Running Multi-Day Races

By Pumla Mjoli

An endurance runner is sharing her experiences in training and running multi-day races from circuit races to virtual races. Multi-day circuit races usually have a small number of women. Recently there has been an introduction of virtual multi-day races. They are challenging and they are a great way to start because not all countries have multi-day races.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pumla Mjoli
• Release date: Jun 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201033804

Pumla Mjoli

Pumla Mjoli is a multi-day runner who ran over 1 000 kilometres in the first 20-day race in South Africa that was held in Johannesburg in December 2019. She also has experience in coaching runners and walkers. She ran the New York Marathon in 2011 and 2013. She won the women race in her first 24-hour running that was held in Johannesburg at end of 2015. She was also the overall winner in the Winter Running Festival 6-day race in 2019 in Johannesburg. She completed 2 075 kilometres in 2021 in the Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee (GVRAT).  

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Introduction

My finance career started in 1994 as a trainee accountant in the private sector and I worked extremely hard to build my career. When I left the private sector, I was already promoted as an accountant. I joined one of the newly formed government organisations after democracy in 1998, The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). The organisation mission was to promote social justice through labour dispute resolution and mediation, and it was formed in 1996. The organisation was less than 2 years old when I joined.  It was the best time to work in a government entity, Nelson Mandela was the president of South Africa. People were optimistic in the organisation just looking forward to making their contribution in a new democratic South Africa and willing to go an extra mile.

I was appointed as a budget officer in 1999. The position was a middle management position. Besides budget preparation and budget reporting, I was responsible for coordinating the budget committee. The budget committee was comprised of top management and middle management and also representatives from CCMA staff association. This position was great for learning about the organisation. Within two years in the position, the head of finance resigned, and the national accountant went on maternity. Those two key finance positions were higher than the level of a budget officer in the organisation. I acted in the two positions for five months while also doing my job. I guess that is where my endurance strength developed, I became comfortable working long hours.

After the end of the five months, the national accountant came back from maternity and was appointed as the head of finance. I was appointed a national accountant and I found it easy to excel in the job after juggling all three jobs.

When the head of finance job became available after 30 months in my job, I was ready for the challenge. I was appointed the head of the finance division in my organisation. I worked in that position for the last four months of 2004 until early 2008 and exercise was not part of my schedule.

The important things that building a finance career thought me, that I still apply in my running is discipline, commitment, hard work, consistency, patience, and endurance.

The circuit races

The first time I was close to 1000 kilometres running race was in August 2017. A 16-day race was held in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was a circuit race, and the circuit was less than one kilometre.

Circuit races are different from road races. The circuit race is an interesting race where you camp next to the circuit and run day and night. You can sleep or rest any time. If you are resting, you usually hear the other runners running or walking in the circuit. When running a circuit race, you meet with all runners as you are sharing the same circuit. It is easy to form friendships and appreciate runners as they work hard to achieve their goals.

There were only five runners participating in the 16-day race dominated by men and there was only one woman from South Africa. Three runners travelled very far to participate in this event. Two came from the United States of America and one from Israel and the remaining two came from South Africa. There were other races happening during this time from 6-hour to 10-day races.  I came to participate in a 24-hour race which