What first got you into running ?

My sister , Aynslee , actually won her grade six interhouse athletics 1200m . My mom then said , “ If Aynslee needs to stay after school for practice , you might as well join her . I was a year older , and during that first cross-country season , I astounded myself by making my first provincial team for Gauteng North !

How has running affected your outlook on life ?

To me , running is life . Running is such a big part of my life that I can literally not imagine life without it . There is no better way to explore God ’ s creation , do some soul searching , clear your head and contemplate big decisions . Running has taught me discipline , how to deal with disappointments , to appreciate good health and God-given talents , and to celebrate victories – big and small . I am so thankful for all the opportunities running has given me . To mention just a few , I have travelled the world , met amazing people and formed very special friendships . All of this has made a massive impact on my outlook on life .

Take us on your path . How did you get so fast ?

It ’ s one big word : Consistency ! I have been with my

coach , Ernie Gruhn , for three years now , and Ernie ’ s goal for me was and is still , to focus on “ gradual , sequential application of moderate stimulus over an extended period of time , to improve my overall depth of conditioning .” I also work a full-time job , so we are very careful to be conservative and to take the stress and demands of my job into account when it comes to training . If I am tired , I listen to my body and skip a morning run , or lower the intensity of a workout . In my opinion , it is much more difficult to recover from being overtrained than being undertrained , so I train in a very ‘ controlled ’ fashion and very rarely push the limits in training . So , it is just consistency paying off . But if you ask my husband , he says it is my new surname that ’ s made the difference !

You recently picked up a sponsorship deal , too ?

Yes , sportswear company Under Armour approached me to join their elite squad ! It is a singular honour to be associated with them , and knowing that they believe in me has also inspired me to train harder and dream even bigger .

Your favourite workout and your least favourite one ?

My least favourite is probably the long run , especially

if I do not have anybody to run with . But even if I do , it takes quite a bit of motivation for me to run more than 18 kays at a time . My favourite is difficult to say , but something that incorporates different distances , like pyramids , such as 1200m , 800m , 600m , 400m and back up again .

You have posted a string of PB ’ s lately . Take us through them .

I am really blessed to have had a good season so far ! Endurocad did an amazing job in creating perfect PB racing opportunities for us in Stellenbosch . I started the season with a good 1500m and ran 4:26 , a seven-second PB , which I improved to 4:24.26 just three weeks later . It was so much fun to race again , to finally line up as well as run really fast !

Next was a 3000m with Carmie Prinsloo and Irvette van Zyl , so it was bound to be a good race . I ran 9:18.59 and that resulted in a massive 18-second PB . That ’ s six seconds per kay better than my previous best . After that I realised that I was in the best shape of my life , so I had an ambitious goal of going out at a 3:14 per / km pace for my next race , a 5000m . It really did feel a bit daunting , but my goal was just to run as comfortably as possible for as long as possible .

Images : David Papenfus / Endurocad