ROAD RUNNING
From the Archives …
Lessons in Self-belief
When Ela received an invitational entry to participate in the Cape Town edition of the SPAR Grand Prix in 2022 , her joy turned to doubt when she saw the star-studded list of junior entrants that she would be racing , but as she wrote in our November 2022 edition , she had to work through that temporary lapse in self-belief . To find out just how well she did that , read the article here .
Come on girl , you can do it , just 1km left , we ’ ll run to the stadium . See , it ’ s just over there . – Ed .)
About 1.5km from Kingsmead Stadium , a man from the crowd came up beside me and walked with me , offering me words of encouragement in my native Afrikaans language . He asked me how old I was , and I told him , 20 , and he said wow , I must be extremely proud of myself to run under 10 hours for my first Comrades at such an age , that it was a remarkable feat . At that moment , a passing runner said , “ Kom , meisie , jy kan dit doen , nog net 1km oor , ons hardloop tot by die stadium . Sien , hy sit net daar .” ( Translation :
Proud owner of a Comrades medal !
On the podium at the Sportsmans Warehouse Winelands Marathon
With that , I summoned up the strength to shuffle to the finish , and after 9:17:08 spent on the road , I received my Robert Mtshali medal , and I couldn ’ t be prouder of myself . A few weeks later , The Running Mann did his analysis of Comrades Marathon 2023 , and I learnt that in the Robert Mtshali medal division , none other than Ela Meiring had posted the worst women ’ s average split pace for the final section from the Sherwood timing mat to the finish line , clocking a 9:43 per kay average . Clearly I did a lot more walking than running !
Signing Up For More
My final aim for 2023 was to improve my best marathon time of 3:29:57 , which I wanted to do at the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon . After taking some much-needed time off after Comrades , I trained hard , and when 15 October rolled around , it was go-time . I was a bit nervous … What if the ‘ cramp monster ’ strikes again , I thought , and as it turned out , it was indeed lurking behind the bushes , ready to attack my quads . However , this time I didn ’ t walk . Instead , I just dropped my pace , because I had learnt at Cango and Comrades that walking actually made the pain even worse . I clocked in at 3:29:24 , a 33-second marathon PB , which provided me with a mixture of emotions .
Stubborn me then entered the Winelands Marathon on the 25th of November , and I reinvented my entire routine , because something wasn ’ t adding up . I did lots of research on cramping , and how to prevent it , but in the end I had to play a game of Russian roulette to try and figure out this unexplainable phenomenon . I went 180 degrees on my nutrition : I replaced my energy bars with gels , as that allows for quicker absorption into the bloodstream , changed my electrolytes to a gel-based format instead of tablets , changed my warm-up routine , and went a bit heavier in the gym with the weights . Now it was time for the moment of truth … Would the gun discharge a bullet , or would it be a blank out on the roads around Stellenbosch .
I started the race at a comfortable pace and soon began chatting to a fellow runner around the 2km mark . I was fascinated by his approach to running , and we chatted virtually the entire race , sticking next to or just behind one another and eventually finishing
Ela coming home at the Comrades Marathon
together as well . Whilst conversing about strategy , I made sure to remember my new routine of one gel every 30 minutes , and one electrolyte gel every hour . The halfway mark rolled by , and I had no cramping . In fact , it actually felt like I had just started .
Time flew and before I knew it , I was in the home straight , with a sparkling new 14-minute PB of 3:15:06 and a sneaky second place on the women ’ s podium ! I had definitely not imagined that morning when I woke up that I would achieve that . In fact , before the race , I will admit that I was really nervous and thought a PB would be virtually impossible , given the challenging Winelands route , but God does work in mysterious ways . I couldn ’ t have envisioned a better ending to my running year , with a PB , a Podium , and no cramps !
My Wish for 2024
If a genie were to appear out of a lamp right now , like in one of my favourite childhood films , Aladdin , and grant me a wish , you might think I would wish that I had not entered the Comrades Marathon this year … perhaps because you think that it took too much out of me . But that ’ s not the case . I would actually wish for the genie to get a Comrades entry , as someone needs to keep me company when I run from Durban to Pietermaritzburg in 2024 . That ’ s because my entry was secured just eight minutes after entries for Comrades 2024 opened !
About the Author
Ela is passionate about education , specifically early childhood education , and has just completed her third of four years ’ working towards a Bachelor of Education Degree specialising in the Foundation Phase , through STADIO Higher Education . In between her studies and her passion for long distance running , Ela also loves writing , and she is a freelancer for the Commonwealth Youth Blog .
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