Run, a forest run

I started running about seven years ago and have amassed quite a collection of half marathon medals. You might think me materialistic but each medal is a reminder that I got off my butt and did something. You see, Iʼve never really enjoyed running. My runs are generally spent looking up the road and telling myself that, ʻThis will all be over soon,ʼ or ʻYouʼre feeling good today. You can do this.ʼ If you tell yourself a lie often enough, you start to believe it.

Iʼve run in Stellenbosch, Durbanville, Gordonʼs Bay. Iʼve run in vineyards and along the coast. Iʼve run in Mitchellʼs Plain and completed the Two Oceans (half) wearing a yellow tiger onesie. But there was one run Iʼd never completed, the jewel in the crown: the Knysna Forest half marathon.

Flu put a stop to my 2018 attempt and Covid ruined 2020, but when the organisers announced they were putting on a “virtual”