Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 121, August 2019 | Page 17

KALMER’S
CORNER
Our Modern Athlete Brand Ambassador’s Blog
By Rene Kalmer
TIME FOR A RUNCATION
I just love a “runcation,” where you plan a vacation around a running event. It is also nothing new to hubby, Andre, to
get surprise race entries from me in his inbox, instead of love letters. He actually jokes that my ‘love language’ is pain, as
he always ends up running the races without proper training.
keep warm and enjoy some coffee and rusks around
huge bonfires, with fellow runners all layered in old
clothes and blankets bought from the local PEP and
Ackermans. All these clothes and blankets come off
when the race starts and are collected and donated to
local charities in and around Knysna, so this is also a
great opportunity to support the local community.
René with
clubmates
Andrea and
Thineke at
the start
E
arlier this year I spoiled him with a Two Oceans
Ultra entry for his birthday, and he ended up
‘loving’ me for more than seven hours on the
road. And while he was still recovering from Oceans,
he one day casually mentioned being curious about
the route of the Knysna Marathon... Well, needless to
say, the next morning the confirmation of his Knysna
Forest Marathon entry was in his inbox!
This was our third trip down to the Knysna Oyster
Festival, and Andre’s debut in the full Knysna
Marathon, having done the 21km a few times before.
I was very nervous on his behalf, given his lack of
training, especially after talking to running friends
Leilani Scheffer and Johan Grassman and hearing
about how tough the marathon route is. I tried to
convince him to downgrade to the half, but he was
adamant he wanted to do the full.
More or less 700 runners lined up for the marathon,
in comparison with the more than 5000 half marathon
runners that started an hour later. It was lovely to spot
my Murray & Roberts clubmates Andrea Steyn and
Thineke Cloete at the start of the race. Andrea and I
shared some “mommy war stories” on our warm-up,
and we also tried to give Thineke some advice, as she
was running her first Knysna 21km.
Early Issues Sorted
My feet were freezing and I was convinced that extra
balled up socks were stuck in my running shoes, so I
was very relieved that the ‘socks’ disappeared as the
life returned to my feet a couple of kilometres into the
race. I felt like a real diesel engine in the beginning of
the race, and only managed to catch the leading pack
of women 5km into the race. Andrea gave me a real
run for my money as we played cat and mouse for
most of the run in the forest. It is no state secret that
I’m not very fond of trail running, and prefer taking the
highway to my end destination, so I was most relieved
when we finally hit the tar with 5km to go, even
though it was on a very steep downhill past Simola
Golf and Country Estate.
I crossed the finish line first and received a huge
Coca-Cola towel, which made up a little for missing
out on a gold medal and towel at the Two Oceans
Marathon after finishing 11th. I was very chuffed with
my sub-80min effort, my second-fastest 21km post-
Karli. A bit later I was also very relieved to receive
a photo on my phone from Andre, still smiling while
taking pictures on the route, and even having time for
a shot of Tequila with 12km to go. In fact, he surprised
us all by crossing the finish line in 5:07 and not
coming in last, which had been his biggest worry.
It was a good day for the Murray & Roberts team,
with Andrea finishing second woman in the 21km,
Siviwe Nkombi winning the 42km, and Wandisile
Nongodlwana finishing as first veteran in the 42km. As
for Andre and I, we enjoyed the rest of the weekend
in Knysna, while dreaming of a possible ‘Runcation’
overseas in the near future.
I was hoping that this would motivate him to train a bit
during the winter months, but no surprise that once
again his training didn’t quite take off. Still, at least
we had a nice holiday lined up for July... and I was
happy to stick with a half marathon entry, just to rub
it in a little further. Meanwhile, our two-year-old, Karli,
was more than happy to stay with Ouma and Oupa
for the weekend, who ‘emigrated’ to Mossel Bay at
the beginning of the year, while we headed to nearby
Knysna.
Forest Running
The Knysna Forest Marathon and Half Marathon
offer a one-of-a-kind experience that you simply
have to put on your bucket list. On race morning,
all the runners get transported to the start in the
forest with local taxi’s, and while waiting to start you
About the Author:
René Kalmer is a two-time Olympian, having represented SA in the 1500m at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and
in the marathon at the 2012 London Games. She has also won more than 40 SA titles in track, road and
cross country at youth, junior and senior level, in distances from 800m to the half marathon.
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