Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 109, Aug 2018 | Page 29

E
arlier this year, I spent more than seven hours running up and down all three
mountain peaks surrounding Cape Town the day before the Bay to Bay
30km. When I pitched up for the race the next morning, many of my running
friends thought I had finally lost my mind. They couldn’t understand why I wasn’t
resting, but I just smiled and said, “Life is too short not to do what you love just
because you’re a little tired.”
This is not me trying to be cool, or daring, it is me being grateful for the life running
has given me. I live to run, because running is the g lue that binds my life together.
I do not make that statement lightly… and I don’t really know how to explain what
I feel when I am out there running. There are moments when I do not want my run
to end, no matter how tired or sore I am. I just want to keep going.
PJ’S PIECE
By PJ Moses
I’M NOT CRAZY!
My body doesn’t feel the same way my soul feels about running, though. My body
thinks I’m a lunatic and protests the constant torture I put it through during the long
hours on the road and in the mountains. I’m in a constant state of civil war with myself.
And unfortunately, it seems that I am getting old, because it now takes me a bit longer
to recover from each run, but the joy of being out there and putting this amazing body
and spirit through its paces keeps me going.
Also, the shared love of this wonderful activity
with thousands of fellow runners across SA,
and millions across the world, is what gives
me hope for my future and the futures of my
kids. I have another little one on the way and
I want to share this amazing gift with her. She
may not like it, but she may just fall in love
with it, like her dad, mom and older brothers.
So I say pass on the joy and love of the
things in life that make you happy, and never
doubt the importance of doing what you love.
People may think that you’ve lost your mind,
but they can’t see your soul smiling.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: PJ is a former Cape Flats gangster who took up
running, and writing about it, when he turned his back on that dangerous
lifestyle in order to set a better example for his two young sons.
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