I believe in having goals, and working towards them, but some ‘bucket list’ goals end up steering you on a path that can take the enjoyment away, and make it, well, hard work. – By Roxanne Martin
Category: Columns
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The Running Mann: More Fees, Fewer Finishers
I am, unfortunately, still a grumpy old Running Mann, due to a persistent and lingering injury, which means no new race reports for now, but the time away from the road is giving me plenty of time to run statistics, so here is my 2022 Marathon Running Year in Review. By Stuart Mann
Kalmer’s Corner: The Big C
If it were not for the two-year hiatus due to the COVID pandemic, this year’s Comrades Marathon would have been my Green Number 10 th … as
a supporter! – By René Kalmer
Dylan Rogers: A Comrades Convo with my Dad
Dylan Rogers is a sports journalist with Johannesburg radio station HOT 102.7FM and part of the Big Joburg Drive Show, which you can catch 3pm to 6pm Monday to Friday on either 102.7FM or streaming on hot1027.co.za. He’ll be running his first Comrades Marathon in August, after accepting a dare from a friend, who has pledged to donate R500 to charity for every kilometre of Comrades that Dylan is able to complete. This is a special podcast where Dylan chats to his Dad ahead of his first Comrades Marathon.
Road to Comrades with Dylan Rogers, part 4
Dylan Rogers is a sports journalist with Johannesburg radio station HOT 102.7FM and part of the Big Joburg Drive Show, which you can catch 3pm to 6pm Monday to Friday on either 102.7FM or streaming on hot1027.co.za. He’ll be running his first Comrades Marathon in August, after accepting a dare from a friend, who has pledged to donate R500 to charity for every kilometre of Comrades that Dylan is able to complete. This is the fourth of Dylan’s regular blogs about his journey to the Comrades.
So, a real range of emotions the past week or so, having picked up flu and sitting out training. At first, it was a relatively mild inconvenience and I didn’t mind the rest too much, but then the anxiety set in, before my mind was eased by coach Lindsey Parry, who told me not to sweat it – which is what I was obviously doing, both literally and figuratively.
So, back to feeling okay about missing training and enjoying the lie-ins, but then the weekend hit and my running WhatsApp groups lit up with pics, chats and video of the RAC 60km Long Run that I was due to run, and the fomo set in properly! Fomo, because I knew that all of those who got through that slog would now be so much more mentally prepared for Comrades, and I wasn’t.
That being said, I’ve been blown away by the encouraging words from so many different people, with just about everyone telling me not to fret and to remember the miles I already have in my legs. Sound advice, and it’s just going to take some tweaking from here, as I combine my taper with actually getting back on the road.
Perhaps even more frustrating is that I sit here feeling relatively fine, but with an annoying dry cough that just won’t go away and makes my head explode every time the latest bit of gob lodges in my throat and forces me to cough! (Sorry, I know it’s a bit gross.) It’s also meant I’ve had some ropey nights’ sleep, so that’s not ideal, either. Anyway, I’ve been urged to not rush back onto the road, and I think I’m naturally conservative, so I’ll heed the advice.
A Bit of Sad News
Was disappointed to hear one of my running mates, Byron Hardy, say this week that he’s pulling the plug on his Comrades campaign. I think the ‘Ginger’ has got a great base, but he also got sick a few weeks ago, and that put him out for two weeks, before he was away for another 10 days, and he’s not feeling up to it. So, I respect his decision.
All I can say, though, is that the two idiots who talked me into Comrades in the first place, Byron and Matt Archer, are now both out, leaving me on my own! I will miss Matt’s looks of fatherly disappointment when I tell him of my latest rookie running error, and Byron’s pep talks when I go to my dark places, particularly his reminders that running marathons is easy, compared to being Ukrainian and being bombed by Russians. Thanks, boys.
Road to Comrades with Dylan Rogers, part 3
Dylan Rogers is a sports journalist with Johannesburg radio station HOT 102.7FM and part of the Big Joburg Drive Show, which you can catch 3pm to 6pm Monday to Friday on either 102.7FM or streaming on hot1027.co.za. He’ll be running his first Comrades Marathon in August, after accepting a dare from a friend, who has pledged to donate R500 to charity for every kilometre of Comrades that Dylan is able to complete. This is the third of Dylan’s blogs about his journey to the Comrades.
So, I know it’s part of the journey, but it’s tough not getting anxious or worrying about your Comrades prep when you get injured or sick – particularly when you’re a novice. That’s what I’ve been dealing with recently, having picked up a bug the day after a big weekend that saw me clock up 18km on the Saturday and 33 on the Sunday.
That Sunday stretch with my mate, Karl, was tough, and I certainly felt it – I was pretty ‘done’ and rundown for the rest of the day. Perhaps no surprise that I picked up a bug the day after? It was just a reminder about the perils of training for Comrades through winter, which I guess I haven’t really noticed, because it’s my first one and I don’t have anything to compare it with. I think I’m lucky in that regard, because the more seasoned runners out there are probably asking, “what the hell am I doing training so hard in the cold and dark?”
Fortunately, Lindsey Parry talked me off the ledge, as my main concern was not being in the right shape to take on the RAC 60km Long Run, which is obviously a key part in my programme – perhaps more mentally than anything. As it stands, I’m unsure if I will line up, but feel more comfortable now, knowing that if I don’t, I will be back on the horse next week and getting stuck into my programme, with a long one at the end of it.
I see now why these long ones are so important, as not only do you have to get used to running on sore, tired legs, as I’ve alluded to before, but you’ve got to experience, endure and cope with the ups and downs of how you feel on these long runs. Sometimes it feels crap, and sometimes you feel great, but again, it’s the experience of knowing that this is all normal, and you’re not alone in feeling like this.
My concern remains my overall strength, and the strength of my legs, as I haven’t done as much of this kind of work as I would have liked, but all I can do is what’s possible. Again, another reminder that Comrades is a proper commitment, and it’s certainly not a piece of cake fitting it into other areas and commitments in your life.
Nonetheless, this week has been a sobering experience, and if I’m honest, I have enjoyed taking my foot off the gas slightly, not getting up early, and just parking my running, waiting for myself to get better. Am hoping my body will thank me for it and I’ll be properly back on the horse next week, if I can’t get to the start line at RAC. Onward and upward!
Ed’s World Champs Blog: Terrific 200s – Brought to you by PUMA
Right, I’m sitting down to write this World Champs blog just after watching two incredible 200m finals, which wrapped up the programme for day seven of the Champs in Eugene, and I’m still buzzing. – BY SEAN FALCONER
The 200m sprint often plays second fiddle to the 100m at the big meets, like Olympics and World Champs, because the shorter sprint is seen by many as the premier event of athletics, the one that gets all the media coverage, and crowns the king of athletics. Ask the average Joe spectator of the big athletics meets who won the 100m and they get the answer right, but the 200m? Chances are they won’t know. It’s not that the 200m is ignored or forgotten, it’s that the 100m just gets more hype and coverage. But there is something really special about the 200m.
Where the 100m is about raw speed and power (on top of the intricacies of starting, maintaining form, not tensing up, etc), the 200m brings in a tricky technical aspect with the running of the curve in the first half of the race, followed by the proverbial million dollar question: Which athletes can maintain top speed most consistently in for the second half. For that reason, watching the heat maps of each athlete in the live coverage was fascinating, seeing which athletes decelerated the least as they hit the last 50 metres. While running is (supposedly) a simple sport – you just one foot in front of the other as quickly as you can – there is also a fascinatingly intricate technical side to every event in the sport, from the 100m to ultra-distance races.
Local Hero Does Us Proud
Before I talk about the winners, I first want to say a few words about our own Luxolo Adams. I was absolutely thrilled to see him lining up for the men’s 200m final in an absolutely stellar line-up. As I wrote in yesterday’s blog, he has had an amazing season, breaking through the 20-second barrier and winning a Diamond League title in Paris, and now he’s appeared in his first global final. Just as is the case with Akani Simbine making 100m finals at this level, it’s a far cry from not so very long ago when we didn’t have any South African sprinters performing at that kind of level. Now to have a finalist in both the 100m and the 200m at this World Champs, added to other success the country has enjoyed in sprints and relays in recent years, really warms this South African heart!
I know some may point to the fact that Luxolo finished eighth out of eight finalists, and that his time of 20:47 was a little disappointing, given that he clocked 20.09 in the semi-final and ran that 19.82 less than a month ago, but one has to factor in that finals are super tense, with athletes making extra sure that they do not false start and get DQed after doing all the hard yards to make the final. Also, the final is usually the third race in jus ta few days for these athletes, so there is also a fatigue factor that can affect times. All that said, I choose to focus on Luxolo making his first global final, and I hope it is just the first of more to come.
Winners Totally Dominate
Now to the winners. In the women’s race, Jamaican Shericka Jackson proved that her 21.67 in the semi-final was no fluke as she went still faster in the final, clocking 21.45 to not only shatter her 20.55 PB, set in the Jamaican Champs less than a month earlier, but she became the fastest woman alive over 200m by clocking the fastest time since the late Florence ‘Flo Jo’ Griffith Joyner set the World Record of 21.34 way back in 1988. Jackson has often played ‘bridesmaid’ or supporting cast to her Jamaican compatriots, five-time World Champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and four-time Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah – she finished third, behind them, in the 100m final at these World Champs – but today she ruled supreme, and her post-race celebrations were a joy to watch.
Then came the men’s 200m final, and the USA’s Noah Lyles successfully defended the title he won at the 2019 World Champs in Doha – and probably also redeemed himself, in his own eyes, for ‘only’ winning bronze at the Olympics last year. Like Jackson, he also looked unbeatable as he led home US compatriots Kenneth Bednarek (19.77) and Erriyon Knighton (19.80) for another American clean-sweep of the podium, as they did in the men’s 100m final. But it was Lyle’s winning time that really stood out. Coming into the final, his personal best was the 19.50 he ran in 2019, and his season best for 2022 thus far was the 19.61 he ran in New York in June, but he blew the final away with a new PB 19.31, which moved him up to third place on the all-time list for the 200m. Only Jamaicans Usain Bolt (19.19 & 19.30) and Yohan Blake (19.26) have ever gone faster.
After he won and realised just how fast he had managed to go, Lyle ripped the top of his running suit as he celebrated. To be honest, I am not always a fan of the way some athletes behave on the track, especially the sprinters, and especially the Americans, but this time I was OK with it. The performance merited going a little crazy.
Catching My Breath
Now we have three days of competition left, and there is still a lot to look forward to. Last night Prudence Sekgodiso made it into the semi-final round of the women’s 800m, taking place later today, as will be the heats of the men’s 4x100m relay, where we hope our SA men can do make it through to the final, but the big one has to be Wayde van Niekerk in the men’s 400m final. And the mouth-watering women’s 400m hurdles will round out the programme. So that’s where I will be in the early hours of the morning.
Image: World Athletics
Ed’s World Champs Blog: Personal Highlights – Brought to you by PUMA
So, we’re coming up for day 7 of the World Athletics Champs in Eugene in the USA, and what a Champs it has turned out to be. I’ve seen various colleagues, friends and other fans of track and field on social media talking about goosebumps, and getting emotional, as they’ve watched the action live – even when it required staying up till the early hours of the morning to catch the action live. – BY SEAN FALCONER
There is a nine-hour time difference between SA and Eugene, Oregon, on the West Coast of the USA, so the evening sessions of the World Champs generally start around 2am our time, and continue till 5am or 6am, so I reckon there are a few rather sleep-deprived athletics fans this side of the Atlantic after a week of action.
Yes, there were a few issues with some athletes not able to get to the USA due to VISA issues, but in general, this has been a terrific meet. I’m not even going to try to list all the top performances here, as there have been so many, but I would like to mention some personal highlights that I particularly enjoyed.
- I take my hat off to Akani Simbine for reaching yet another global 100m final. I know he will be bitterly disappointed to have finished fifth, having also narrowly missed out on a medal at the 2017 World Champs (fifth), 2016 Olympics (fifth), 2019 World Champs (fourth) and 2021 Olympics (fourth), but it shows just how much he has done to raise the bar of men’s sprinting in this country. It wasn’t so long ago that we still didn’t have any sub-10-second runners in this country, and the prospects of a South African making a World Champs or Olympic 100m final was so beyond our wildest dreams. Akani has been a genuine medal contender at every big meet since 2017, and for that alone he deserves huge praise.
- Staying with the sprints, it has been phenomenal to see the rapid emergence of Luxolo Adams as a world class sprinter this year. He’s been bubbling just under the top level until now, but found his best form just before the World Champs, with his scintillating 19.82 in the Diamond League meet in Paris. Now he is in the men’s 200m final at the World Champs! I don’t think anybody would have predicted that if asked just a few months ago.
- And of course, at the risk of repeating myself, hasn’t it been fantastic to see Wayde van Niekerk fit and racing again? And even better, back in a global final, where he belongs! That freak knee injury a few years back – in a charitable touch rugby game, of all places – looked like it may have wrecked his career, and many of us wondered if he would ever get back to the shape that saw him win the 2016 Olympic and 2017 World 400m titles, and set that amazing World Record of 43.03 seconds. Even if he doesn’t quite get to that same level as 2016 again – after all, he is six years older now – it remains a privilege to watch him running what is often referred to as the most brutal event on the track.
Anyhoo, enough rambling from me for one blog, let’s look ahead to see what’s coming up next.
Day 7 (21 July) – Afternoon Session
SA Time US Time Event Round
02:05 17:05 Men’s Javelin Throw Qualification – Group A
02:10 17:10 Women’s 800m Heats
03:10 18:10 Men’s 5000m Heats
03:20 18:20 Men’s Triple Jump Qualification
03:35 18:35 Men’s Javelin Throw Qualification – Group B
04:00 19:00 Men’s 800m Semi-Final
04:35 19:35 Women’s 200m Final
04:50 19:50 Men’s 200m Final
Day 8 (22 July) – Morning Session
SA Time US Time Event Round
15:15 06:15 Women’s 35km Race Walk Final
Day 8 (22 July) – Afternoon Session
SA Time US Time Event Round
02:05 17:05 Men’s Pole Vault Qualification
02:40 17:40 Women’s 4x100m Relay Heats
03:05 18:05 Men’s 4x100m Relay Heats
03:20 18:20 Women’s Javelin Throw Final
03:35 18:35 Women’s 800m Semi-Final
04:15 19:15 Women’s 400m Final
04:35 19:35 Men’s 400m Final
04:50 19:50 Women’s 400m Hurdles Final
SOUTH AFRICANS IN ACTION…
Watch for our local heroes in the following events:
Day 7 – Afternoon Session
Men’s Javelin Qualifiers
Group A – Johan Grobler
Women’s 800m Qualifiers
Heat 5 – Prudence Sekgodiso
Men’s 5000m Qualifiers
Heat 1 – Adriaan Wildschutt
Heat 2 – Precious Mashele
Men’s 200m Final
Luxolo Adams
Day 8 – Afternoon Session
Men’s 400m Final
Wayde van Niekerk
Enjoy the viewing, and chat later again.
(Image: courtesy World Athletics)
Ed’s World Champs Blog: Early Ups and Downs – Brought to you by PUMA
It’s been a mixed bag of results for South African athletes in the first three days of the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon in the USA, which began on Friday 15 July. In fact, just getting to the World Champs has been an achievement! – BY SEAN FALCONER
Up until a few days ago, there were still literally hundreds of athletes, officials and members of the media from various countries waiting to hear if they would be able to go to the World Champs in the USA. The problem was not that they hadn’t qualified, or didn’t have the right World Athletics accreditation, it was because of a severe, worldwide backlog in the US State Department’s visa application process. As a result, some athletes only received clearance to travel a couple of days before the World Champs began, while others were simply denied outright when applying for an appointment to apply for a visa.
This affected a number of the SA contingent, some of who simply didn’t get to the USA, and some who did eventually get to Eugene at the proverbial ‘lastminute.com’ will have had far from ideal preparation for a World Champs meet, due to the stress, late travel plans, and jetlag. After all, they are crossing nine time zones in order to compete on the West Coast of the USA!
I’m sure we will hear more about that in coming weeks as the dust settles (or gets stirred up again), but for now, we focus on the action on the track and in the jumps and throws on the infield. South Africa has sent some genuine medal contenders to Eugene, as well as some youngsters who will get a first taste of a World Champs environment, which will definitely stand them in good stead in years to come. I am a firm believer in ‘blooding’ young athletes at the top level, if the country expects them to perform at that level in years to come.
Disclaimer: On a related note, the report below talks about athletes being eliminated in qualifying rounds. That is just how the results are listed and reported in athletics, but I cannot stress it strongly enough that this should never detract from an athlete’s achievement in qualifying for the World Champs. The focus should be on the fact that our athletes made it to the World Champs in their chosen event, putting them amongst the top 50 or 100 athletes in the world in that event. So even a first round elimination is still one hell of an achievement, even if the news reports make it sound like a failure. Because it definitely is not a failure!
Day 1…
Anyway, let’s talk results. The first day of competition started disappointingly for team SA, with elimination in the qualifying rounds for men’s long jumpers Ruswahl Samaai (8th in his heat with a best jump of 7.86m), Jovan van Vuuren (11th with 7.79m) and Cheswill Johnson (no legal mark recorded), as well as for women’s shot putter Ischke Senekal (15th with a best of 15.40m). Two of our sprinters, Gift Leotlela (5th in 10.19 seconds) and Clarence Munyai (7th in 10.47) were also eliminated in the first-round heats of the men’s 100m, but Akani Simbine scraped through with a 10.07 fourth place in his heat to go through as one of the non-automatic fastest qualifiers.
In the men’s 20km race walk, veteran Wayne Snyman once again showed that experience can trump youth by finishing a solid 12th in 1:21:23. At 37 years of age, he appears as hungry to compete as he in in his younger years, and having finished second in the recent African Champs in Mauritius, he was once again the second African athlete over the line in Eugene.
Day 2…
Saturday’s competition started with Antonio Alkana running in the fifth heat of the men’s 100m hurdles, but his 13.64 finish and fifth place was unfortunately not good enough to take him to the semi-final round. Carina Horn finished fourth in her first-round heat of the women’s 100m, clocking 11.29, and was also eliminated. Also out went Ryan Mphahlele, having finished 12th in his 1500m qualifying heat with a 3:39.17 finish. With all three of these athletes, their elimination belies the fact that they were only just outside the times needed to go further.
More positive news came in the men’s 400m hurdles, where Sokwakhana Zazini ran 50.09 to finish fifth in the second heat and made it through to the semi-final round as a fastest qualifier. And in the women’s 10,000m, Dominique Scott-Efurd ran a solid 31:40.73 to finish 17th, but commented on social media after her run that she was disappointed with her time. The highlight of the day, however, was Akani Simbine’s 9.97 in the first semi-final of the men’s 100m. It was a season best for him and put him into the final, due to be run just under two hours later. Akani thus went into another global final as one of the favourites, but had to settle for fifth place with a 10.01 time, and will no doubt be very frustrated by once again getting so close to a medal on the world stage.
Day 3…
The third day of competition started early with the men’s marathon, with two South Africans in the race. Melikhaya Frans came into the event with a personal best (PB) of 2:11:28, run in the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon last year, and he proceeded to smash more than two minutes off that mark with a 2:09:24 to finish 18th in Eugene. The other South African in the race was Tumelo Motlagale, who came home 52nd in 2:20:21, having been up with the leaders in the early stages of the race. He ran his PB of 2:11:15 as recently as May in the SA Champs race in Durban, so perhaps his legs were not quite fully recovered yet, and the SA Champs race would be better positioned a little further ahead of a major championship event next time.
The women’s 400m qualifiers saw Miranda Coetzee clock 53.30 to finish seventh in her heat and she did not go through to the next round, while men’s discus throwers Werner Visser and Victor Hogan both finished 13th in their qualifying groups, with best distances of 58.44 and 60.51 metres respectively, and will take be part of the final. Meanwhile, Soks Zazini lined up in the third heat of the men’s 400m hurdles semi-final round and finished seventh in 45.69, thus also being eliminated.
Without a doubt, the highlight of the day for South African fans was seeing Wayde van Niekerk back to top form. In the first heat of the men’s 400m qualifiers, he shot out to an early lead and then ran conservatively in the second half of his race to win his heat in 45:18 and qualify for the next round. While he still has a long way to go to regain the form and confidence that saw him win the 2016 Olympic and 2017 World Champs titles, as well as set a World Record of 43:03 in Rio in 2016, but it is nevertheless terrific to see him racing smoothly again after a long recovery following a freak knee injury suffered during a charity touch rugby game. Joining Wayde in the semi-final round is Zakhiti Nene, who clocked 45:69 to finish third in his heat.
International Highlights…
While many events have already delivered fantastic spectacles and results, there have been a few that nevertheless stood out from the rest. Both 100m finals saw a single country record a clean sweep of the podium positions – in the men’s race, Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Fred Kerley timed his dip for the line perfectly to win in 9.86 second, followed by compatriots Marvin Bracy and Trayvon Bromell. The women’s 100m title went to Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in 10.67 seconds, to give her a record fifth 100m World Title, and she was closely trailed over the line by countrywomen Shericka Jackson and four-time Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompson-Herah.
A thrilling women’s 10,000m final was won by Ethiopian World Record-holder Letesenbet Gidey, with a thrilling sprint that could have seen any one of four or five athletes take the title. The Ethiopian has all too often just missed out on global honours due to being out-sprinted at the end, but this time she outlasted all challengers for a deserved win in a world-leading 30:09.94, and even new personal bests by Kenyans Hellen Obiri (30:10.02) and Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi (30:10.07) were just not enough to beat Gidey.
The men’s 10,000m saw Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei make it back-to-back 10,000m golds at the World Championships. The World Record-holder came into the meet seemingly not quite at his best, but he was still at the front end of the race when the bell rang for the last lap, and he cranked up the pace to win in a season best 27:27.43. Kenya’s Stanley Mburu took silver, in spite of falling in the first lap, and Cheptegei’s compatriot Jacob Kiplimo took bronze, while the first five men all finished within one second of each other!
Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola won the men’s marathon in a championship record 2:05:36, having broken clear after 34km. His countryman Mosinet Geremew took the silver medal in 2:06:44, while Belgian Bashir Abdi claimed the bronze medal, to go with the bronze he won last year in the Tokyo Olympic Marathon.
The World Champs will run until Sunday 24 July, so there is still plenty of action to come!
Road to Comrades with Dylan Rogers
Dylan Rogers is a sports journalist with Johannesburg radio station HOT 102.7FM and part of the Big Joburg Drive Show, which you can catch 3pm to 6pm Monday to Friday on either 102.7FM or streaming on hot1027.co.za. He’ll be running his first Comrades Marathon in August, after accepting a dare from a friend, who has pledged to donate R500 to charity for every kilometre of Comrades that Dylan is able to complete. This is Dylan’s blog of his journey to the Comrades.
A pretty good week or so, with a couple of milestones. Firstly, it doesn’t matter how old you are, getting new shoes is always a little exciting and brings out the child in every one of us. I’m no different, even at the age of 47! Fortunately, some of my running mates told me that I shouldn’t go anywhere but Randburg Runner in Linden, and they were right. Nick at the store clearly ‘knows his onions,’ and I walked away with this pair of Brooks that I hope will get me to the finish line in Durban. More importantly, Nick gave me the sense of comfort that they will.
The next thing, of course, was putting them to the test. I happened to have an eight-kilometre time trial on my programme the following morning, and since I hadn’t done one in a while, I was curious to see what I could produce – with the new shoes, of course, as well. Anyway, I was pretty chuffed with breaking 25 minutes (24:40) for the 5k and 40 minutes (39:18) for the 8k for the first time, so the speed is looking good – it’s just the strength and endurance that needs constant attention between now and the start line.
Speaking of that, I followed that time trial up with a session at iMude Sport and Wellness in Parkmore, where Riaan has been panel-beating me over the past few months and getting my over-rotated pelvis into line, so the legs were a little stiff the day after. I shook that out with an easy run the day after and then a bit of mileage over the weekend – 19km (two hours) on Saturday and 30km (3:20) on Sunday.
There’s no doubt that this Comrades training thing is a big commitment, and not just from the runner’s perspective. My wife has had to shoulder the bulk of the responsibility with the kids whilst I’ve been out on the weekends, clocking up the hours and miles, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. Still, I’ve tried to fit in the weekend runs around my family, so there I was, running to the Country Club to meet them on the Saturday, and then running to my in-laws’ place at Blair Atholl, just past Lanseria Airport, on the Sunday – the latter requiring my wife dropping me at the bottom of Peter Place in Bryanston and seeing me nearly three-and-a-half hours later, once I’d navigated William Nicol, Fourways, Malibongwe etc!
The Epsom Salts bath after that was a bit of a treat. Was also good to do a couple of ‘warm’ runs, as this winter training thing largely sees me out early, in the Jo’burg cold, which is not how I’m going to be spending my 28 August. I suspect it’ll be a bit warmer than that! Anyway, more mileage again this week, before the big RAC Long Run on 24 July. Eek!
