THE RUNNING MANN
C o l u m n
was in fact in Little Rock , Arkansas .
• Whilst on long-term assignment in the United Kingdom , I would drive up and down their island every weekend for a marathon , and ended up running as far south as Brighton , as far north as Edinburgh , and pretty much everywhere in between .
• Using air miles to get to some far-flung reaches in Europe , like Helsinki , Finland . The most memorable part of this marathon was having a naked sauna with hundreds of Vikings after the race . I was careful not to bump into an Icelandic ...
Be careful not to bump into an Icelandic in the sauna at the Helsinki City Marathon
* As far as I know , I am the only person who has run a marathon in Buffalo and Buffalo City ( East London ), as well as in Frankfurt and Frankfort . Unfortunately Parys does not yet have a marathon ...
From the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland to chilling on a piece of driftwood alongside Lake Erie in Buffalo , I always tried to fit two marathons into every trip to the USA
Local can be Lekker
In my travels , I ran big marathons , I ran small marathons , and I went to extreme measures to ensure that I did not just see the inside of airports , offices and hotel rooms on my frequent travels . However , one day I realised that whilst I was going to these extraordinary lengths ( and often expense ) to run international marathons , I was not doing the same back home in South Africa . For starters , I was sure that there was more excitement to be found within our borders than running two-laps around Benoni every January . Jolted by this realisation , I decided to get out my map book , explore and find out for myself .
Like Afrikaans , but not quite , at the Leeuwarden Marathon in Friesland , Netherlands
In Clinton country before the start of the Little Rock Marathon in Arkansas
I realised that if I applied the same effort to run marathons in my own country , I could run a lot more marathons at a fraction of the cost . It was also around this time that I set the goal of running 100 unique marathons ( i . e . not counting repeat finishes of the same marathon ). I was on about 60 unique marathons at the time , so I knew I had at least 40 great weekends ahead of me !
Johannesburg is the best place to live if you want to be a running tourist . There are tons of marathons within a reasonable drive – and two airports to easily reach the further flung outposts of Mzansi . Other than in Durban and Johannesburg , most marathons around South Africa are held on a Saturday , so my weekly modus operandi became to leave work early on a Friday afternoon and then drive to whichever small town or dorpie was hosting a marathon . I ’ d roll out of bed ( one of the beauties of small field marathons is that there ’ s no traffic at the start ), run the marathon and then drive on home . ( Top tip : Try to find a B & B that will give you a late checkout so you can have a quick post-marathon shower .)
Can we get on with the rest of the holiday now ? My daughters enjoyed the post-marathon trip to the Entabeni Game Reserve more than the metropolis of Polokwane
Where ’ s the beef ? At the Edinburgh Marathon
The Balancing Act
I often get asked , “ How do you manage all this marathon travelling with a family ?” Perhaps this is an inditement on my personality , but I get the feeling that my family enjoys having an occasional break from me – the constant barrage of hilarious dad jokes might have something to do with it . If I haven ’ t done an out-of-town race for a while , my daughters start getting tetchy and ask , “ Dad , isn ’ t it time you ran another marathon ?” However , I have determined that the main reason is that they get takeout pizza and other perks while the cat is away .
Seriously though , I have found that I am a better father on the weekends when I ’ ve run a marathon . I ’ m usually home fairly early on a Saturday afternoon and can then spend the rest of the weekend dedicated to ‘ dadding .’ Meanwhile , my family is well-conditioned to my marathon running obsession , and it really helps that my wife has run several marathons herself . So , whenever we go on holiday , the first question my daughters ask is , “ What marathon is dad running ?” So , if your friends and family don ’ t ask you where you are running your next marathon , then you ’ re doing it wrong , and missing out on the best way to explore our beautiful country .
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