only in the present moment, "there, I cross the dunes, that's all”, otherwise it is too much for him.

He still carries his cigarettes in his bag, he smokes 40 a day.

When we are about to finish, he turns to me and says: "In general, those who are large see themselves as being worthless and of no ability. If me, I succeed in completing this marathon, they will know that it is possible that they too are capable (of it).