Talked about it. I AM about it.

Hello Dear Reader,

At exactly 6:oo am on New Year's Day (as in this morning), I pulled into the quickly filling parking lot of the Pretoria Botanical Gardens to register for the 11k in 2011 road race. After purchasing my temporary race license (is this common in US road races?), I had the opportunity to take a tour of the garden grounds (which is definitely not as stunning as the one in Cape Town) and observe all of the warm-up/race preparations made by the various participants. Some people found a seat and observed as well. Other runners stretched, walked around, took warm-up laps, greeted friends, and meditated on the task at hand. Several women donned running skirts. One man wore compression socks. Several women pushed prams and one man ran the entire race barefooted. <----I hear this becoming somewhat of a trend. As I become more acquainted with the road race circuit, I wonder if I'll develop a pre-game routine. Thus far, I've enjoyed watching people do what they do, but that's not much different than what I do anyway.

Approximately 10 minutes prior to start time, a crowd began to gather around the finish line which was towards the back of the park. Promptly at 7am, the mass of runners began to move forward and we were off! The path that we were on led out of the service entry of the park, spilling out onto the road leading to the main entrance. The majority of the race was spent circling the perimeter of the gardens, which was lovely in and of itself. With the exception of two steep hills, the course was pretty flat...(If this were Facebook, I'd press the "like" button). At kilometer 7, the course entered the park and lapped around twice, before leading runners into the finishing corral- 1 hr and 8 minutes.

Coke was made available once runners reached the finish line. As I reached for a cup, an old man shook my hand and said, "You did a really good job out there. Finished strong." That made me feel terrific because it was random and unsolicited. We could all use a few unsolicited pats on the back, don't ya think?

I'm soooo happy that I talked myself into participating in this race. It could have been just as easy to sleep in today, nursing a New Year's Eve hangover, than be in running condition on New Year's Day. (Trust me, I considered this option of a brief moment!). Instead, I chose to make the commitment to myself that I'm going to finish what I've started. I vow that this year, my New Year's Resolutions will not be empty words scribbled on a piece of paper (in the bin), but concrete actions.

What a great way to enter into 2011!

Dear Reader, I hope that you had a wonderful time bringing in the New Year.

2011 will be what you/I/we make of it! For me, 2011 will be the year of "Don't talk about it, be about it. Talked about. I AM about it!"

Until next time...one foot in front of the other...keep it movin'!

Yours in (about it) training,

Dani

PS: Check out my first piece of racing bling! Check for me, I'll be wearing that beast for the next week!