A Family Of Food Lovers

By Christine Bernard

I come from a family of food lovers.

There is South African, French, Mauritian and even English blood running through all of us, and yet I’ve always suspected a bit of Italian too. Pasta! Now that’s what’s I love.

The question, however, was how to eat those glorious fork twirling noodles without battling with the bulge. I needed a way to eat and yet still stay slim.

That’s when I took notice of my cousin, Jadi Clark. Jadi is not only beautiful and thin, but she also loves her food and has discovered a way to still enjoy it. She runs. Okay so she’s actually really good at it, and at only 24 she already has two comrades under her belts and stays at the front of the crowd in all her races, but she still inspired me to give it a go.

We tried at a field near us and despite being only 400m, I still had to stop and catch my breath at least four times before making it around. Jadi helped me, she encouraged me, and she reminded me of that lasagne waiting for me at the end. So we kept going, and soon I left the field and went out onto the road. Jadi ran with me and stopped with me when I needed despite the fact that I was obviously holding her back. Then she encouraged me to join her on a race, which I did, and the exhilaration I felt at the end was overwhelming.

I was hooked. I have now booked myself for my first marathon at the end of February and although I’ll probably be holding the rear while Jadi leads in the front, the fact is that I’m doing it.

Jadi taught me that running is a personal thing, you don’t look at those around you but you concentrate on doing it for yourself and to always be proud of what you have accomplished.

She taught me that running could be fun, that it escapes you from the reality of everyday life, and most importantly she taught me that after the run you can kick off your shoes and tuck into your pasta without even a trace of guilt!

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