Rowan Eva

Friday, December 05, 2014




Q. Tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do for a living?
A. My name is Rowan Eva and I work down in Cape Town in the advertising industry. I’m originally from Mpumalanga and Gauging, I’m married and I have a 14 month old son.

Q. How do you balance your exercise regime and your professional life?
A. At the moment I don’t really have an exercise regime per se. Prior to the Two Oceans Half Marathon I was running at least twice a week (sometimes during my lunch break) with a race every weekend. I’m only really running races on weekends at the moment; I’m actually finding it quite difficult to balance work, exercise and raising a toddler all at once.


Q. When and why did you start running?
A. I ran a bit of cross country at school (but that doesn't really count because we were forced to take part). I ran my first race on the 29th of January 2006 and I decided to run it because a bunch of my friends were taking part. And I guess I started running purely as a means to lose weight and keep fit, now I run to achieve goals that I've set for myself and to better my times.


Q. What motivates you to go out there, when you do not feel like it?
A. Only three things motivate me; meeting someone for a run (so that it’s hard to bail out), trying to think how good I’ll feel afterwards (although this is always really hard) or setting goals for myself at the start of the year and sticking to them (expressing goals on social media also helps, makes it harder to fail!).

Q. What is the longest distance you have ran?
A. I ran the Bay To Bay in January this year, it was 30 (hard) kilometres.


Q. What gives you the confidence to run in the streets?
A. I try to run in areas where others tend to run. I also think that Cape Town might be more geared up for running in the streets than Johannesburg; I used to pretty much run on a treadmill when I lived in Johannesburg, but I don’t even have a gym membership in Cape Town; it’s too beautiful to not run outside.


Q. What do you think about the lack of exercise among the youth?
A. I was pretty inactive during my youth; and I wish I had started running sooner in my life. I think the tide is turning though, races in the Cape are certainly much busier than they were a few years ago, and I see a lot of kids running races, especially trail runs, these days.

Q. What was your best running experience?
A. I always enjoy the Two Oceans Half Marathon. It’s a big race with a lot of support, so it really feels like an achievement when you complete it. I have run it six times and my favourite was the 2013 race; I was fit, prepared and I ran my best time.


Q. What was your worst running experience?
A. I would have to say the 30km race that I did in January. Although I had trained, I was under prepared (physically and mentally) for the longer distance. As soon as I hit the 21.1km mark (my previous furthest distance) I seem to just hit a wall.

Q. How do you push through the pain?
A. I just keep an eye on the time (not running a terrible time is and incredible motivation). I also think of the pancakes that I’ll eat at the finish :)

Q. What advice can you give somebody who wants to start running?
A. Just start running races (or Park Runs), simple as that. It’s the cheapest sport to take part in and the best decision that you could ever make. It also helps if you start with someone, or if you join a running club; most people struggle motivating themselves to run.

Q. Which Social media sites are you on and how can one follow you?
A. I am on Twitter and Instagram (user name on both is @rowaneva).


- My best running shoes...
...are Adidas Marathon 10 (light and great support).

- I love running...
...because it’s something that I actually enjoy and it is good for me.

- Injury is...
...frustrating.

- My body is...
...a work in progress.

- My running playlist has...
...nothing on it (I don’t run with music anymore).

- I hate running...
...when it feels like a chore.

- Pain is...
...(largely) preventable.

- The road...
 is long, lots that I still want to achieve.

- Sweat is...
...hard work.

- In future...
...I would like to run an Ultra Marathon.

- Indie means...
...running for yourself.

- I do not like runners who...
...aren’t considerate to their fellow runners.

In 2013 I had set a goal to run 12 half marathons and I ran 13. In 2014 I had planned to run 34 races(my age) and I have recently achieved that.


#RunRevolution

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