Erica Terblanche - Run For the Love of Life

Published by Quickfox Publishing,

PO Box 50660 West Beach 7449

Cape Town, South Africa

Run For The Love of Life

ISBN Paperback: 978-0-620-95677-2

ISBN Ebook: 978-0-620-95678-9

First edition

Copyright 2021 Erica Terblanche

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the author:

Editor: Michelle Bovey-Wood

Cover design: Jacques Marais and Vanessa Wilson

Cover photographs RacingThePlanet

Typesetting and production: Quickfox Publishing

DISCLAIMERS

Credits

All attempts to credit appropriate texts and authors have been made. Should you find permission or reference to your text has been omitted in error, please email so that this can be rectified as soon as possible.

Identity protection

The story, as recounted by the author, is her personal and true perspective of events as they occurred and is not meant in any way to harm or defame. All attempts were made to conceal the identity of previous romantic partners through the use of pseudonyms and the deployment of deliberate vagueness with respect to any identifying characteristics.

This book is dedicated to my mom, for her unconditional love and for teaching me to dare and to do.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This being my first novel, the list of those to whom I am deeply grateful is a long one, as I seek to acknowledge the people who first saw the writers spark in me and fanned it:

My 8th Grade Afrikaans teacher, Mr Hattingh, who looked me dead in the eye and said: To be a writer is to be the conscience of the nation, and so sowed the seed of what I hoped to become.

All of the people through the many years who encouraged me to Write! with the urgency that plagued me, until I did: Marilise Erasmus; David Clark; Kelly Campbell; Lizelle Barkhuizen; Sharon Stokes; Cindy Sullivan; Andrew Alberico; Gillian Banks; Roslyn Zuha; Ruth Levitan; Liz Murphy; Tracey Sanders; Juliette Young and Aurelia Venclovaite. Thank you for being my flame-bearers.

All of my family and friends who backed me on the journey of writing RUN especially Elaine Mills for the many writing sessions together, Catherine Glennie for Monday write club, Ettie Flax for your support and your sketches, Kirsten Pansegrouw for reading the first draft, and Katerina Pishiris for persevering through the many drafts, and for your enduring encouragement.

Much thanks also to all of the people who invested their time and energy in writing reviews for RUN . These reviews are so incredibly valuable and precious to me. Just reading them makes me grateful that I keep company with such amazing human beings.

Jacques Marais, arguably South Africas top adventure photographer; and Simone Sharpe, my social media guru: Thank you for investing yourself, heart, body and soul, into this project, and for your genuine, warm-hearted, all-in support in getting RUN out into the world.

Vanessa Wilson at Quickfox Publishing, thank you, too, for hearing and believing in the voice of RUN very early on. Thank you for encouraging me right from the start, and for everything you and Adele have done to get my book published in the most professional, top-quality form possible. I could not have wished for a better agent-publisher duo than you and Michelle Bovey-Wood. I am truly proud to publish under your label because I know that it is synonymous with excellence.

The greatest thanks go to my editor, Michelle Bovey-Wood. As Stephen King says: To write is human, to edit divine. I have been blessed with the genius, honesty and courage of a gifted editor, whose advice shaped RUN until it became a story with soul. Michelle, thank you for your wise guidance, your meticulous editing and, above all, for going so many extra miles to get my book published and noticed. I will forever be grateful for the professional leap of faith you took to back me and for carrying me through by the strength of your belief and intuition.

And to my love, Helen Grace Seyler, and to my mom, Dolores Terblanche, who read and edited every single one of the many drafts. Thank you for your rigorous guidance and honesty, and for never once failing to believe that RUN would be a success. For your enduring love and support there are not enough words of thanks.

And to God, in whom I believe and who gave me the courage, gifts and inspiration I needed to persevere to the end in everything.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

When first approached with the manuscript for RUN for the Love of Life , I expected nothing more than another ego-soaked chronical listing yet another super-athletes sporting achievements, extolling the virtues of exercise and reminding me that I am little better than a sack of dough that spends too many hours sitting behind my desk, glaring at a flickering screen. How wrong I was and never have I been happier to be so.

Yes, Erica Terblanche is a super-athlete in fact, her feats extend beyond the realm of what most of us mere mortals can comprehend: Choosing to run thousands of kilometres through the worlds hottest deserts and across the some of its most hostile landscapes simply, as the title suggests, for the love it speaks to not only an extraordinary strength of body but an indomitable spirit. It is this spirit that is evocatively captured within the pages of this book, as the reader is led by the hand through a life journey that is bravely honest, heartbreaking, humorous at times, awe-inspiring, and infinitely compelling.

Above all else, RUN is one extraordinary womans love letter: To her sport, to those she has loved, to the wonders of the natural world, and to the woman she has eventually become.

Guided by the generous addition of a QR Code that offers access to Ericas unique Couch to 10km in 10 Weeks running programme, I feel compelled to take the first few steps. Even if it means learning to walk before I can run, Ericas passion is infectious. I may never be able to follow in her footsteps, but the resilience and strength put forth in this book is an exhortation to us all to suck on the marrow of life and all it has to offer.

Michelle Bovey-Wood

Writer, editor, media specialist

Managing Director of BWRC Resourcing & Consulting

FROM THE AUTHOR

What I have learned by running thousands of miles many of them through the desert is the importance of believing in oneself and dreaming big. It is through the process of such dreaming that one uncovers an elemental secret of life: Every worthwhile accomplishment starts first as a small seed of hope.

I have written this book as an invitation to you to rekindle your dreams. My wish is that as you are swept along on this journey that you simply BEGIN to do that which you have perhaps been wanting and waiting to do for so long.

RUN for the Love of Life pays homage to that which we can achieve if we strike out towards a worthwhile goal and consistently and diligently stay with our practice, one small, patient step at a time. It is a story of struggle and becoming; of love and love lost; of grace and forgiveness, and of coming home. It is a book about never giving up and about becoming the best that we can be.

You will read tales of long-distance running adventures in the harshest and most awe-inspiring natural landscapes in the world the Sahara, the Atacama, the Namib, the Grand Canyon and the Kalahari, among others. But you will also observe what emerges at the outer edges of human endurance: Unwavering commitment, perseverance through pain and tedium, inescapable humility and prayers at the cliff-edge of quitting. This book speaks to the victory of the human spirit over adversity and of the camaraderie and love that makes us stay the course against all odds.