Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 96, July 2017 | Page 30

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My Story
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The years passed, I turned 40 in 2012, and it felt like
I was going through a mid-life crises. I was feeling
miserable and felt like I had nothing to live for – that’s
how bad it was! – so I went to see a psychologist and
my doctor put me on anti-depression pills. Then my
dad called me up one Sunday morning and announced
that he was going to enter me to run the Comrades
Marathon the following year, so best I start running!
On the 6th of November, my dad met me at my house
and we went for a short run/walk. I remember not
being able to run 100 metres without needing to
walk... I absolutely hated running for the first few
months. I was always out of breath, everything ached,
and it was no fun at all. I was told that running is like
a drug to the body and that we get all these “feel-
good endorphins,” but I was not experiencing any of
that. This felt like sheer torture! But I persevered, and
after three months I was going to run my first half
marathon. I have never been so scared before, but my
dad ran with me and was so patient, telling me when
to walk, and to drink, and breathe. I finished it and the
feeling was out of this world! Now I finally understood
about all those endorphins.
The Lure of Comrades
Lisa with fiancé Wayne Thomason and dad
Giuliano
this and announced that if an 80-year-old can finish
this race, then he could walk it, too!
Of course, my mother Gail took him up on his
challenge and made a bet with him that if he did not
manage to complete the run the following year, he
would have to pay for her to visit her sister in Canada.
So my dad started to run that year and completed
his first Comrades in 1990, coming home in 10:56:07.
Since then he has run the race 20 times, finishing it 18
times, and fittingly, the late Wally presented him with
his permanent Green Number after his tenth finish in
2000. And that’s how running was introduced into our
family…
W
From Zero to Hero
hile at a family braai in 1989, we watched
80-year-old Wally Hayward finish the
Comrades Marathon. There was hardly a dry
eye as he staggered across the finish line in 10:58:03,
making the final cut-off time by a mere 1 minute and
57 seconds to become the oldest finisher in the history
of the Comrades. My dad, Giuliano Michelli, watched
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I was never interested in running myself. I thought
that I ‘waddled’ and could not run, and I have never
been any good at sports, so the thought never once
crossed my mind that I would ever want to take
up running. I was always in awe of other runners,
especially at the finish line of the Comrades, but I
thought that it was something that I could never do,
and quite frankly, I was not interested to even try.
ISSUE 96 JULY 2017 / www.modernathlete.co.za
In the six months from January 2014 leading up to
my first Comrades, I ran six marathons and two ultra-
marathons, and felt that I had put in the mileage to
be ready. Even though I was still petrified, I ran the
Down Run in 11:18, so I decided to do the 2015 Up
Run and get my Back-to-Back medal. I finished that
one in 11:38, and then decided that I want to get
my permanent number, so I ran the 2016 Comrades
in 11:24. Unfortunately, I was cut-off at Umlaas
Road in this year’s Comrades, having been nauseous
for much of the first half due to the heat, but this
experience has motivated me to come back next year
even better and stronger, and amped to run my best
Comrades ever. Because what doesn’t kill you makes
you stronger!
I am a lazy person by nature. I once did a personality test and it revealed that
my motto should be “Why stand when you can sit, and why sit when you can
rather lie down?” And yet I became a runner… – BY LISA MICHELLI MACKENZIE
A few months later, I ran my first marathon, so slowly
that the timing mat had already been packed away
when I got to the end, and the next day I was so stiff,
but words cannot describe the sense of achievement
that I felt. I was now a runner! That year I did not
manage to qualify to run Comrades, as I was still
unable to run a marathon under five hours, but in
November 2013 I ran the Kaapsehoop Marathon and
eventually qualified in 4:36. I was now able to attempt
the Comrades in 2014, but training for it is no easy
feat: You have to be consistent in your training, and
100% dedicated to achieving this huge goal. It’s also
a mental game, and I had to train my brain to believe
that finishing it was indeed possible.