At the starting line - Why we started this blog
When Half Marathon Girl and I met recently, we chatted about the dearth of running blogs in South Africa, so we thought we’d add another one to our combined sum of four other blogs between us.
We love running – it keeps us healthy, social, motivated and stocked with T-shirts and medals. But we’re normal in that we have our off days, would sometimes rather watch TV series than hit the road, and worry about sock tans and sun protection while running. We’ve also met amazing runners on the road and through social media, which adds to the runner’s high everyone speaks of.
It is for these reasons we started Keep Calm and Run – to share all these things, to rant, to chat, to meet and stay motivated.
We hope you’ll join us through our many blogging kilometres. We also recommend you subscribe to our feeds or our email feeds so you’ll never miss a thing. PLUS, if you follow us on Twitter (@lexieparker and@TanyaKovarsky), you’ll really never miss a thing.
Yours in running
Marathon Girl (and Half Marathon Girl)
Lexie Parker - A.K.A Half Marathon Girl
Not many people can say they blog about running to keep them motivated to train, but Lexie Parker did just that. She blogs to keep motivated and get her pounding the treadmill (and the pavements) and logging kilometres for her first half marathon. By day, Lexie works in magazines, and bakes beautiful cupcakes for others to carbo-load on. She also uses graphic design as a creative outlet, has a self-declared caffeine addiction, is a compulsive iTunes playlist maker and is the first to admit that she buys running shoes based on aesthetics not functionality. Half-Marathon Girl also has two other blogs that indulge her love of commentary, style, trends, design, and pretty much everything. (http://theing.tumblr.com and http://lexieparkerdesigns.tumblr.com)
Average weekly mileage: 25km
The items she’ll never run without: iPod, watch, sunnies and sunscreen.
Her dream running partner: Ryan Gosling (there might not be much running)
The song that gets her up that hill: P!nk’s Raise Your Glass
Her running pet hate: When she has forgotten to charge her iPod battery
Her favourite post-race meal: A Margarita counts as a meal right? Kidding! Sunomono from KOI.
Her dream race: Prague Marathon
What not to say to her on a run: Don’t ask to borrow her iPod
Tanya Kovarsky A.K.A Marathon Girl
They say running is like childbirth in that you forget the pain. This is true for Tanya Kovarsky, aka Marathon Girl, who has been running marathons and ultras for the last 11 years. She is training for her 10th Two Oceans and Comrades marathon, and is so excited she’s even planned her race-day outfits and nailpolish colours. Tanya is mom to toddler Max, and has two parenting blogs – Rattle and Mum (www.rattleandmum.co.za), and Dear Max (www.dearmax.org). When not running and carbo-loading (and the occasional stretching – sorry physios), she works as an editor and writer.
Average weekly mileage: 65km
The items she’ll never run without: shoes, a good sports bra, shorts
Her dream running partner: Ryan Reynolds
The song that gets her up that hill: Roisin Murphy’s Ramalama Bang Bang
Her running pet hate: Musical instruments being played by runners on the run (Tanya envisages throwing said instruments down cliffs)
Her favourite post-race meal: French toast
Her dream race: Paris Marathon
What not to say to her on a run: ”Not far to go” when there are still 60 kilometres left