Your monthly column with the Rope Runner
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Your monthly column with the Rope Runner
By Marissa Groenewald
There comes a time in all our lives when we ' re asked to become beginners again.
It ' s uncomfortable, terrifying and yet more often than not, it ' s exactly what we need.
A few weeks ago, I packed up my life in Durban, loaded everything I own onto a truck, hugged friends goodbye, and moved to Cape Town with my two children. New city. New home. New roads. New routines. New schools. New everything. At forty-something years old, I suddenly found myself becoming the " new girl " again. Absolutely daunting! I don ' t think we ever really outgrow that feeling.
In all this, I realised that we tend to celebrate the finish lines in life. The promotions. The medals. The victories. But we don ' t talk enough about what it feels like to stand at the beginning again, wondering if you ' ve made the right decision.
Was moving to Cape Town and BEGINNING AGAIN easy? Not at all. Was it necessary? Absolutely, because sometimes growth asks us to leave behind what is comfortable before it can show us what ' s possible.
Maybe your " Cape Town " isn ' t a city. Maybe it ' s a new job. A 5km run. A new business. A difficult conversation. A fresh start after a breakup or disappointment. Or perhaps it ' s simply believing in yourself again. Whatever your beginning looks like, don ' t be afraid of it. Every finish line you ' ve ever admired began with someone willing to become a beginner.
One of the very first things I did after arriving was find a local Parkrun.
Parkrun in itself was me beginning something new again. It ' s simple. It ' s welcoming. It ' s community. It doesn ' t matter whether you ' re chasing a personal best, pushing a pram, walking with friends or, in my case, swinging a skipping rope around for 5kms.
I have now officially completed three different Parkruns, and somewhere between nervous introductions and post-run chats, I realised another beautiful thing. The rope doesn ' t separate me from people; it connects me to them.
Every Saturday, someone asks: " Why are you doing that?" Children stare with wide eyes and parents smile. Volunteers cheer louder than they need to. Complete strangers become friends over a shared laugh or curious conversation. Every single time, that simple question allows me to speak about something far greater than running. The issue of human trafficking, freedom and HOPE.( The reason I rope run in the first place)
In summary, the last few weeks taught me that perhaps we spend too much of our lives waiting until we ' re comfortable before we begin. We tell ourselves we ' ll start once we ' ve settled in, made friends, become fitter, earned more, or found confidence, but life rarely works like that.
Confidence usually arrives after we ' ve taken the first step, not before.
Looking back, Rope Running itself began exactly the same way. One slightly ridiculous idea. One rope. One person willing to look a little different. Today, that same idea has taken me through marathons, ultra-marathons, two Comrades Marathons, and now onto the world stage. It has started conversations around the globe and helped shine a light on one of the darkest realities of our time – all because I chose to begin.
As I continue discovering the beautiful Mother City one Rope Run, friendly Run, road Run, Parkrun at a time, I ' m reminded that we don ' t need to have everything figured out before we start. We simply need the courage to say yes to BEGIN AGAIN.
– Protecting lives, one skip at a time – The Rope Runner www. modernathlete. co. za 25