Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 124, November 2019 | Page 4

Find Your Adventure O ver the years I have been really fortunate to attend some incredible races as a journalist or commentator, and even gotten to run a few of them, but to be honest, I have had very few real bucket list races on my To Do list. We all run for different reasons – in my case it’s mainly for the conversations and camaraderie, less so for the specific medals – and thus I have not often planned my training around any one specific event. However, I do know that having a goal race can make a huge difference in training motivation. Bucket list races really do make getting out the front door that much easier, because you know you need to put in the training in order to be prepared for that big race. Having a goal also makes it that much easier to motivate yourself to do the planning, get the logistics in place and then make travel and accommodation arrangements. Thus, as a running journo, I love telling the stories of athletes who have put in all that work in order to line up in their target race, to share their experience with readers, including their hopes and fears before the race, and the elation of crossing that finish line. Of course, things don’t always go strictly to plan, as was the case with Bennie Roux and his planned trip to China for a spot of desert running – see page 42. Fortunately, he was able to find a ‘Plan B’ when his trip was cancelled at the eleventh hour, due to the situation in that part of China, and thus we can bring you his story of an equally epic run in the USA instead! On a related note, this edition has other stories of athletes making plans to take on their bucket list races, such as Dale Biagio tackling the Ultra-Trail Mont Blanc in France (page 32). It is fascinating to read about the physical and mental challenges he had to conquer to get to the finish line, including blisters, sleep deprivation, hallucinations and sleep-running! Meanwhile, we have para-athlete Louzanne Coetzee, who needs to make a decision between the track or the road for next year’s 2020 Paralympics, given that she will not be able to race both the 1500m and the marathon fully, due to the different focus needed in training. That’s a bucket list story of a different kind – more on page 52. So my question for you is simple, which race is on your bucket list? Which race excites you enough to want to put in the work and then line up at the start, ready to chase that finish? If you haven’t got one in mind, perhaps you should start by looking at the Race Calendar on page 64 and choosing a first step. But if you have that target race already in mind, get some inspiration from this edition of SA’s biggest running publication and then get to your training. Sean Falconer 4 Follow on Twitter: 2019 @sean_falconer | Follow the mag as well: @modern_athlete ISSUE 124 me NOVEMBER / www.modernathlete.co.za PUBLISHERS Richard Laskey Roxanne Martin Sean Falconer ADVERTISING SALES Richard Laskey 083 342 8200 / [email protected] DIGITAL SALES & CAMPAIGNS Roxanne Martin 072 368 7390 / [email protected] EDITORIAL TEAM EDITOR Sean Falconer [email protected] DESIGNER Caroline Collings [email protected] DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGER Roxanne Martin [email protected] EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS Regulars: Anel Oosthuizen, Coach Parry, Leanne Hall, Manfred Seidler, Norrie Williamson, PJ Moses, René Kalmer, Roxanne Martin, Sean Falconer, Stuart Mann, Tom Cottrell Guest Writers: Carla Farina, Dale Biagio, Heather Campbell-van der Merwe, Lisa Fernandez, Mark Krug, Nancy Will & articles courtesy Discovery 947 Ride Joburg & Ironman SA COVER IMAGE Jetline Action Photo IMAGES Photo Agencies & Professional photographers: BackTrack Sports, Cal Hopkins (Wikimedia),Chris Hitchcock, Clay Shaw, Delarey Ferreira, Filip Bossuyt (Wikimedia), FinisherPix, Henk Neuhoff, Jacques Marais, Jena Ragon (Wikimedia), Jetline Action Photo, MaindruPhoto, Paul Hudson (Wikimedia), Pexels, Philip Fyfer, Reg Caldecott, Roger Sedres/ImageSA, Scott Rokis, SMacPix, Tab 59 (Wikimedia), Terence Vrugtman, Tobias Ginsberg, Wessel Oosthuizen, Xavier Briel Non-professional photographers: Dale Biagio, Stuart Mann Courtesy: Andile Bovungana, Anel Oosthuizen, Ashraf Orrie, Bennie Roux, Bob Norris, Carol Cooper, Comrades Marathon Association, Discovery 947 Ride Joburg, Expresso Show, Heather Campbell-van der Merwe, Ironman SA, Jonathan Kaplan, Letshego Zulu, Lisa Fernandez, Louzanne Coetzee, Marc Mundell, Mark Krug, Moab 240, Munga Trail, Murray & Roberts Running Club, Nicola Smith, PJ Moses, René Kalmer, Rudy Oliver, Ryan Guest, Shadrack Hoff, Smile Foundation, Stuart Mann, Voet van Afrika Marathon, Warrior, www.iaafworldathleticschamps.com, Zenna Muller, and various Race Organisers FIND US GENERAL E-MAIL [email protected] EDITORIAL E-MAIL [email protected] WEB www.modernathlete.co.za FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/ modernathletemag TWITTER @modern_athlete INSTAGRAM @modernathletemag Modern Athlete is accredited by the ABC with an average monthly circulation of 79,344 (Apr - Jun 2018) EDITOR’S LETTER