RUN WITH RORY
2 MINS 37 SECONDS
My TTOM: how I became legless on Constantia Nek
Champions! How on earth has it already been a whole month since we last chatted?
This month I’ ll start somewhere near the middle. I was less than halfway up Chapman’ s Peak on Saturday 5 April when I looked ahead and saw 3061 km of that winding hill still to come. But I had just climbed 3061 km of this bloody winding hill! The novelty of that breathtaking view had worn off, so I started moving into the place runners know so well— you know, those selfdoubting, manipulative voices in your head.
“ You know, Rory, you’ ve done so well already, so don’ t feel bad if you don’ t finish this one before the cut-off. There’ s still Comrades Marathon to come and you don’ t want to be injured for that …”
Five seconds after the voice in my head finished that ridiculous statement I heard someone shout,“ Champion! Good to see you!” Now, when someone shouts that“ c” word at you, there’ s absolutely no way you’ re allowed to walk! You suck it up, smile, pretend you’ re not dying, and respond with,“ CHAMPION!”
And then after a short walk and a short and shortof-breath conversation( these were the only short things about that day), I heard a voice( not the one in my head) suggest to his running buddy,“ We’ re going to run from the next lamp post to the count of 50 and then we’ re going to walk to the count of 50.” This sounded like a fantastic plan! Let me hop onto this bus and see what happens!
This absolute CHAMPION was Jacques Muller from Bluff AC. Let me tell you, I jumped aboard this 50 / 50 magical bus; suddenly, the energy I’ d lost earlier came back and those ridiculous voices disappeared from my head! In fact, things went so well that I decided to stop, appreciate the beautiful view, and take a photo of it before moving on. By this time, Jacques was far ahead, but he was still counting for us, and he raised his hand for the 5-4-3-2-1 parts of the count so we could still see. As he got to one, I
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