A running family – Lameez with Zubayr and daughter Alia |
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from his family or friends , he is unable to tell anybody . “ Ziyadd is a ‘ runner ,’ so we need to make sure the front door is always locked , otherwise he goes wandering ,” says Lameez . “ On the other hand , his teachers told us that other kids seem to enjoy having him around , as he is always happy and busy , but they feel like runners , too , as he often just runs off sometimes , and they have to catch him .” |
Autism is a challenging condition to identify and manage , and Lameez says it took a long time for them to pinpoint the issues when their sons were young . “ After birth , Zubayr ’ s progress up to 18 months seemed fine , then the regression started , his speech lessened , and aggressive behaviour increased , mostly tantrums due to frustration . It took many years , and many thousands of Rands , for a doctor to finally give us a proper diagnosis of autism – initially they just said Ziyaad was deaf , and Zubayr had a speech defect .”
“ When they got a bit older , we struggled to find schools for them , especially Zubayr , because he is not autistic enough for some schools , but too autistic for others . Then at 16 he got into running , and that gave him something to feel part of and achieve in . I was worried about how he would cope with crowds , and what that would bring , but he seems to zone out and focus on his running . I relaxed a bit when I saw a pic by Keith Linderoth taken at the Leapfrog race , as Zubayr was in a crowd of runners and was handling it all fine ,” says Lameez .
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In Zubayr ’ s case , there is another aspect of the condition that causes Lameez concern , and that is he finds it hard to express pain . “ He ’ s only ever been sick once in his life , and we only knew when we found him on the floor , passed out , and rushed him to hospital . It turned out he almost had a burst appendix , but he didn ’ t tell us he was in pain . I also notice that when we run together , I sweat in races , but he doesn ’ t even break a sweat .”
Lacing Up the Shoes
Running entered the picture a few years back when Lameez decided to give it a try . She and Faizel had both been working for Old Mutual for 20-plus years , having risen to senior management positions , but she had decided to take a step back from work in order to focus more on the boys . Running seemed a good way to get exercise and time alone to think , and that led to her entering the Bay to Bay 15km . She says she drove the course the day before the race , and it all went OK , but she admits she ‘ broke down ’ coming into Camps Bay , just a few kays from the finish .
Undaunted , she continued running , and eventually nearly the whole family were running . With Zubayr , she gradually got him into it , doing short 2km runs near their home . “ We would do one kilometre out and then one kilometre back again , and he seemed to enjoy it .
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In fact , he would remind me when it was time for us to go again . We gradually increased the distance , started doing parkruns together , and that eventually led to us entering the Cell C Day of Races in 2017 . We were put in different starting batches , so I was worried about him , but I just told him to follow the man with the red flag . He came cruising in , and when I asked him how it went , he said he just followed the other runners .”
Zubayr takes up the story here : “ I think I ran 27 minutes for my first five kilometres . I always had somebody to follow , and I enjoyed it . I didn ’ t talk to others , just focused on running . Soon after that I ran 24 minutes on the treadmill , and it was easy . My next race was 10 kilometres and I enjoyed it . I ran around 58 , 59 minutes , just behind Rassie ’ s bus .” ( That is regular Western Province Pacesetter Rassie Pretorius – Ed .)
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Eventually Zubayr worked his way up to tackling a half marathon , and did his first one in the Mitchells Pass Half in Ceres . “ It was a little bit tough , but a lot of fun . I ran with Uncle Moegsien Ebrahim and he told me to keep up with him . We didn ’ t talk that much , we focused on running , but we had a lot of fun . I think we finished in about 2:20 .”
Lameez says that when she saw he was coping with the running and the crowds , she felt more confident about letting him run by himself in races . “ That Cell C event was a defining moment , as I realised I could
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Images : Action Photo SA , Moegsien Ebrahim , Keith Linderoth & courtesy Lameez Isaacs |
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Zubayr ’ s first solo race in 2017 , at the Cell C Day of Races |