I was out on the road early that morning supporting my sister and my two cousins running their first two oceans - one of whom was none other than ARDs very own Faldiela Shira Gassiep.
They looked so impressive on the road and seemed to move so effortlessly even after 18km, that I promised them on that day that I will be joining them in this race come 2015! There was no way that I could allow 3 female family members outdo the boys like that!!
At first, I didn’t really think that I would really do it – my idea of getting to one point from another was to get in the car and drive there – else what’s the point of a car then?
But a few weeks after OMTOM 2014, I went for my annual diabetes check-up (I was diagnosed with diabetes about 12 years ago). My doctor informed me that my medication had to be strengthened and that it will have to include high blood pressure as well as cholesterol medication. Needless to say, this came as a shock to me – I was feeling healthy!! I played squash once a week, ran around on the soccer field coaching juniors, how could this be?
I has to remind myself what diabetes really is: a silent killer that cannot be cured but it can definitely be controlled and kept in check IF I as the sufferer choose to do so – and that’s exactly what I decided to do – Fight back. There was no way that I was going to allow myself to be a sickly 50 year old and a burden to my wife and kids.
A few of my close friends (Aysha Narker, Fuad Jacobs, Rukaya Dien, Tahsheen Salie and Zulfa Hendricks) were already training at ARD at the time and I decided to give it a try…the rest, as they say is history.
The first day was scary – I started on the evening of a time trial! I can’t even remember what my time was for 2.5 km – I think it was close to 20 minutes and it took days to recover!
I always felt that, for me, running was the same as someone with arachnophobia for whom every spider appears 10 times its actual size. In my case, the longer the distance the bigger the fear. But that was soon eradicated by running with the ARD team in Grassy Park – what a fantastic group of people to share the road with!
The co-axing and coaching of Coach Marshall, the advice and encouragement of Boeta Achmat, Nasrullah and my fellow running buddies kept me motivated and I haven’t looked back since – running has become an addiction! And while my better half resents this addiction somewhat, she encourages me anyway because she can see how it’s benefiting me and the family too.
My health has improved tremendously – my diabetes is under control, running relaxes me and keeps my blood pressure down and one very exciting fact: my eyesight has improved! The white spots indicating sugar behind the eyes has diminished, decreasing the risk of blindness as a result of diabetes – how awesome is that!? My heart is strong and there’s no evidence of any past problem (I suffered a angina attack when I was 42)
I don’t think I’ve felt as full of life and energy in all of my forties as I do now. Running and preparing for races automatically made me more aware of my diet as well.
That’s where my motto for running stems from:
Run for your health and not you death!
Last, but not least – I kept my promise to my sister and Faldilah – I ran OMTOM 2015!!! What a proud achievement indeed – I wore my T shirt 2 days in a row!!
A big problem with OMTOM though – it just leaves one hungry for more…
Shamiel Shira (April 2015)
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They looked so impressive on the road and seemed to move so effortlessly even after 18km, that I promised them on that day that I will be joining them in this race come 2015! There was no way that I could allow 3 female family members outdo the boys like that!!
At first, I didn’t really think that I would really do it – my idea of getting to one point from another was to get in the car and drive there – else what’s the point of a car then?
But a few weeks after OMTOM 2014, I went for my annual diabetes check-up (I was diagnosed with diabetes about 12 years ago). My doctor informed me that my medication had to be strengthened and that it will have to include high blood pressure as well as cholesterol medication. Needless to say, this came as a shock to me – I was feeling healthy!! I played squash once a week, ran around on the soccer field coaching juniors, how could this be?
I has to remind myself what diabetes really is: a silent killer that cannot be cured but it can definitely be controlled and kept in check IF I as the sufferer choose to do so – and that’s exactly what I decided to do – Fight back. There was no way that I was going to allow myself to be a sickly 50 year old and a burden to my wife and kids.
A few of my close friends (Aysha Narker, Fuad Jacobs, Rukaya Dien, Tahsheen Salie and Zulfa Hendricks) were already training at ARD at the time and I decided to give it a try…the rest, as they say is history.
The first day was scary – I started on the evening of a time trial! I can’t even remember what my time was for 2.5 km – I think it was close to 20 minutes and it took days to recover!
I always felt that, for me, running was the same as someone with arachnophobia for whom every spider appears 10 times its actual size. In my case, the longer the distance the bigger the fear. But that was soon eradicated by running with the ARD team in Grassy Park – what a fantastic group of people to share the road with!
The co-axing and coaching of Coach Marshall, the advice and encouragement of Boeta Achmat, Nasrullah and my fellow running buddies kept me motivated and I haven’t looked back since – running has become an addiction! And while my better half resents this addiction somewhat, she encourages me anyway because she can see how it’s benefiting me and the family too.
My health has improved tremendously – my diabetes is under control, running relaxes me and keeps my blood pressure down and one very exciting fact: my eyesight has improved! The white spots indicating sugar behind the eyes has diminished, decreasing the risk of blindness as a result of diabetes – how awesome is that!? My heart is strong and there’s no evidence of any past problem (I suffered a angina attack when I was 42)
I don’t think I’ve felt as full of life and energy in all of my forties as I do now. Running and preparing for races automatically made me more aware of my diet as well.
That’s where my motto for running stems from:
Run for your health and not you death!
Last, but not least – I kept my promise to my sister and Faldilah – I ran OMTOM 2015!!! What a proud achievement indeed – I wore my T shirt 2 days in a row!!
A big problem with OMTOM though – it just leaves one hungry for more…
Shamiel Shira (April 2015)
Send us your story!
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