Inspiration & Motivation, Running & Fitness

Subscriber Love: Hello From South Africa

Matt Orlando
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A while back I reached out to my subscribers with an offer to feature them on my blog as a way of saying thanks for being loyal subscribers. To my delight I received a response all the way from South Africa! Let me introduce you to Megan of the blog Getfithappyhealthy. I asked Megan to share her story, so here it is below. Be sure to show her some love by following her and leaving comments below!

A big HELLO from South Africa!

getfithappyhealthy.comI am a super Runner Dad fan! I started following (read: stalking) Matt on Twitter first a few years ago, then I found his blog and just haven’t looked back since. I appreciate his honesty, and his real life experiences. You see I wasn’t always a runner. And when I started out I really needed help on how to be a better runner. Matt really helped me.

So how did I start running? Well in 2013 I found out that I weighed more than my then boyfriend (now husband), I was devastated. I decided I had to make some changes in my life – I did not want to be the overweight girlfriend! I started a blog to keep me accountable, and to show how I run to get fit, happy, healthy. When I started running I started slow – real slow. I could barely run around the block! But I was determined to give it my best. That very first run I knew I was hooked. The feeling I get after a run, especially when I have pushed myself, is great! I love that out of breath, sore muscles feeling because you know what? It means I am alive and I am getting stronger every day.

2016-Comrades-campaign-posterI live in Johannesburg, South Africa. In a suburb called Fairland, it has some pretty sweet hills – great for hill training. I am also very lucky that in South Africa it is pretty affordable to run races. In fact there is a race pretty much every weekend throughout the year. Our races are varying distances, usually a 5km, 10km, 21km and 42km. You can also find races that are longer distances like 50km, which we call Ultra Marathons. I am sure you have heard of the Comrades marathon which is a 87/90km road running race from Durban to Pietermaritzburg (or the other way round).

I am really into road running, but there are also some pretty epic trail run races you can enter all over South Africa. Races in South Africa generally cost you anything from R100 ZAR (at to today’s exchange rate that’s less than $7). In South Africa you need to have an Athletic South Africa (ASA) license to run a 10km or more race. You can buy this license for a year, or a temp license for each race. You can only buy the yearly license if you belong to a running club.

ASA license

When I started out I didn’t join a running club, I just entered races and ran with my hubby and sister-in-law. But it starts getting expensive always buying a temp license so I finally cracked and joined a club. There are further benefits to joining a running club – for one, you get to make more friends, and there is a camaraderie at races. The other big plus for me, is that for each race I enter my particular club (Discovery Team Vitality) gives me cash back on the money I spent on entering the race – crazy right? It’s a big incentive then to run races. If you go onto my blog you can check out my race calendar for the year. I plan to run more than 500km in race distance alone, excluding all the distance I will need to run in training.

Team VitalityMy big bad goal for 2016 is to run my first ever full marathon. I plan to run it in South Africa, in a part of the country where wild horses roam free. I am told that I may see them on the route! I also have this strong desire to show the world how magical the races are here in South Africa. You literally just need to think of what you want and trust me, somewhere in South Africa there will be a race for you. Sand, Sea, Mountain, Valley, Road, Trail, City, Town – South Africa has it. I recently did a post about 9 races in the 9 provinces within South Africa, I encourage you to check it out and if you ever come to South Africa, look me up on social media. I would love to run with you!

You can follow Meg here:


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