I set the alarm for 4 because the race was a 30-40 minute drive in Pretoria and we had to get Asher and his entourage in the car as well as ourselves. The alarm went off at 4, quickly followed by my stopping it and thinking, just a few more minutes are all I need. 5:10 I wake up suddenly! I realized what happened, phoned Chandre and said we are on our way. Thankfully I had packed up all Asher's stuff the night before, so we literally put everything, including ourselves into the car and drove off to Pretoria.
We arrived just after 6 a.m., when the race was set to start. The place the race was set is called The Voortrekker Monument, more about that here with a little history lesson :) Jeff dropped us off and proceeded to our friend's house to feed Asher and hang until we finished the race. Chandre and I, with registration confirmations in hand, ran towards the start of the race. We decided to chance it and run without our numbers and explain later. The course wound all around the monument and gave us a steady set of flats and inclines up to the top, BEAUTIFUL scenery(lots of mental snapshots, sorry none to show here). There were even horses roaming freely on the rough terrain around, that was nice to see. As we ran over the crest of the highest hill we hit 4K. Whew, we were doing well. At 6K I checked my time and we were killing my previous best. "Wow! I am in good shape, even for not running faithfully all these months," I thought to myself naively. As we were sailing down a hill and admiring the beauty around us(seeing the Joburg skyline far on the horizon), I was sing, sing, singing along with Chris Tomlin and thanking God for a glorious day and this glorious race.
I spoke too soon it would seem(on the ease of the race). Next came this evil incline. You know the one I am talking about if you run long distances. It's not the steep ones that hurt you, it's the steady inclines that chip away at your pace. We ran the next 1 1/2 kms on a gravel incline. This is when I thought I would die, well thought I would quit right there anyway. I turned to Chandre and told her to go on without me if she wanted to. Awesome friend that she is, she refused. We kept trucking up the hill. I am no longer thinking I am so fit. Instead I am thinking about what to say about this stupid incline on my blog :). It was terrible. The incline you don't want and tell yourself they surely wouldn't put on this race. That one! Amazingly we made it over that hill and began a nice and steady descent towards my finish line and Chandre's last 5K. Her ipod quit working at the last moment, I swapped her mine. We all know how much music helps with that last little bit. David Crowder pushing her to run hard after Jesus(and the finish line :)) The last half of the last km was torture because here came the steep inclines. TWO OF THEM!! The very end of the race had you run up an amphitheatre to the finish line. REALLY!?! Who thought that was a good idea? Rather, I think it humbled every runner, as most people walked it. I refused and ran(I would've gone faster walking). I found a lady as we neared the top and told her we couldn't let it win, we have to beat this thing; so we finished together. Finally done and exhausted I sat down and ate an energy bar they were handing out, got my cup of water and looked at a race flyer handed to me at the finish for a 21K at the end of February. Chandre finished and told me more stories of woe from the final 5Ks of the 15. Here we are with our victory medals around our necks. Happy to be finished with that.
p.s. We started training Monday for that 21K race in February. :) The plan is on The Challenge page.
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