THE RUNNING
MANN
By Stuart Mann
Valentine’s Day in the
Free State
Thanks to the COVID-19 lockdown, I have not been able to get my usual marathoning and travel fix in for a while, so
in the meantime I have some time to catch up on the list of race reports that were still on the old To Do list. Earlier this
year, I spent Valentine’s Day in Frankfort – by choice, I might add. That is a scenario that needs some explanation, so
here is the backstory…
(Marathon #238 / Unique Marathon #138 / 15 February 2020)
Dinner For One
The last time I was in Frankfort was for the Wilge
Marathon in 2015, with the whole family in tow. On
that occasion we naively went out for dinner, but soon
realised that neither of the two restaurants in town
were open on a Friday evening. I am not sure whether
things have progressed in Frankfort, or if it was just
because it was Valentine’s Day, but this time I found
both restaurants open on my supper recce.
PG Rating:
This column
contains some
risqué humour.
You have been
warned…
I’ve been told that the most romantic thing you
can do in the Free State is take your lover to an
agricultural festival. Now, as agricultural festivals
go, they don’t get much bigger than the VKB Bielie
Mielie Festival in Reitz and, as luck would have it for
Free State romantics, this year the festival fell over
Valentine’s weekend. The Bielie Mielie ‘Fees’ lasts
four days and includes all sorts of festivities, sporting
activities and evening concerts where you can listen
to your favourite ‘kunstenaars’ belt out ‘lekker lietjies’
and ‘terrific treffers.’ Very considerately, the festival
organisers have incorporated a marathon into the
sporting side of the festival.
I look forward to buttering my mielie at least once a
year, but missed out on Welkom’s Mielie Marathon
in January through injury, and therefore adjusted
my running plans to incorporate the Bielie Mielie
Marathon instead. However, I discovered that the
opportunity to go for an all-weekend roll in the hay is
a popular choice for lovers in this part of the world.
Such is the magnitude of mielie-buttering in the
greater Eastern Free State that I could not find any
accommodation within a 50km radius of Reitz! And
that was how I ended up in Frankfort, the closest town
to Reitz with a vacant bed, on Valentine’s Day. (I did
try to find accommodation in the neighbouring town
of Bethlehem, but there was no room at the inn – and I
managed to find a B&B in Frankfort before resorting to
any Bethlehem stables!)
Plenty of personal space at the start
I picked the one that looked busier and asked if
they did takeaways. They did. I asked what they
recommended for a lonely marathon runner on
Valentine’s Day. They recommended their burgers, and
closer scrutiny of the menu displayed two options: A
“Standard Burger” for R55 and the “Mega Burger” for
R95. I asked what the difference was between the two,
and was told that, “The Mega Burger is much bigger
and comes with chips.” This sold me on the more
expensive option and I ordered a “Mega Burger to go.”
When I got back to the B&B and opened my dinner,
I wondered if I’d got the right order. The smallest
surprise was that the chips were in fact potato
wedges. A bigger surprise was that the “much bigger”
part of the mega burger consisted of two crumbed
chicken strips (plus a side order of mayonnaise), two
Images: Stuart Mann, Pieter Oosthuizen
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ISSUE 132 JULY 2020 / www.modernathlete.co.za