Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 100, November 2017 | Page 21

WILL-POWER
ROAD RUNNING
Just over a year ago, 40-year-old Johannesburg-based software developer Will
Addison found himself in front of the mirror, and he didn’t like what he saw. That
prompted him to take up running, and in just over a year he has lost 24 kilograms,
run his first Comrades, and found a new lease on life. – BY SEAN FALCONER
T
he date 15 September sticks in Will’s memory.
That was the day he saw the reflection of his
round figure, then weighed himself and found
he was 96kg, heavier than he had ever been. A father
of two, Grace (18) and Dylan (15), Will attributes his
weight-gain to a combination of factors. “I played a lot
of soccer when I was younger and had done spinning
at the gym to keep fit, but after coming out of a really
bad divorce a few years ago, I got into terrible eating
habits. I think life just got on top of me, with one thing
after another, especially when Dylan left to go live with
his mother in the UK.”
“When I looked in the mirror that day, I saw a man that
had let himself go and realised I had to do something
with my life, so I took a ‘before picture’ in the mirror
and that same day I hit the gym for the first time in a
very long time. I ran 2km on the treadmill that day and
nearly passed out, but I persevered, and gradually
upped my mileage till I was running 5km. In the
meantime I cleaned up my diet – no more alcohol, and
no more fast food. It was hard, but running made life
better, and I came to love my daily run.”
SETTING GOALS
With his newfound love for running and having
grown up watching the Comrades Marathon on TV,
Will decided to make the big ultra his goal, but his
fiancée Caryn Wilson, an experienced runner with
two Comrades medals, told him he
wouldn’t be able to run it just on treadmill
training, and that he would need to hit
the long road and increase his mileage
substantially. “So about six weeks after I starting
running, I found a night run on a golf course and
did my first ever 10km. I actually managed OK, so
decided to go further. Then Caryn told me about the
RAC Tough One 32km in November. I have never felt
more sick and more pain in my life! I finished, but I
had to lie down at the end, and I lay there wondering
how people actually go further than this, let alone do
the Comrades.”
Undaunted, Will continued training and went on to run
his first marathon in January, at the Johnson Crane
event, where he also qualified for Comrades. He
followed that up with the Pick n Pay Marathon, Cape
Gate Vaal Marathon, Old Mutual Om Die Dam 50km,
and the RAC Long One 60km training run, and by then
he had lost 22 kilograms in seven months. “I was really
enjoying myself, and life just kept getting better!”
MISSION POSSIBLE
And so June arrived and Will lined up for his first
Comrades. “Honestly, it was the most daunting thing
I had ever done, but I had my mentor Caryn running
alongside me the whole way, just as she had been
throughout my running journey. My aim was just to
finish under 12 hours, but at 60km my body started
shutting down, and from 70km it became really
difficult. On Polly Shortts I saw runners collapsing and
throwing up, and at the back of my mind I said I must
just keep going. I felt that if I stopped, my legs would
seize up and I would be done, so I just kept moving.
We finished in 10:40, and I have to admit, I was in
total disbelief that I had come so far in eight months.
OK, I was completely dead afterwards, but I was so
proud, because I had proven a lot of people who had
doubted me wrong.”
With a hugely successful first year of running under
his belt, Will is looking forward to 2018. “I’m entered
again for the Comrades, and I also want to try other
races, to see the scenery. I’m mixing running with
strength training, because I want to chase my times –
not so long ago running 55 minutes for 10km seemed
an insurmountable challenge, but now I’m doing 53
minutes and feeling OK. I’m also quite happy with
my current weight… I am now 72, so I have lost 24
kilograms in a year! You know, when this journey
started, the first few weeks of training were incredibly
difficult, but I never gave up, and I hope my story will
motivate other people that anything is possible.”
“I was completely dead
afterwards, but I was so proud,
because I had proven a lot of people
who had doubted me wrong”
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