My second 21.1km - Cradle of Humankind

Firstly, the scenery was breathtaking.

We were there before the sun, and it was freezing cold.

But that is part of the race.....

I started my run slowly and controlled myself from running fast initially.

I started to get tired at about 3km point but didn’t stop and kept running. After 5km, that tiredness was gone, and I began to enjoy my run. 

I enjoyed every bit of my run, from 5km to 10km. I saw so much wildlife and hot air balloons on the route.

I reached my 10km mark in just less than an hour. During the whole run, I drank about 1L of water. From 10km to 15km the group in front of me kept me motivated to keep going but after 15k my legs started to hurt. I walked between 15km and 18km for a couple of minutes and was running slowly.

I wanted to keep my energy up for the finish line, so I was not trying too hard to push myself. I ran slowly every 5-6 minutes and walked for about 30 seconds. After the 18km mark, I caught the second wind and started to sprint, leaving many people behind (including a couple of those who encouraged me when I was walking).

Then I started to run slowly again and kept a steady pace so that the people I left behind did not cross me. After 20km mark I was too tired and my whole body was in pain but I kept telling myself that If I can run so far I can run another 1 KM or so.

Marathon is more about your mental strength than physical, and I realized it that moment. I ran faster again, close to the finish line, and beat another 7-8 people behind. I finished my run in 2 hours and 13 minutes. After that, I was in so much pain that I couldn’t even walk.

Finishing my second half marathon (in the same year as my first, I might add) was no easy feat, and I want to shout it from the rooftops!

Luckily, social media allows us to do that more leisurely now.

“I’m going to post it on Facebook, tweet about it on Twitter and then blog about it afterwards,” which was my playful response to the random guy behind me when he asked if I would share this on Facebook. 

He thought I was being sarcastic, but little did he know that this was precisely what I would do. So, I am writing about this experience but struggling to find the right words to capture the moment I had. Thus, just enter the race next year and see for yourself.