marathons Archives - Page 12 of 12

7th March 201820th September 2018

Maritzburg City Marathon (A Return To The Mainstream)

[MARATHON #178 / UNIQUE MARATHON #95 / 25 FEBRUARY 2018]

As a marathon running connoisseur, I consider small town marathons to be the craft beer of the running world – they’re harder to locate, are a bit more expensive to consume and should always be savoured rather than sprinted. Having consumed five fantastic craft marathons already in 2018, it was with some trepidation that I approached a return to the mainstream for the Witness Maritzburg City Marathon, the biggest standard marathon in Kwazulu Natal.

It’s nice to stand in front of the Pietermaritzburg City Hall with just 15km left to run during the Maritzburg City Marathon. Will be standing here again on 10 June (along with 20,000 other Comrades) with a slightly more daunting 90.1km to go.

Continue reading “Maritzburg City Marathon (A Return To The Mainstream)”

25th February 201820th September 2018

Assegaai Marathon (Can You Judge A Marathon By The Shirt?)

[MARATHON #177 / UNIQUE MARATHON #94 / 17 FEBRUARY 2018]

I am trying to run a different marathon every weekend to reach my goal of 100 unique marathons before Comrades (it is not wise to plan anything post Comrades). As a marathon slut (I like to run around and will get my legs onto whatever I can), I’ve found some great marathons all around South Africa (and the world) on this quest. Occasionally I get the opportunity to tick off one of my “bucket list” races – and on the second weekend in February it was time for the Assegaai Marathon to come out of the bucket and into my legs.

Continue reading “Assegaai Marathon (Can You Judge A Marathon By The Shirt?)”

29th January 201828th October 2024

Finlime Marathon (The Time I Ran a Marathon in Middle of the Kalahari Desert)

[MARATHON #173 / UNIQUE MARATHON #90 / 20 January 2018]

Pretty much everything shuts down in South Africa over the December / January school holiday period. Unfortunately, marathon running is no different: there is a total Sub-Saharan marathon shutdown between 16 December and 20 January.

Some people spend forty days fasting in the desert – so I thought it was appropriate to break my 40-day marathon drought with a run in the desert! The location was Lime Acres – a small town of about 4,500 people in the middle of the “green” Kalahari desert.

Finlime Marathon, Lime Acres (the middle of the Kalahari Desert)

Continue reading “Finlime Marathon (The Time I Ran a Marathon in Middle of the Kalahari Desert)”

12th November 201720th September 2018

Soweto Marathon (Ubuntu for the average middle-class white guy)

[MARATHON #168 / 11th Soweto Marathon / 4 Nov 2017]

The annual trek to Soweto Marathon did not get off to a good start… The Saturday morning race number pickup was frustrated by terrible traffic on the M1 (down to one lane for barrier repairs) and when I finally got to registration it was with a flat tyre and two moaning kids.

Things you need to bring to race registration:

Identification
Championchip
Printed confirmation of entry

Things you don’t want to bring to race registration:

Kids

Things you want to avoid bringing to race registration at all costs:

Moaning kids

Continue reading “Soweto Marathon (Ubuntu for the average middle-class white guy)”

6th August 201712th November 2017

Top 10 Reasons To Grow A Beard

For the last few years I’ve done Movember. Not only did I help raise several hundred thousand rands for CANSA but I also quickly realised that fast facial hair growth is one of my super powers. Despite this evolutionary advantage over other humans, I’ve spent the rest of my time on this planet clean shaven. At the end of last year I finally decided it was time to embrace this talent and unleash the full potential of my unshaven awesomeness on the world – so I decided to Decem-beard.

Eight months on and the world is indeed a better place. Based on my experience, here are my top 10 reasons to grow a beard… Continue reading “Top 10 Reasons To Grow A Beard”