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  • TRAIL

    The runner’s mind

    Jul 01, 2019 6 minutes
    ILLUSTRATIONS BARRY MAITLAND-STUART

    COACH NEVILLE BEETON shows you how to rewire your brain for performance.

    Remembering it still gives me goosebumps. It was at the start of the 1984 Comrades Marathon that I saw intense focus in the eyes of an elite runner.

    Standing alongside my training partner, Chris Reyneke, I was nervously enjoying the vibe and excitement, unable to stand still. This was before the seeding system had been introduced. We had been standing there since 3:30am, waiting for the 6am start. It was the only way we could ensure we weren’t stuck behind thousands of slower runners.

    Chris was completely silent, unaware of the noise and the throng of runners. He was motionless, his eyes fixed on a diminutive Wits runner in the row ahead of us: Bruce Fordyce. His look was of a man going into battle, a look that said “I’m taking you down.” Perhaps boxers are like that before the bell goes for the first round.

    Fordyce was going for his fourth

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