MOSSEL BAY NEWS - "What you put in is what you get out."
These are the words of Mossel Bay's Una Saayman (64), who completed her 20th Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town on 5 April.
Saayman, who only started running when she was 40 years old, said she is not a natural runner. She could not even finish the 800m when she was in high school.
With 20 Two Oceans under her belt and scores of other marathons run over the years, Saayman said she felt blessed to have run and completed her latest Two Oceans.
She ran her first Two Oceans marathon in 2001, but said her best time was the 2003 race, which she completed in five hours and seven minutes.
She said this Two Oceans was one of the easiest she has run. She was fully prepared and so she was extremely relaxed while running the route.
"This year, I had time to look around and embrace my surroundings," she said.
"I had lots of friends and my family praying for me too."
Saayman, who retired from the police in 2019, said it had taken her three years to realise she had her own time to do whatever she wanted and that included running.
Una Saayman during her 20th Two Oceans Marathon. Photo: Supplied
"My time is my own and this year, I wanted to take my time back and do what I enjoy most, which is running."
She said she drove to Cape Town by herself to compete and after the race, she drove straight to Grabouw to visit a few friends before heading back to Mossel Bay on Sunday.
"I was not even stiff after my run. I think what helped was my walking around for almost an hour, looking for where I parked my car, so my legs had some time to stretch and recover," she said with a laugh.
Saayman said that this year, she had already run the Knysna Heads Marathon, coming first in her age category, the Pie Run in Little Brak River and the Tortoise Tuff in Sedgefield, where she also came first in her age category.
Next year, she hopes to complete her 20th "Ultimate Human Race", the Comrades Marathon. This will mark the end of her running ultramarathons, but she will continue to compete in other races, she says.
She has been married to her husband, John, for 42 years and is a grandmother of five.
Saayman was a police officer for 39 years. Four of these were spent serving as the Da Gamaskop cluster deputy commander.
Besides running, she spends her time giving Holy Communion for the sick and elderly of her church and teaching and preparing the confirmation candidates.
Her favourite Bible verse is Psalms 128: "You will eat the fruit of your labour; blessings and prosperity will be yours."
Her mantra is: "What you put in, you get out."
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