Varsity Kudus

The running year in Johannesburg always starts off with a bang ie Varsity Kudus.  The new year has just begun and everyone has set these promising resolutions of redefining themselves as non smokers and new runners, keeping fit, losing weight bla bla bla.  So they hear about this race called Varsity Kudus starting and ending at Wits University.  It's only 15km and so what better way to put this resolution into action than by a little running race...how bad can it be right? Well I have a sneaky suspicion that the orgainisers of this particular race are just out to laugh at all the newbies on the road! You can spot them a mile off.  Their shoes are clean and crisp, they are wearing temporary licenses (joining a club is next on the list of resolutions) and they start out way too fast.  Because clearly, they have never done the dreaded Varsity Kudus before!  Runners that have done this particular race will know that it's going to be the worst 15km of your life! Don't be fooled by the easy 6km that start this race...from this point to the finish, its absolutely hellish! Most of the resolution runners that took part in this race on Sunday would have probably already packed away their brand new running shoes till next years resolution comes around again.  And I don't blame them! I more than likely would have done the same thing if I had come into the running world bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to take on this fitness thing...only to be met with some of the steepest hills I've ever seen in my life! In fact, I almost did pack my own running shoes away after Sundays race...I struggled up each and every hill and walked more in this 15km race than I did in my first marathon! I felt demotivated and 'over it' as I came up to the finish on the university campus on Sunday morning.  But luckily, since then I've realised that sometimes, its just a tough race and you don't run your best.  So all that means is that there's lots of work to be done before 3 June.  Thankfully, I made my resolution a long time ago to run Comrades...so its going to take more than Varsity Kudus to make me pack my running shoes away now!