EDITOR’ S LETTER
WE ONLY LIVE ONCE
PHOTOGRAPH KIRSTEN OLIVER
“ DO HARD THINGS” THEY SAY. It will help you realise your true potential and give you the confidence it takes to tackle other challenges in life.
This is undoubtedly true. Ask anyone who’ s been through rough times, a trauma or a challenge they once deemed too big to face. Those who survived came out of it stronger, wiser and better prepared for the next inevitable life curveball, or the even bigger challenges they opted to take on.
We need to know darkness to appreciate light, loneliness to appreciate love, pain to appreciate pleasure. It’ s the earning of the end goal that provides the most fulfilling joy. If success came easily we’ d fast grow bored and stagnate. An inherent desire to grow in all facets of life is what makes growing older worthwhile.
I get and fully appreciate all of this. What I struggle with is the seeming omnipresence of peer pressure that drives an obsession with hard things, to do them for the sake of being accepted or respected when they no longer bring us joy or growth. Social media is an obvious example of this pressure, but the cues are everywhere. How many of us decide our race calendars based on what will deliver a new experience rather than choosing events that sell out fast or will earn us a special medal?
Runners who tackle and eventually finish a goal race distance can begin to feel compelled to run further, and more, long after the sense of achievement, of learning and success that made us feel capable and confident, has been attained. Yes, from time to time we may need a kick out of complacency, but life is already hard; it’ s too short not to enjoy.
Saffas are fiercely competitive, which again is positive, but when that drive goes too far and leads to injury, depression or even cheating, it’ s not healthy. Perhaps we can then
recognise that the true bliss of racing is being our best among like-minded others. Working hard shoulder to shoulder, in beautiful spaces in nature, with our tribe.
Sadly many people judge runners by how many marathons or ultra marathons they’ ve completed. Racing
“ REPEATEDLY DOING HARD THINGS AT THE EXPENSE OF GROWTH AND PROGRESSION AS INDIVIDUALS IS NOT HEALTHY”
and bettering your PB in a 5km time trial is in truth far healthier, building speed and strength. And the time saved when not training or recovering from longer and longer distances allows us to give greater attention to other important life focuses, such as career, family, creativity, learning new skills, and more. These are things that matter and deserve the respect of ourselves and others.
In my role as editor of endurance sport publications, I speak to many athletes who can tell you exactly how many medals they have and the finish times they achieved – but can barely recollect the scenery of each or other runners they shared the road with. I also witness countless examples of demeaning or lighthearted belittling of shortdistance runners, and radically skewed media and sponsorship attention on race distances that amateurs with balanced lives can’ t afford to race year after year, yet find themselves toeing the line at again and again. We only have so many weekends in our lives and one set of hard-working joints.
There are countless new races and places to run, books to read, friends to connect with( offline where possible please), skills to learn … Exercise and racing has its fundamental place in our lives, but repeatedly doing hard things at the expense of growth and progression as individuals is not healthy, and deserves to be carefully considered in the context of each of our unique life journeys.
There is a time and place for everything. Pick your A race, find your hibernation downtime, choose your own path and celebrate those of others. Whether it’ s finishing a 200 miler, your first 10km or going sub-25 minutes over 5km that excites you, then that’ s your reason to run. Do the training, pick the gear and enjoy achieving what makes YOU happy.
Life is short; smell the flowers cos there ain’ t no second innings.
I hope this jam-packed 160 + page Summer edition fuels your desire to make healthy choices in 2026. May it be your fittest, fastest and funnest year ever!
Please send us feedback and suggestions on how we can improve your reading experience: paul @ electricink. co. za @ runmagsa
Get more news & views at bikeruntri. co. za
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