Planning for and working towards a big goal is incomplete unless you also plan what to do after reaching that goal – especially when it is an event you’re working towards. Not having a post-event plan can leave you feeling aimless, even depressed, when your event is done and dusted. Note: you are probably going to feel a bit lost and down anyway, but having a post-event plan will definitely help.

Last year I thought I had it all sorted. About a month or so before running the 2022 Cape Town marathon I had already decided that I was going to combine all my training journal pieces into a book and my plan was to fill the time previously allotted to marathon training with compiling and editing my new book. That seemed like a fabulous plan.

It wasn’t.

Over the hundred days prior to running my first marathon, I already got myself into the rhythm of writing a short piece each day. I wasn’t allocating the hours previously committed to running to something else. Those hours were suddenly left void. I felt aimless and unsure of what to do with regard to my running.

Everyone told me to rest for at least a month. After months of running at least 40km, often much further, every week, I did not know what resting meant. I was unsure how to correctly rest and then get back to running again. I felt emotional, down and not in a good space, and it took me a long time to shake myself out of feeling so lost. I also didn’t speak up about this – so nobody was aware of how I felt.

I now know that it is not only important to have a post-event plan but also to have a post-event plan that builds on the pre-event work. A post-event plan is not about filling your life with something else, it should be about growing further. I am also part of a supportive group of other runners – many much more experienced than I am – and it feels like there is a bit of a safety net this year willing to catch me when I do find myself feeling lost again.

I once had a conversation with my coach about reaching a particular goal. I said something like: “I will eventually get there.” She said: “And then I will move the goal.”

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We never arrive, we just keep showing up and pushing on. After the 2022 Cape Town marathon I thought I had “arrived”, this year I know I never will. My post-event plan is to keep showing up and pushing on.

My coach had already “moved my goal” earlier this year. She was slightly upset with me earlier this year for running the Cape Town marathon again. She felt that I should be focussing on more 10km training cycles, and not on long-distance running. I had of course already entered this year’s marathon and was determined to run it.

She said: “After Cape Town, we need to get you back on a 10km training programme.”

And that is exactly what I am planning to do – after first taking a well-deserved rest.