The Spring edition of RUN mag is on shelves now!

RUN Magazine
5 days ago
2 min read

It’s been cold and dark, and whether you’ve been blissfully hibernating or grinding through the miles (perhaps still recovering from an ultra), the word Spring brings instant joy. It conjures images of flowers in bloom, butterflies drifting in the breeze, and runners bouncing through lush green meadows under glowing sunshine.

Over the past four months, we’ve been running and covering races all over Southern Africa—testing new shoes, putting headlamps through their paces, trying out trail poles, and meeting elite and everyday runners who inspire. Along the way, we even stumbled across a South African amateur who came an incredible 12th overall at the stacked-with-pros London Marathon. Any guesses who?

Our Spring cover might surprise you—it’s a pretty hardcore trail scene for a magazine that celebrates all forms of running, from gentle jogs and hikes to full-throttle racing on road, track, and trail. But we believe many road runners would embrace the joy and benefits of off-road running if the transition felt easier. That’s why in this edition, we take a deep dive into running with poles (helping you climb and descend with confidence), review new trail shoes for rocky and rooty terrain, and highlight magical races like the Hobbit Trail Run and Knysna Forest Marathon that might just lure you into the deep, green wilds.

Of course, recovery is just as important as training—but easy to neglect when running is our daily dose of happiness. We share expert advice on bouncing back from a DNF, avoiding injury, and choosing the right next-generation, biomechanically efficient shoes to keep you moving.

Ultras test more than just your legs—they’re a mental game won by runners with patience and grit. In this issue, we speak to legends and everyday heroes:

Louis Massyn, 50-time Comrades finisher
Ryan Sandes, on almost winning a 400km race
A mom who Everested on Chappies
A Zimbabwean chicken salesman turned packaging ace who ran 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days

We also tackle one of the most talked-about topics in SA running right now—the messy, controversial management issues at our two biggest ultras. Stuart Mann (@therunningmann) opens up about how he unexpectedly became a whistleblower, the waves it’s caused, and the personal toll it’s taken.