What the actual do I do with my time and sports-obsessed focus now ? Life feels empty , void of my daily overload of athletic motivation – washboard abs , sparkling flagpainted nails , Rob Walker ’ s lane 1-8 countdowns , and the hourly heartstopping tears and screams of joy and pain . Chapeau Paris , that was SO good !

While I loved my daily runs between key races , emulating Hassan-esque loping strides and twinkle-toe Tebogo finishes , I ’ ve been contemplating where our healthy , happy-making sport is headed . My phone pinged every time another record was broken . “ Hey bru , what are the chances that oke isn ’ t juiced to the eyeballs ?” As much as I ’ m tempted to dismiss this cynicism , after so many doping busts in recent years , in a time when marginal gains have become so slender among the pros , loyal fans have reason to mistrust anything extraordinary .

This question led me to interesting conversations with ex pros , doctors , coaches and others . Each shone light on different products , techniques , athletes , teams and countries – but none were the same . There are clearly very blurred lines in the practice of performance enhancement . What one person deems a step too far , someone

else thinks is commonplace , not harmful , and should be legal . Scribble down what you consider ‘ doping ’, ask your mates to do the same and compare notes . See what I mean ? I took this conversation further with a friend who ’ s a deep-thinking , talented runner . We ended up in an interesting consensus . I won ’ t steal his thunder – you can read his Last Word on p146 .

Speaking of advantages , what ’ s your take on supershoes ? The carbon-plated craze that started with the Nike Vaporfly

Soaking up the stoke at the incredibly beautiful and slickly organised Whale of Trail race in De Hoop Nature Reserve .

in 2016 has spread full-tilt into every brand . Are plated shoes really faster , and are they healthy ? If it ’ s the shoe and not the better trained , lean-eating super athlete , then which plated shoe is which and when should I wear them ? It ’ s relatively early days in the evolution of the biggest watershed invention in running since the heart rate monitor . It ’ s spread into trail shoes now , too , as edgy brands like The North Face create winning models like the Vectiv Pro . We featured them in our previous edition , and even a large clumsy trail runner like me found them comfortable for over five

hours on technical trails at Whale of Trail in De Hoop . I even managed to win the ballies over 50 category , and that ’ s as rare as an honest politician . Our shoe guides just two years ago looked completely different . Shoe brands launch new models every few months , and they ’ re selling like hotcakes as the global running boom continues . To demystify the haze of models on shelf , we asked our panel of expert sports podiatrists to explain what ’ s going on under the hood of sweet-looking kicks . You can read all about it on pages 78-85 .

And lastly , a salute to our Team SA heroes . Medalling at the Olympics is the pinnacle of any sportsperson ’ s career . If one considers how much funding goes into athletes from wealthier countries , it ’ s a near miracle that any of our mostly self-funded Saffas make semi finals , let alone finals or an actual medal . We don ’ t typically feature track athletes on our covers , but how could we not give Akani Simbine the much-deserved glory he ’ s been working towards for 10 years . His oh-so-close-to-podium 4th place in the fastest 100m men ’ s final ever was nothing short of mindblowing . His silver medal win as part of our 4x100m relay team , which included two lads under 20 , is a moment most of us will never forget . Sport once again unified us proud Saffas and reminded us that we all have the power to achieve our dreams . All things in life follow cycles , and my optimistic belief is that the ebbs and flows of learning and practice will eventually see each of these trends come full circle . Athletes will realise the value of health over performance , and us sports fans will be okay witnessing less records with less suspicion . Shoe technology will reach a place where both health and performance are optimised , and future leaders will invest in our country ’ s wealth of undeveloped talent . Life circles , and I can ’ t wait for LA .

Please send us feedback and suggestions on how we can improve your reading experience : runmag @ electricink . co . za @ runmagsa Get more news & views at bikeruntri . co . za

PHOTOGRAPH FAHWAAZ CORNELIUS

10 | RUN FOR YOUR LIFE