True Story ... and Running

I run because I can.

There are many out there that are unable to run due to illness, mobility issues and a myriad of other reasons. I am fortunate enough to be able to run, so I do.

Running is definitely not for everyone, but don’t knock it till you try it.

Oh crikey that sounds like such a cliché, but WTF, it’s true!

True Story

Although I tell my kids (who are not so young anymore, i.e. 21, 18 and 13) that I was once a fighter pilot in the Air Force this is not totally true. No, I was not a fighter pilot; however, I was in the Air Force – the good ol’ South African one. This was way back in the late 1980’s when national service was compulsory – we were essentially “vrywillig verplig” to serve our country.

I was unfortunate enough to serve out my 2 years national service at the Hoedspruit Air Force Base in the 514 Squadron – sounds fancy and frightening, but we were essentially security guards!  Although I was what was known as a Guard Commander – a corporal – I did security.

Cpl. Schuleman

Lt. Dan

Being young, fit and healthy I liked to visit my girlfriend … often … she stayed in White River, so it was not just around the corner and without a car hitch-hiking became my mode of transport.  It just so happened that on a weekend I decided to go AWOL (absent without leave) to visit my girlfriend our commanding officer (I’m thinking Lieutenant Dan from Forrest Gump, but it wasn’t) decided to do a roll call. On my return from my weekend’s sexcapades I was summoned to Lt. Dan’s office.

My 20km ran/walk around AFB Hoedspruit

My punishment: a 20km run (I walked) around the inside perimeter of AFB Hoedpsruit and 3 weeks hard labour.  After the 20km I knew for a fact that I hated running/walking and my 3 weeks hard labour turned me into an awesome gardener … I planted grass around the squadron bungalows for those 3 weeks.

The lesson I learned from that experience … go AWOL, get laid and you don’t need to do security duty anymore!

PS. My girlfriend back then is now my wife (of almost 20 years)

OK, back to the present day … and my Berlin Marathon training.

I started running with my phone using the Runkeeper app to help track my distance, pace and splits.

It’s a bit of a pain, but works reasonably well, except for my pre-Wanderer run of 9km, where the Runkeeper app somehow lost where I was and the GPS went off-kilter. Had to manually fix it afterwards.

The week itself was not great – my wife was admitted into hospital for an operation (C5/C6 discectomy and fusion – don’t worry I also had no idea what this was until I Googled it).  She’s out now recovering at home, but between this and work my training was not the best.  I did manage to put in the necessary mileage (+1.68km), but the effort was lacking.

Matts and Bronwyn

Friday, I managed to attend a wedding, sans the wife. Good ol’ Matthias Kempgen tied the knot and it really was an awesome affair. Wishing Matts and Bronwyn many happy years together.

Before the Wanderers Half Marathon on Sunday I did a slow 9km warm-up (this is when my Runkeeper GPS went haywire) and I managed to get to the start of the actual race with 5 minutes to spare.  The half marathon itself was really well organised and also had a great turnout.  It was the first time I ran with a camera in an attempt to capture some pictures while I was running (in preparation for the Berlin Marathon where I plan to take pics along the way too).  Not so easy, but turned out to be a really good morning – ran some of the way with Shaun, another #ShoOops Legend!

Wanderers Half Marathon

So week 12 of training I had planned to do 69km and managed to complete 70.68km (this is also my highest mileage week for my 17 week training programme).  Week 13 of training has commenced (just over a month to the Berlin Marathon).

Happy Running Folks!