You read the title of this post correctly, I ran the Sasol Half Marathon in 2 hours and 18 minutes. If you do the math, that's 7 minutes minutes, yes, 7 minutes off of my time from last Saturday's Ottosdal Draf en Trap! Woohoo!!!
Now that you know the good part, let me rewind and tell you the story from the beginning:
At about 8:00 pm last night, my friend "Doc" and I left Maseru for the tiny town of Vanderbeijlpark, South Africa, which is about 10 minutes away from Sasolburg- the race location. Just getting there was half the fun, because we laughed the whole way! We drove through one small town after the other...streets with potholes the size of swimming pools. An opportunity to pop a tire at every bend. Luckily, there were no mishaps...but almost.
After what seemed to be an endless freaking drive, we arrived at our hotel just after 12:00 am and ca-rashed...just to wake up at 4:30 am and drive to the event.
The race registration area was packed to the rafters as participants scrambled to register and get sorted before start time of 6:00 am. Doc and I both had so much fun, not only laughing at each other, but laughing at all of the funny things we saw (inside joke!). I must say that I had the best time because Doc tagged along (more like me begging him to join in). Having someone to share in the experience made the even that much more special.
At exactly 6:00 am, the marathon, half marathon and 10km event took off. Doc and I started off at a slow and steady pace until about 4km, when I desperately had to use the ladies. You should have see the two of us run across the street to the petrol station. That little, and much needed side tour set both of us back by about 5 minutes. Continuing on at a slow and steady pace, Doc and I mustered along side by side until about the 7th when I noticed that he was starting to slip behind me. At the 8th kilometer, I lost sight of doc and off I went with my jazzy pink iPod as company.
The flat course allowed me to run, and run, and run without walking until I reached a big hill at the 13th kilometer. Once the hill was overcome (about 4 minutes), I ran the entire rest of the way! Wow, I can't believe how quickly I'm improving. I know that I say this all of the time, but I just keep thinking about my inability to run more than 8 minutes at a time last August, to now running almost an entire half marathon...and cutting off 7 minutes of my time from one race to another at that!
When I reached the last 900 meters, I entered the Sasolburg sports stadium and was passed by the 1st place runner of the full marathon. WTH?! How is it that this guy can run a full marathon in a slightly shorter time than I can run a half marathon?! I'm just sayin... Either way, I picked up my pace and blasted through the finish line!
Doc reached the finish line shortly after I did. His personal race recap was nothing less than hilarious! While running, he met and seemed to have extended conversations with several race participants: 1) Doctor who works at the Sasol mines. He went from 85 kg to 91 kg and was on a mission to get in shape; 2) Two guys from the area of Morningside in Johannesburg with hectic accents. When they found out that Doc was from Lesotho and ran the high altitude half marathon, they promised to exchange numbers so that they could participate next year; and 3) An older Indian man who was planning to run the 2011 Comrades Marathon (86km) and has run it 16 times before. (I actually shook hands with the man and wished him the best of luck...like he really needed it).
After shaking the Indian man's hand and walking out of the stadium, Doc and I posed next to the race indication sign...cause I know you would probably want a picture!
Well, that's all I've got for now. I need to rest my weary bones, ice my ankle, and keep a 24/7 watch over my toe (dropped something on my toe earlier this week and looks like the nail will fall off. TMI?)
Anyway, thank you all so much for encouraging me at each and every step. ...and the goodness will continue this upcoming week as I attempt to
focus on running hills...and next Saturday as Doc (pretty please?) and I attempt to run the Crocodilian 32 km (20 miles)!
Until next time...one foot in front of the other...keep it
movin'!
Yours in (another race) training,
Dani
PS: Check out Couch Potato #2 and his girlfriend Aila!
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