a: Woohoo Worker's Day!

Wednesday, I ran my first half marathon! I honestly wasn’t sure how it would turn out. I decided that I was not going to think about it at all before and then just do it this morning. If I started thinking I was bound to over analyze and psych myself out. I chose to not really talk about it and my philosophy was that I was doing this for me and only me. My goal was to have a smile on my face the entire time and to above all else, have fun!

The “race” was in Wellington, which is about an hour or so north east of Cape Town. It is a small farm town that is in the heart of the wine lands. Haley, TJ and I went with two guys from my small group, Callan and Scott. They picked us up at Fun Vegs at 5 a.m. and we set off on the grand adventure.

At the starting line I was amazed. There were over 8,000 runners in this race and I was one of them. Callan ran with Haley and I. This is not because he is slow, but he is a great guy who has ran 7 halfs before and wanted to be with us for our first! He coached us and offered advice and encouragement along the way. There are men who carry flags and run at a steady pace to indicate when you will finish if you keep up that pace. For the majority of the race we stayed in front of the 2:15 bus.

The first 60 mins was pretty easy. I had originally decided that if I could make it that long then I could run a mile and walk a mile until I finished. HA, that is not quite how it works! After 70 mins. we walked for 50 meters and honestly that was more painful than running. Stretching out the muscles that had been in a steady rhythm was not pleasant. We picked back up to our pace and then all was well.

The toughest part of the race was when we reached ten miles. Then it was like, woah we have gone so far but we still have THREE miles left. Ha, most of my “training” workouts have only been three miles. I managed to push on though and just went at a steady pace until I crossed the line!! WooHoo 2 hours and 16 mins later I had done it! 13.1 miles, 21.1 Kilometers! Done and done!

L to R: Callan, Haley, Scott, TJ, Anna

Champs!

This weekend was a weekend full of markets! Thursday night TJ, Feeney and I went to the City Bowl Market and had a fabulous time! Pictured above is my dessert of Shiraz and red velvet cupcake.

We ended the night at chill place that is known for their selection of craft beer. After good conversation and great food we headed home to called it an early night.