Long distance running was a life-changing experience for many runners of color. Josea got his training by running 15 miles to his job as a delivery driver and competing in races at any distance from six miles up to 60 every weekend. At his peak, he could finish the race in a little more than six hours,. which meant averaging just over a six and a half minute mile for 56 miles.
If you live in South Africa, you definitely know someone who runs ultra-marathons, probably lots of someones. Here, ultras are the stuff of a whole country’s new years resolutions and mid-life crises. They’re the kind of thing that a totally ordinary, not-athletic person wakes up one day and decides they’re going to do -- and then does. In one of the most economically unequal countries in the world, extreme distance running is a sport that feels like it includes everybody. And improbably, that inclusiveness happened during one of the darkest, most divided moments in South Africa’s history – during the final years of apartheid.
The Comrades