Life Lessons from the Road – Risky Business

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[This is the second part of an article using ultra marathon running to explain sizing. You can read the first part here: The Best Ultra Marathon Runner in the World Helps Explain Why Size Matters]

In the first installment, we established that smaller is better when it comes to estimation and sizing. We used Camille Herron (holder of nine ultra marathons distance world records) to illustrate that as volume increases velocity, confidence and predictability decrease. Below is a table with her personal bests (several of which are world records).

Risk enters the race

One aspect that most people forget about when sizing is risk – and an important factor here is that as size increases, risk increases exponentially. Anyone, regardless of their current state of fitness, can start a one kilometre race highly confident that they will make it to the finish line within a reasonably small variance of their time estimation.

Continue reading “Life Lessons from the Road – Risky Business”
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The Running Mann’s Guide to March 2022 Marathons

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This article provides detailed information on all South Africa’s March marathons including race descriptions, recommendations and travel information.

Road running is back in full swing in March with 16 Marathons and 3 ultras spread across 4 weekends. Having run every one of these options I can tell you there are some stunners on the schedule. Continue reading “The Running Mann’s Guide to March 2022 Marathons”

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The Running Mann’s Guide to March Marathons & Ultras

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This article provides detailed information on all South Africa’s March marathons including race descriptions, recommendations and travel information.

There are fantastic marathon running options in every corner of our beautiful country during March which makes this the ideal month for a running vacation (that’s a holiday planned around marathons – not a break from running!). Continue reading “The Running Mann’s Guide to March Marathons & Ultras”

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Surrender Hill Marathon (Overdosing on Maluti Muti)

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[Marathon #208 / Unique Marathon #118 / 2 March 2019]

One of my wild running ideas is to pick the best and most beautiful small-town marathons from all around the South Africa and create a ‘Hidden Gems’ series – the objective being to add a finish at each one to your lifetime marathon running CV. It’s still very much in the formulative stage but I would ensure that there is at least one race per province.

There are so many great small-town marathons scattered all over our beautiful country that whittling the list down to a manageable size, say a dozen, is going to be a challenge. However, I expected a bigger challenge to be finding a Free State marathon that meets my stringent selection criteria. Although there are many great Free State runs, ‘beautiful’ is not adjective one readily associates with their routes.

Nevertheless, as an optimist by nature, I held out hope that a hidden gem could still be unearthed in the Free State. Many marathons ago, I got chatting to some runners from Bethlehem (if memory serves me correctly it was one wise man and two wise women) who told me of a neighbouring town called Clarens and a marathon called Surrender Hill. Continue reading “Surrender Hill Marathon (Overdosing on Maluti Muti)”

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