Let me start by giving you a short piece of background. After
representing South Africa 22 times in many different disciplines of
running, ranging from 6 x Cross Country World Champs, 2 x World Half
Marathons, 2 x World Road Relay Champs, Common Wealth Games, World
Student Games, 3 x World Student Cross-Country Games & 4 x
International Marathons to name but a few, my husband one day made a
uggestion that, which by the way I now regard as a truly valuable one.
He suggested that I should consider looking at running ultra marathons
in SA (seeing that I've pretty much participated in events around the
world & to be honest, i've reached that age too). This was April 2012.

Before I continue I need to just say this, I'm forever thankful for all
the amazing experiences & opportunities that running has already
offered me in life. In fact, I've grown up a runner, I've developed as
a person through my running, I am what I am with running being part of it all.
Running doesn't just take you to amazing places but it also offers ones
with such a range and variety of relationships. Every runner can vouch
for this.

Back to April 2012. So I decided to start focussing on ultra marathons,
the two obvious and proudly South African ones being the Two Oceans and
the Comrades marathons. Long story short, my build-up went really well
and before I knew it I lined up for my first Two Oceans Marathon. I ran
one of my best races ever. I came third which then changed to second
place (as Volgina, the initial winner tested positive and was stripped
from the win). I was only 21seconds behind the winner, the Zimbabwean
Thabita Tsatsa. My time of 3:40,19 was the 3rd fastest ever by a South
African. I averaged 3min55sec p/km for the 56km. A dream run. It was
also the last time my father was at a race with me.......

Shorty after Two Oceans I stood at the start of my first Comrades
Marathon. On this day I came fifth and was also the first South African
home. Strategically I ran the race incorrectly, visible by how I
struggled over the last 25km but, looking back at these two maiden
ultra runs everyone agreed that I had an absolute dream debut to ultra
marathons. 2nd & 5th. I felt on top of the world.

Comrades was on 2 June 2013. At 2:30am on Monday morning the 15th of
July I received the terrible news that my father passed away. All i
would like to share is this, the trauma I experiences was really really
intense. It felt like my world has fallen apart.

What I didn't realize until December that year was that the trauma I
experienced has affected my thyroid in a very negative way. Without
boring you with the details, my thyroid went completely overactive. i
then received medication which basically knocked my thyroid out
completely which means now it was totally under active (apparently
easier to treat an under active than an over active thyroid) so I then
received medication to mimic thyroid functioning and hopefully,
eventually, get the levels back to normal.

Do a quick google on thyroid and you'll find that it basically controls
your whole body. Very unknown but very important. As Carel (my husband)
says, it's like a carburetor of a car, as tiny as it may be, if it's
not working the car ain't going anywhere.

During this time I experienced all the related symptoms. Mood swings,
heart palpitations, anxiety, light depression, energy loss, etc etc etc.
It was one of the hardest challenges I've even been faced with (and
probably my husband too). Ask any person with a dysfunctional thyroid
and they'll explain the details to you. They'll also tell you that it's
not a quick-fix process. No no no. Give it at least a year to normalize
and stabilize (and that is if you're at a really good thyroid specialist).

While all of this was going on I was still thinking about my next ultra.
I decided to only run Comrades in 2014. An all or nothing approach.
Build-up actually went really well and I still remember how myself and
Caroline would do our long runs together in Mpumalanga and Caroline
would constantly say, "Charné, your form is of such that you are going
to win this race".

After returning from the three week training camp all that was left now
was tapering. I had my thyroid levels checked and my doctor at the time
was very concerned. My levels were way out. In an effort to assist me,
my doctor made a big mistake by increasing my medication dose way to fast.
Off course I never questioned him and simply took my medication (that
said, that little voice inside me felt that the increase was too sudden).

Race day came and when I told my husband that my legs felt stiff after
only 10km the writing was on the wall. With 29km to go I was lying in
fifth position and the leading South African. At that point I collapsed
on the road as my heart went into a fib (simply put, my heart was
vibrating in stead of pumping). People often die when this happens). I
was out cold for a couple of minutes before the medics arrived and
rushed me off to hospital. All I remember was the medics looked rather worried.

I was constantly reminded by the doctors in the hospital how I only
just escaped death that day and when looking at my thyroid levels,
should never have been allowed to start. I was an incident waiting to happen.

This was the start of a long and slow process to try and stabilize my
thyroid levels. One week you feel great, the next week the opposite.
And so it continues. During this time my running confidence dropped
completely and understandably as I never knew how I was going to feel
the next day. I visited a sport psychologist to assist me. I also felt
terrible about the fact that I couldn't deliver any result to my new
sponsor.

The up & down process continued but I was training again and decided to
run both Two Oceans and Comrades marathons in 2015 (if my health
permitted). To illustrate this up / down process. Prior to Two Oceans
my coach told us that on paper I was in the form to win. It was all
there on paper. He really was very excited. In the week leading up to
the race my face suddenly got bloated and I knew something wasn't
right. I felt completely flat in the race (compared to training) and
managed 5th. Don't get me wrong, to be in the top 5 after what happened
at Comrades 2014 was a miracle in itself but I knew that things were
still not right. My coach was also somewhat confused.

The thyroid test confirmed that during my taper phase the levels again
went wrong. See, now we had to also adjust my medication according to
my training load. This is still such a huge learning curve.

I did all the hard work and at the last moment it all went south again.
The early mornings, the long hours, two sessions a day, one massage a
week, one ciro visit a month, 3 gym sessions per week, multiple blood
tests, nailing the nutrition, ice-baths once a week, early in bed every
night etc etc etc. Now just imagine how all of this affects your mental
state. I had basically no control over the situation. It's impossible
to go into a race confidently. You have to once again commit 110%
knowing that things might turn negative at the last moment.

With all of this in my mind I recommitted 110% to Comrades regardless.
I decided that giving up is not an option. Myself and Carel decided
that this time round we'll test my Thyroids levels every week during
tapering as well. I'll rather not tell you what my thyroid tests bill came to.

Training went well but one thing that was completely turned around was
that during this training camp Caroline was the stronger one. Where she
was aiming at breaking records I was hoping to feel good on the day and
hopefully not end up in hospital again.

One week out and believe it or not, my levels started shifting again.
To the wrong direction. Many thoughts spun through my & Carel's minds.
At that point my doctor suggested that I should increase my medication
but, that little voice we all have told us differently. Carel kept
saying that we shouldn't adjust my medication at this late stage again and I agreed.
This was a total leap of faith.

Onto the start line and any runner (or athlete for that matter) will
tell you that within seconds you know whether your legs are feeling
good on the day or not. This time they felt good. Really good. Due to
crashing out the previous year we decided to run a "Bruce Fordice" race
plan. That means holding back for 60 - 65km and then all out.

All went according to plan and I gently made may way through the field,
I was around 9th position initially passing.Emmerentia Rautenbach (RSA)
Yolandi McLean (RSA), Joasua Zakrzewski (GBR) Simona Stacu (HUN) Elli
Greenwood (GBR), Nina Podnebesnova (Rus) and by 60km Carel told me I
was lying in 4th and 7 minutes behind the Russian Twins (Olesya & Elena
Nurgalieva). 60km was my que to go and I still felt good. The gap came
down by around a minute and a half every 3km and soon I could see them
in the distance. I remember how Caroline would often say "Charné, how
are we going to beat those Russian twins?" And here it was actually happening.

I passed them both just before small Polly's and ran a further 7
minutes out of them with my fastest kilometer of the race at the 82km
mark which was a 3:48 to finish in a strong second. I was smiling from
ear to ear as I approached the stadium. I could almost not believe that
it worked out this time.

I can tell you that we were not taking a single kilometer for granted
(after what happened the previous year). My mother called Carel at
around the 75km mark and told him that it looks as if I'll finish
second when he still replied "let's see mom, it's looking good at present".

I often get told by people that gauging by what they saw on the
television I looked as if I could have gone faster. This is probably
true. Perhaps I left 10 to 15 minutes out there. But no one was was
going to catch Caroline on the day. She simply ran superbly.

We all have our own stories. Stories of suffering & hardship. Stories
of desperation & doubt. Stories of pain and uncertainty. Mine most
probably don't even come close to what you are going through. That
said, no one can escape this in life. This is life after all. But, I
want to encourage you to keep on trying. Keep on dreaming. Keep on
fighting and keep on believing. No matter how uncertain the future
might look or feel. Your season too will certainly turn.

See you on the road

Charné