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There’s nothing like a 90-kilometre run according to Dr Arnold Cohen of Cottage Dental Centre in Earlwood, NSW.
“Over the past 30 years, I have run 76 standard marathons and 47 ultra-marathons. The highlight of my running career is the 90-kilometre Comrades Marathon in South Africa which I have completed 11 times. This has given me green number status into perpetuity—which you only get after completing 10 Comrades Marathons—and my name engraved into the wall of honour displayed in the hills of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Other highlights in my running career include completing the Tokyo Marathon, New York Marathon, six Six-Foot Track Marathons, 17 Canberra Marathons and 17 Sydney Marathons.
“I ran my first marathon when I was 37. I was getting close to 40 and I knew I needed to increase my exercise regime. I was living in South Africa at the time and was inspired to enter the Comrades Marathon. I started by running 10 kilometres, then upped it to 21 kilometres. I then hit my benchmarks of 32 and 42 kilometres. It took me about two-and-a-half years but I finished my first Comrades Marathon in 1992 in a time of nine hours and 30 minutes.
“When I immigrated to Australia in 2000, I had run seven Comrades. I’ve completed another four since then. With long races like that, it can get mentally daunting at the 65-kilometre mark. Then it’s your physical stamina and mental toughness that gets you through. I’m now training for the Chicago Marathon which takes place in October.
“Dentistry is a stressful profession and marathon running helps me stay mentally healthy. My daughter’s a psychologist and she says that running is food for the soul. I’m now 68 and was recently diagnosed with a congenital heart condition. That’s slowed me down a little but my cardiologist is happy for me to keep running.
“While it can be difficult, time-consuming and takes a lot of training, I really enjoy marathon running. If I wake up and it’s raining, that means nothing to me. I’ll go for a 10-kilometre run and look forward to a 21-kilometre run on a Sunday. I guess that’s what saved me from injuries, pains and strains over the years. I rarely need to visit the physio.
“I’m not going to beat my fastest time—the 2007 Canberra Marathon in three hours, 35 minutes and 50 seconds—but I’ll keep competing, exercising regularly and enjoying myself.”
