These last few months have certainly been a long hard road for me. The disappointment of injuring my knee so badly in Prague Marathon and not being able to run for so long was huge…in the end i was out for 3 months. It was a long dark tunnel. People often asked me how I coped, how I stayed sane. Well you have to learn to cope; I focused on all the other things in my life that define me. I’m not just a runner, I’m a wife, a mother, a photographer and a friend; I took this extra time I now had and ploughed it into other areas of my life and tried to focus on them. I loved the extra energy I had to bounce on the trampoline with my children at the end of a busy day or play hockey or build tents in the lounge, when normally I’m pretty much in an exhausted heap on the kitchen floor hanging on until bedtime haha. I caught up with friends in the evenings and had fun braai’s, which usually doesn’t happen as I’m in bed by 8pm to be able to wake up at 4.30am the next day to train. I spent nights watching movies with my husband and chatting until 10pm, which for me is like midnight, I’m an early to bed early to rise chick.
I tired to stay positive, to be strong and to enjoy the other parts of my life which were still VERY much ALIVE. It also gave me time to sit back and reflect and realize just how much I LOVE to run and how it really does “set me free”. I don’t run because it’s a career or because i have to, I run because I love it, because it’s my “me time” and because I’ve been blessed with my health and mobility to be able to run. That in itself was enough to keep me fighting through this injury and made my determination to get back on the road even stronger.
Photo credit to Antony Grote- an awesome moment captured running with my girls.
I won’t lie; I have had my tough days and shed many a tear on my husband as well as my physio’s shoulder. Thank heavens for these two, their patience, understanding and support was endless and for that i will forever be grateful….oh and for Wayne fixing me too of course 😉. I’ve had to repeatedly say to myself “Stay patient and enjoy the journey” and I this encouraged me to soldiered on toward the light.
Someone said to me that it must be hard as you lose your identity when you injured…yes and no. Yes because you may not be up there racing but no because I have so much more to my life, which does not stop because I can’t run. While I was injured I was asked to be an ambassador of an incredible new German brand of sunglasses called Sziols. Thank you Sziols for your belief in me even when I wasn’t running and for giving me the opportunity to be apart of your incredible brand and family. I cannot wait to fly your flag high and am so proud to be apart of such a loving caring group of people, I’ve been blown away by their close knit “family” bond. Anyone needing new glasses I highly recommend you go have a look at their site, huge thumbs up from me.
Another huge surprise which kept me super motivated to make them proud was my partnership with Vida e. If anyone knows anything about me besides running its my love of GOOD coffee and that being said Vidae is and has always been my ALL TIME BEST so that was pretty apt.
So after 3 months off, no running at all I can very happily say I’m back on the road again and I’m “set free”…I’m running. I have a long road ahead but I’m hungrier than ever for it now. I have my goals and I’m going to do everything in my power to achieve them.
I don’t think many people know what goes into the life of a professional athlete…well it’s HECTIC, to say the least haha. We don’t just run a race and do well, there is a lot of blood, sweat and tears along the journey. It is no easy job, there are a lot of sacrifices and as Elana Meyer said to me today “The world of sport is so unpredictable! There are no guarantees but there are also huge rewards”, very true and inspiring words from an incredibly talented runner and role model to many.
So here I am…on the road and rearing to go. Let the next chapter of this journey begin.
“Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe”
