Hello and Happy Friday my beautiful friends!!
It has been far too long since a blog post and I have every excuse under the sun for the delay, but in reality I could have found the time. But anyway, life happens!
Although it is so long overdue, I'm excited to post today about the Sani Stagger Half Marathon!! After months of training and planning and stressing, I finally got to that start line. My Mom, Dad and two brothers at my side. I was nervous but felt prepared, and was excited for the run down the pass.
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| View from the top... Yes, we ran down that! |
The weather forecast was cold and rainy with the slight possibility of snow (in November, in Africa, can you believe it??). But we reached the top of Sani Pass, at the Lesotho border, to warm sunshine and very little wind. Now, if you've ever done the half marathon Stagger, you will probably remember trying to huddle under a small marquee with about 300 other runners, trying to get out of the biting cold wind. Or trying to use the porta-loos on a trailer, hoping you wont be blown over completely! But, this time was different, and I felt it was a good sign.
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| At the top |
We got to the top fairly early, and watched in awe and admiration as the front runners of the marathon reached the turn around point, which is the highest point of their run, and head back down the mountain. And finally, we were called to our start line, in our red caps and striped socks (we were hard to miss).
The first part of the run is pretty steep, with lots of sharp corners and large loose stones, and is my absolute favourite part of the race. I grew up in the bush, in forests to be precise, and remember running over rocks and branches to get to a river or dam, or whatever adventure we happened to be on that day. Those are good memories (even the one of a friend and I getting horribly lost for hours!) and I love to think of them as I channel my inner mountain goat and trundle down the hill.
The plan was to go slow over the first few kilometers. It's easy to let it get away with you, leaving you with sore legs and no energy when you reach the flatter sections and the uphills lower down. It's not always easy for a group to stay together, particularly in a crowd and when you haven't trained together. But although there were gaps between us all along the way, we would meet up at water points and for photo ops as we went.
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| Photo courtesy of underbergdiary.co.za |
There's a little saying amongst runners that goes: "Never try anything new on race day." I've heard it a thousand times, said it a few hundred and I know it to be true. But now I have proof! To go with our red caps, we got the red and white striped socks from McDonalds to wear for the race. And while everybody else was smart enough to wear a pair of running socks underneath, this tough cookie did not! Massive fail! As the socks were a little big for me, one of the seams sat squarely across each heal, and around 6km's in, I started to feel a burn in my feet with every step. At the next water table I took a seat and turned the socks upside down (so the seam would be on the top of my foot), but it was too late. If I got into a good rhythm, I could run for a while without any pain, but as soon as I stepped on a stone or uneven ground (pretty much everywhere on an off-road race), my feet would start to burn. Each time we got to a river, I would soak my feet in the icy water for momentary relief, but the rest of the way down Sani Pass was slow and torturous. For the rest of my family I think waiting for me constantly was the torturous part, but hey, they'd agreed to stick with me, and I am very happy that they did. My poor Dad got many an earful at stages, but just carried on his merry way.
The new joke in our family is that if any one of us takes a Biral (herbal calming meds), it makes my Mom happy. I think she managed to get us all to take two at some point along the way when she felt we weren't having enough fun.
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| This must have been after some Biral - looking happy! Photo courtesy of underbergdiary.co.za |
Despite all this, we managed to stick to a good pace, the planned pace in fact. And finished the race in just under 3 hours. The 5 of us together for the first time in over two years, completed this awesome journey together! It was fun, it was agonising, and it was very hot! But we did it, as a family and we finished strong! Although if you look at the photo below you cannot see my face because I had to concentrate so hard to run that last hundred metres or so. And I'm told I was the one pulling everyone else along in the end - I think I was just so desperate to stop!
I finally got to collapse, and had my shoes taken off to reveal that both heals had become massive blisters, with a few extra blood blisters on toes and other parts of my feet (which are a size four! There's not a lot of space down there!). But I can happily report that all signs of my neuroma, and the operation had to remove it were gone! I ran a half marathon after not being able to walk just a few months before. And that, is my own little miracle.
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| Having my shoes removed, looking super classy! |
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| Exhausted and Ecstatic! |
The reason for all this? It was my mom's fifth time running the half marathon, which is a pretty big deal and you get an awesome badge for it. And if you have a good friend (of over 30 years), you also get sprayed with champagne as you cross over the finish line!!
Just two more and I'll be completing my fifth race too, if I live to get there. Sani Pass has caused me roasties, blisters, pain, sweat and tears, but for some reason calls me back every year. Come August I'll be sitting at my computer in the race just to get a spot. Hoping that this year will be different. That this year will be the one, the time I conquer the mountain! This year... We'll see.
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| You can hardly tell that I'm being held up by Daryn in this picture ;) |
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| Time to chill! |
Have a brilliant weekend, and always be kinder than necessary.
Peace, love and cupcakes.
Claire
xx
