100BEFORE40

The Blue Train retired after about 1000 kilometers of pounding the pavement. 29 - Imbube King's Marathon, Mbabane Swaziland, 8 October 2017 One of my 100BEFORE40 secrets, at least until now, has been avoiding running the same marathons whenever I can. Permanent numbers (green, blue or whatever colour) do not really appeal to me. I have great respect for the permanent number tradition, but it is not my kind of thing. For me completing a particular marathon once is a privilege. Given a chance, I prefer moving on to a different marathon. However, I have my favorite marathons that I would not miss lightly. These are the Soweto Marathon and the Wally Hayward Marathon. I have told the story of the Soweto Marathon repeatedly, but for the benefit of those who do not know, it was my first ever marathon in November 2014. It has become synonymous with marathon, just like Colgate in synonymous with toothpaste or OMO is synonymous with washing powder in many households. Wally Hayward’...

27 – Cape Town Marathon, Cape Town, South Africa, 17 September 2017 After seeing spooks at the Mandela Day Marathon, I could not wait to get back on the road. I desperately needed to redeem myself. They say, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. Having survived the Mandela Day Marathon, I fancied myself as a bit stronger. Adding to this enthusiasm was the old running adage that “the good thing about a bad run is that the next one will be better.” I really believed the Cape Town Marathon was my chance to brighten up the 17 Marathons for 2017 scoreboard. The times I have run this year are not the worst, but are far from the best. I have craved good times over the past 10 marathons, but this year is more about quantity, than quality. It is all about running those 17 marathons that I undertook to run this year. I was not sure of what I wanted to achieve at the Cape Town Marathon. Part of me was tempted to attempt a sub 4-hour finish. Everyone said this was a fast and fla...

26 - Mandela Day Marathon, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, 27 August 2017 By the time the Mandela Day Marathon came, the 17 Marathons for 2017 project was well underway. Nine marathons had come and gone. Mandela Day heralded the double-digit phase. It was number 10 out of 17 for the year. The 2015 edition had dealt with me properly. It humbled me and sent me back to the drawing board. And it took me a good two years to come up with a proper plan. My plan was to give the race a taste of its own medicine. I wanted to improve my time by at least 25 minutes. This would give me a sub 4 hours 30 minutes finish. It was not going to be easy, by it was possible. I planned to rest as much as possible in the week leading up to the race. I was supposed to get enough sleep, stay off my feet and carbo-load as much as possible. However, the nature of these things is such that you can never have perfect plan. Something is bound to happen. I hardly slept for most of the week due to work...

25 - Knysna Forest Marathon, Knysna, South Africa - 15 July 2017 I missed the 2017 Comrades Marathon, because of three bucket list races that I wanted to run in June and July. I ran the Victoria Falls Marathon and completely enjoyed it. I missed the Big Five Marathon because of witchcraft. I blame witchcraft, because there is  nothing else that can make a person prepare for a race for seven months,  travel for about 400km and their car break down 13km away from the start line some 30 minutes before the race starts. That is what happened to me. This cannot be a miracle. It has to be witchcraft. As if this was not enough, I was not able to run the third bucket list marathon, the Mauritius Marathon, because of a very unhealthy bank  account balance. After realizing (more like accepting) that the Mauritius Marathon was going to set me on a collision course with Agatha, because of the cost, I decided to abandon it. I had sold the Mauritius Marathon to her as an away ...

26 - The Victoria Falls Marathon, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, 18 June 2017 On Sunday, 4 June 2017, I joined my fellow Comrades in pounding the pavement from Durban to Pietermaritzburg. While many of them struggled and I felt their pain, I had it easy. They were pounding the pavement on the pavement. I was doing so from the comfort of my lounge, shouting, and screaming at them to keep going. I watched from the time the start gun went off and until the finish gun went off. Many dreams were realized on that day. Equally, many dreams were shuttered. I started wondering how I would have done had I been at the Comrades Marathon 2017. Lost in these thoughts, I remembered why I had decided to call it quits with the Comrades Marathon. It was to long and tough for my liking. Besides, there were three bucket list marathons in June and July that I desperately wanted to do.  The Victoria Falls Marathon was the first on the list and it was only two weeks away. My ankle and knee injuri...