ROAD RUNNING |
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The long road was made easier with company |
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A Few Health Concerns
Still on the topic of pain , Rupert tells that there were a few mishaps here and there , but fortunately nothing serious . “ The one day I arrived at the Union Buildings in Pretoria , feeling half dead , and when I ran up the steps to meet the group , I missed a step near the top , tripped and fell . I shot straight back up and said let ’ s go , but one runner commented that my knee was bleeding … then he said I was obviously used to pain by now and that it ’ s good to know that at least there are still some fluids left in the body ! It ’ s hard to explain to others how much pain I went through in this challenge , but yes , I learnt to handle it . Some days I had to call my wife to help me get out of the bath … but I just focused on doing what I could , the rest would sort itself out .”
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A bigger problem than injuries or sore muscles proved to be body fat percentage . Rupert says he is not normally a ‘ big eater ,’ and had to learn to eat all day in order to replenish the fuel he was burning by running two or three times a day . “ When I started the challenge , I weighed 73kg , and at one stage I was down to 62kg , with a body fat percentage of just 3 %. That ’ s when Dr van Rensburg said I can ’ t go on like this . He said my rate of loss of body fat was the problem , so I needed to increase my nutritional |
intake , or my organs would be unable to work . He recommended a product called Nucleo , a 100 % natural shake for malnutrition sufferers , and I drank that stuff like a German drinking beer !”
“ Those shakes were my wonder-drug , and that was the turning point in the challenge , as it also improved the way I felt each day . I still struggled with the mental side of things , but the positive lifestyle changes around nutrition , including cutting out all sugar , made the difference . I started picking up weight , in spite of all the running , until I was back to healthy levels . The only challenge , really , was trying to eat while running . I had no other choice , so I got used to running with fruit , biltong or nuts , and often found myself trying to get bits of food out of my teeth while running . I found that hugely frustrating , so I began carrying toothpicks in the pockets of my top . You have no idea how relieved I was to get rid of a piece of food that had been stuck for a while !”
Time to Call It Quits
With nearly 700 consecutive marathon days to his
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Finishing marathon 610 with Overkruin clubmates
name , Rupert ’ s challenge eventually came to an end last July , because he said he realised he needed to spend more time with his family . “ I had promised my wife and kids that if the challenge started negatively impacting them , I would stop . In March last year , I began to see the effect on my family , on top of COVID affecting the business , and when my wife went through a really hard patch in July , I realised that the time had come , so I ran my last consecutive marathon day on 5 July ,” says Rupert .
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“ Looking back , I realise it was the end of that season for me , and time to focus less on running . Of course , it was hard to stop on 658 marathons , but my family was always more important to me than the challenge . I knew I could go on physically , but I am happy to admit that I was relieved to think I could sleep later that next morning ! I was also relieved to no longer need to plan each day ’ s running , and chase group runs all over the place . That had been a really hard part of it all , as I always had to be at certain places at certain times to join groups .” |
Images : Courtesy Rupert van Vuuren , Jean Brummer , Groot FM , Abigail Van Vuuren |