Hello, Own My Runners,

Another month has passed by, autumn leaves are everywhere and the running scene is in full bloom!!! Before we dive into the latest news this month, here is recap of all the OWNMYRUN content from the past few weeks:

New this month:

Subscribers Content:

• Experts Explain:
  • Dr. Angus gives an insightful talk about running and sickness. Click here to watch.
• Nutrition Talks: ( Click here )
  • Protein for Performance
  • Running on Caffeine
• Vlogs:
  • Episode 6 – Race Day Mistakes (Here’s the link )
  • Episode 7 – Pre Race Carb depletion ( Here’s the link )
• Training Diaries:
  • Training for Two Oceans 2025

Sponsored Content:

• Two Oceans Race Report ( Click here )

Track News:

The South African Athletics National Champions took place this month. Congratulations to the class of 2025!!

Road Running News:

Road running news this month was well and truly painted with the light blue colour of the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon.  Runners from all around the country (and world) descended on Cape Town to take part in either the 56km ultra marathon or the 21.1km half marathon.  It was a beautiful, wind-still weekend of running in the Mother City, despite temperatures being warmer than usual on both days.  Somehow, controversy always sticks its head out and this time round it was due to a last-minute notice from race organizers that the half marathon route will be shortened and therefore not be record eligible.  An official notice from the race organizers late Saturday evening blamed warm weather conditions, which, for many runners, made no sense at all as the route would only be shortened by a couple hundred meters at most. You can’t help but wonder what the real driving factors were behind this decision. All things considered, I still believe that the vast majority of runners had a truly fantastic experience in the big scheme of things, but you cannot ignore the fact that there are certain areas than screams “room for improvement”. Race packs, T-shirts, registration queues, starting pens, medals, water tables… Just about all the items you could expect from runners’ rants.

A week after the Two Oceans, our attention was drawn to Gqeberha where Arian Wiltschutt set a new National Record running a time of 27:28 at the absa Run Your City 10km Race. Well done, young man!!

The Comrades marathon is fast approaching, and race organizers have announced the official distance for 2025 as 89,98km. This means that the race is 2,2km longer than the previous down-run, but not forgetting that 2023 was the second shortest down-run in the history of the race.  Runners aiming to improve on their previous finish times will have to take this into consideration when planning their pacing strategies.  A street finish will be introduced for the first time in many years and organizers get an opportunity to test-run the highly anticipated 100^th edition in 2027. The substitution window is now closed, and the qualifying window will close on 5May.

Not a Comrades runner? That doesn’t mean your calendar has to be empty.  Runningcalendar.co.za lists plenty of race options in the coming months.

New Next month:

We will be bringing you an elaborative breakdown of the Comrades Down-run route so keep an eye out on the Videos and Webinars Section as well as ownmyrun Instagram page for all announcements.

Ever wondered where to start when working out a training program? Expect a new Vlog about Training Plans coming soon. More relevant topics will be covered this month in Vlogs and Articles about various running topics.

We would love to hear from you via the Runners Forum!! It’s so easy to start a topic, ask a question or jump in on some of the existing threads!

Until next time, keep running!!

Gerda Steyn