Welcome to a new series on my blog called “Top Five Friday” where I’ll be sharing my Top Five anything in running and blogging! For the very first Top Five Friday, I’m sharing my most-read blog posts of all time and why I think they were so well-received.

1/ Five Tips for Running with Natural Hair, Published January 2020. I started my natural hair journey around the same time I started running in 2017. There was so much I didn’t know about taking care of natural hair especially when you’re running all the time! There were also so many misconceptions, the top one being that you couldn’t run and still expect to have a healthy Afro. So, I reached out to Gaborone-based hair blogger Tapiwa Gachala and asked her to write a blog on how one can maintain a healthy afro when leading an active running lifestyle. She wrote a beautiful blog that was easy to read and provided practical tips on how to take care of your hair whilst running, thus debunking many misconceptions that the two couldn’t be combined. On the day the blog was published, Tapiwa shared it across all her platforms and the whole experience was a huge testament to the power of collaboration in social media. Click here to read blog.

2/ Why Coming Last in a Race is Okay, Published January 2020. This post was inspired by listening to so many people around me expressing that they were too scared to sign up for a race for fear of coming last. My initial response was usually, “You won’t come last” but then I realised that’s actually not the message I should be sharing because there will always be someone who comes last, as in fact I have done a number of times, especially in the smaller races. So, this blog gives seven reasons it’s OKAY to come last in a race and stresses that if coming last is the worst thing that can happen, then there’s no reason not to sign up for a race! I put myself out there by sharing my own experiences and I think this spoke to so many people. The fact this message has been spread far and wide makes me proud. Click here to read blog.

3/ 10 Steps to a Successful 10×10 Challenge, Published March 2020. Every year for the last few years, the Gaborone Striders Running Club has hosted a 10×10 Challenge in December – the main goal being to run 10km a day for 10 consecutive days at the height of summer. I participated in their inaugural event when there were just 100 runners and loved it so much that I have been back several times. In this post, I provided a guideline based on my experience on how to complete the challenge successfully, no matter what level you are at. I think the fact I wrote it as a guideline as opposed to a race recap greatly contributed to its popularity. Plus, I share it every year when the challenge is launched. Click here to read blog.

4/ Jwaneng Desert-Bush Walk, Race Recap, Published August 2017. This is a very popular event amongst walkers and hikers, as well as runners looking for a different kind of challenge. It has attracted several hikers from our neighbouring countries, the top being Lesotho, South Africa and Zimbabwe. I stand to be corrected but aside from some newspaper articles this is the only blog written about the event and is a personal and raw account of my 7-hour struggle through the desert, “…my legs were aching from trudging through that thick sand, and I reached a point where I wondered whether I would finish.” Every year, I share this blog around the time the race is launched and I’m sure this has also contributed to its popularity. Click here to read blog.

5/ Hiking with the Kids in Mogonye, Published August 2020. When you search Hiking in Mogonye on Google, this post emerges as the second hit which I’m sure has greatly contributed greatly to it being so widely read. Although this high-ranking initially surprised me, I can see why it’s in the Top Five. It was written during the pandemic when we had recently emerged from a crazy lockdown, and we still had several social and travel restrictions in place. I think people were searching for simple family-friendly adventures to do close to town, and this hike ticked all the boxes. Aside from TripAdvisor and similar sites, there are very few blogs sharing content like this in Botswana, so I can see why people would be drawn to it. Click here to read blog.

If you’re a blogger, have you checked out your Top Five Most-Read Blog Posts? Why do you think they were popular? Were you surprised by what you discovered? Please share your most popular blog in the comments for us all to read!

I’m so excited to be linking up with My First 5K and More, Running With Attitude, Run Laugh Eat Pie, Runs with Pugs, and Zenaida for Fit Five Friday.