MY RUNNING LIFE

ORDINARY RUNNERS doing EXTRAORDINARY THINGS

- MIKE FINCH

Rachel ‘Big Dog’ Beaton looks as if she's about to do something mischievous... all the time!

As one of South Africa's most popular social media running influencers, the 24-year-old from Cape Town regales her loyal audience daily with updates on her running career, and her thoughts on the sport that she enjoys and is so passionate about.

Beaton is part of a new generation of running personalities who play an important role in driving the current wave of interest in the sport. Her cheeky grin, sharp wit, and impressively mature outlook on her role and influence have amassed her a significant following. Almost all the content is tongue-in-cheek, and it's clear she doesn't take herself or running too seriously.

But that doesn't mean she's all memes and no action. Having already run a sub-9-hour Bill Rowan Comrades Marathon, a sub-5-hour Two Oceans and a 3:30 marathon, Beaton has built up an impressive running CV, with plenty of big goals still in the pipeline.

Runner's World: The ‘Big Dog’ nickname — how did that happen?

Rachel Beaton: So... when I was growing up, and we would have to do hard things - like walk up a mountain, or whatever - and we'd be complaining, our dad used to say to us: “If you want to run with the big dogs, you've got to learn how to lift your leg.”

Basically, if you want to be involved, if you want to be successful, just learn how to pull your socks up, essentially.

So when I was running my first Two Oceans, I was coming up Constantia Nek - and dying. Someone filmed a video of me saying, “It's time to be a big dog. It's time to lift the leg.” And people absolutely loved that. After that, I was just ‘the big dog’.

RW: How does that motivate you?

RB: It's having a big dog mindset. It's about being hard, and knowing that as long as you believe, you can do it.

RW: So where did it all start?