Conquering the kilometres with Poppy Ntshongwana

Published in 2016

Poppy Ntshongwana is one of South Africa’s best known faces, and voices, as successful radio presenter with one of the country’s biggest radio stations.

We caught up with Poppy – it wasn’t easy to do! – in the gardens of the beautiful Maslow Hotel in Sandton to chat to her about some of her favourite projects and to get to know her just a little better.

“I’ve always been a runner,” says Poppy, wearing her Team Vitality running vest and sipping a skinny cappuccino. “I used to run sprint distance at school and then in 2010 I trained for a half marathon.” She has run 30km but, she jokes, she had to train for it: “It’s not like I could just wake up and run 30km!”

From couch to 5km

Poppy’s latest passion project is aptly and descriptively named ‘Run with Poppy’ and it started in August 2015 when she decided to challenge herself to run more often. Her dedication to her sport ended up inspiring many aspiring runners to lace up their takkies and follow her.

"Once I realised that people really wanted to run more and were interested and inspired by my running, I decided to kick it up a notch," she says. "It’s not just about me but about all those people who are starting from scratch and becoming better runners themselves through the movement."

Some of her group run to lose weight and have succeeded, still others run for therapy and peace of mind. “Running is different for everyone,” says Poppy, “and everyone runs for different reasons.”

For her, running is about meditation and therapy, and Poppy runs with such dedication because it gives her an opportunity to slip into her own world, to think things through and to relieve some stress of the day. "I also feel more self-confident and mentally healthy when I run," says Poppy. "Running releases stress and helps you to realign your priorities. For me running is therapy but it also strengthens your mind – your body only goes further because your mind tells it to."

"Running shows you that you can conquer every k. The point is just to keep going even though it can be really tough and to feel that satisfaction after."

What's next for Poppy?

"Everyone keeps wanting me to do Comrades," she says, "but I’m not mentally prepared for that yet. For now I'm going to keep training for marathons. I'm planning on running marathons all over the world. Maybe after that I’ll train for Comrades. But 80km is no joke! You have to dedicate your life and a lot of time to it and your mind has to be right."

Keep an eye out for Poppy as she conquers her ks and inspires the nation to conquer theirs as well.