Caroline Pule

Monday, August 28, 2017


On who you are...

Caroline Pule is junior medical scientist by profession, Founder and CEO of the Caroline Pule Science and Literacy Foundation (CPSLF) and a doctoral student at the Department of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, at Stellenbosch University. She is focused, enthusiastic and is an ambassador of The South African National Tuberculosis Association (SANTA). She is an MSc graduate in Medical Sciences: Molecular Biology and passed her degree with 1st class from Stellenbosch University. 

Moreover, she completed her BTECH in Medical Biotechnology from Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Cape Peninsula University of Technology with an overall achievement of 14 distinctions (2007-2011). 

She is multi-talented, besides being a scientist; she is a passionate runner (ASICS FrontRunner), gym fanatic and motivational speaker. She is a devout Christian, puts God first in everything and grounded in her faith. From a young age, she knew she wanted to live a purposeful life, give back to the community, and help others; hence she is studying medical sciences. 




On running… (Tell us about your running) and achievements

My love for running started when I was in primary where I did more cross country, relay (400m) and 800m. Athletics was my nickname and grew with this passion until now. Currently, I run both short (5k and 10k) and long distances (half-, full-marathons) and new to trail running. I have completed two oceans half marathon, safari- half marathon, Kfm gun run half marathon etc. and made it to top 10 for the Cell C day of races, anything goes wave in April 2016, and top 15 in 2017 for pretty fast wave. I have run numerous 10k races and this coming September 2017, I will be running Cape Town full marathon. For my training, I try do/run 10k 3 times during the week and do long races 20k upwards over the weekend. Since I’m a gym fanatic the 2 days that I’m not running outdoors, I try to challenge myself regarding speed and endurance by running on a treadmill at various speed and incline levels. Well for the weekend long distance runs, I do those with my running buddy, I got to see that it really helps to have a running buddy, especially if you more interested in long distances, as you support each other and accountable.



I love running because is liberating, motivational, inspirational, encouraging, easy yet so challenging. It is so powerful, and not easily explained, unless you are a runner you will not understand it, what I mean, to understand why we rather wake up at 4: 00 am, get ready for our races, drive far places, why we train hard, and still have fun. When running is to me as much as is like chasing the wind, there is so much happening at that moment, mentally, physically, spiritually and weird enough even socially. Moreover, I love how so easy running is, affordable it is, can be done anywhere there is space; all you need is a pair of running shoes. 

Moreover, I love the fact even though is so easy, it is challenging, running especially long distance, half-marathons, full-marathons and comrades marathon, can definitely make you realize the potential you have, to push you beyond limit, it can humble you and most important prepare you about how to deal with challenges in life, to be consistent and resilience. I have seen this with some of my previous races, which was so tough to a point that I wondered if I would ever reach finish line, but one thing that kept me going during such tough races, was shifting my thoughts, thinking positive and telling myself that “ giving up, is not an option” what do I have to loose, I rather keep pushing, focus and reach the finish line, my ultimate goal, even if I have to get there leaping, crawling, pumping or walking!! What matters is how I’m going to finish, and I will finish strong”, I will then keep on say that come on Caroline, you can do it, you’ve got this and always I would make it. 

The same principles I learned through running, I could apply them to my daily life and see the same victories. So yes, running really changed my life for the better.



On the running culture...

Running culture is fascinating and is one of the biggest supportive system for all different runners across different countries, is the running movement that enables different runners communities connect, and share their inspirational running experiences. There is captivating vibe between all runners, either be meeting at races, or running on the road, they humbly notice each other, support each other and all one same goal to run their best, make it to the finish line and most important have fun while at it. In addition, this culture even runs through the behind the scenes people, even marshals, volunteers etc. by indirectly supporting runners till the finish line. With this in mind, it might blow your mind to know that every hour each day, there are a number of runners running. That’s how intriguing running culture is!!

On my social media… 

We are so fortunate to live in a time where the capacity social media carries is incredible and how it is freely available to us to explore and use, to showcase our profiles, share our running experiences, motivation and stay connected to other runners globally. I use my Social media platforms to share the different races I partake in, I reflect on what I have learned from each one of the races and what others can learn. Also to motivate start up runners who are out there as much as I also get motivated. 

On women’s running (why women should run)…

I think woman should run for health reasons, to be strong and to boost their confidence. Woman tend to have many responsibilities, which can leave some burned out, lacking self-esteem, piling up weight or getting sick. Moreover, statistics have shown that multiple numbers of people have survived from suffering various sicknesses, such as heart attack, high blood pressure, stroke and even weight challenges such as obesity, because of taking action and starting running. Throughout social media, there are life changing stories of some people about how running changed their lives and helped boost their confidence!! Indeed running is worth doing activity. 



On future Goals...

My running future goals are to do well in the upcoming Cape Town Marathon, as it is a qualifier for comrades’ marathon. I plan to do two oceans Ultra-Marathon next year as part of my Comrades marathon training and my ultimate goal is to run the extraordinary human race, comrades’ marathon next year 2018. Well the latter, cannot be reality if I don’t train accordingly, so as part of training, I will run not only road races but also trail races which are more challenging and unpredictable. I also want to keep inspiring both others about running by sharing about my different races.



#RunRevolution

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