When you've gotta go, you've gotta go!

Men have it so easy! You often see men stopping along the road during a race to relieve themselves.  They run off to the side, turn their backs to the runners and do what they need to do in a few seconds, no mess, no fuss, and quickly return to the road to carry on running.  Women on the other hand...well we have a real problem! Firstly, I'm convinced women have smaller bladders...??? The queue for the bathrooms (or rather, portable loos) are always filled with women before a race.  Running is not a particularly glamorous sport to begin with, what with all the panting and the sweating, but this makes it really unflattering! Portable loos are pretty disgusting, but they beat going along the side of the road mid-race! So you try to get in the queue with enough time before the gun goes off to start the race.  Sadly, this doesn't always happen the way you plan.  On Saturday morning the alarm was set for 03:50 to get to a race that started in Pretoria at 06:00.  Thinking that was plenty of time to get ready, get to the venue, enter and use the facilities before the start, we were unpleasantly surprised when we were met with ridiculous traffic and crowds trying to do the same thing!  I was about 5th in the queue for a bathroom when the gun to signal the start of the 21.1km went off.  I had no choice but to leave the queue and run to the start to catch up with the other runners.  Unfortunately, by 6km I was desperate and running was becoming rather uncomfortable.  I had no choice...I had seen other women do it before and now it was my turn! At that particular part of the race, there happened to be a large field with many overgrown bushes and tall grass.  It was now or never! I sprinted as deep into these bushes as I could go, making sure runners could no longer see me.  I squatted down and cursed this disadvantage that women have! Not one of my finest moments!! I rushed back to the road as quickly as I could and tried to put the memory out of my mind.  Unfortunately the bits of dry grass and weeds that I pulled up along with my pants were there to remind me every step of the way! Not amazing!! Sometimes you have to forget that you're a girly girl and just be a runner, because when you've gotta go, you've gotta go!

You know you're a runner when...

• you look forward to Mondays because its your only rest day
• you don't paint your toenails because they'll probably fall off anyway
• 8 hours of sleep just isn't enough
• your laundry basket smells like the inside of a gym
•  you spend most of your day thinking about what to eat next

I love being a runner!

The Wall

I always heard runners talk about 'the wall' but I had never really experienced it before...until yesterday! What is the wall? Well, sometimes, when you are running for many hours, your body just becomes too tired to keep going and even your mind is too exhausted to make your body listen to it when it tells you to keep running.  You can hit this wall at any time during a race or run, but usually it occurs near the end as this is when you are most tired and ready for the whole experience to be over. To be honest, when I heard runners talk about the wall I always thought it was a bit silly...I mean, surely when you're close to the end of a race, no matter how tired you are, you just force yourself to keep going, right? Wrong...I realised yesterday that when you do hit this wall, it's almost impossible to convince your mind, much less your body to hang in there til the end!  Yesterday was my third marathon ever.  I was hoping to get a time of under 4 hours in order to get a good seeding for Two Oceans 56km and Comrades 89km.  Even though the training programme I'm following advises novices to qualify with a 4:20 marathon, I figured that if I did my first ever marathon a year ago in 4:08, what would be the point of not trying to improve on that now?  So I set my mind to running a 3:59 marathon and as I started running I felt pretty confident that this wouldn't be a problem.  I ran with the sub 4 hour bus for the first 27km and I was having a great time.  There was a big group of us running together, I met many friendly people and there was much talking, laughing and general singing and cheering every time the 'bus driver' announced that another km had been completed and that we were still on track for a sub 4 hour marathon.  After about 27km I felt strong and slowly drifted in front of the bus.  There was still a long way to go, but my legs weren't tired in the slightest and I was feeling strong.  It started happening about 4km later...the wall started coming up in front of my every step! At about 30km the bus that I so confidently left behind, was catching up to me and 2km later, they had left me behind! I could no longer keep up the pace and all my strength from before, was starting to disappear.  At 34km the wall was up in full force and despite the fact that my legs weren't sore and there was no real reason for me to become so fatigued so quickly, I just couldn't keep going! I walked slowly up and down the roads, watched as people ran past me and watched as the time quickly ran away without my legs.  I knew that if I didn't stop walking and start running soon, it wouldn't be possible to reach my goal.  But something inside me was gone.  I had no determination and no strength left.  The wall took all that!  No matter how much I tried to talk myself into running or at least walking faster, I just couldn't do it! I walked more in those last 6km than I did in my first two marathons combined.  And when I got to 41.5km and my watch hit 4:00 I just didn't care.  I kept walking, and slowly too! 5 minutes  later I crossed the finish line...defeated by the wall!!

I was disappointed at first that this happened to me during an important race and that hitting the wall meant that I missed my goal by just a few minutes, but then I realised its probably a good thing.  Most runners who run further distances, will probably hit the wall at some point during their running lives.  So it was bound to happen to me in some or other race.  I'm just glad it happened now, so that if I ever hit that wall again, say for example during Comrades, I might be better equipped to knock it down and keep running!

It's Marathon Time

I have only ever run two full marathons, both of them about a year ago.  This coming Sunday will be my third.  I'm terribly nervous, but I suppose it's only half the distance I'll be running come 3 June so I really shouldn't be too worried about this.  However, in preparation for the 42.2km that awaits me in a few days I am taking the following actions this week:

a) Sleeping as much as I can ie afternoon naps and early nights
b) Eating as much as I can and
c) Keeping my feet up

Of course I find it impossible to not run so I am still keeping my legs moving with a run every day but they are slow and comfortable runs and are always followed by lots of stretching and massaging when I get home.  Whether or not I'm 'marathon ready', remains to be seen...

Draf en Trap

My running man and I have been wanting to run the Ottosdal Night Marathon or Half Marathon since we heard about it last year.  It is the only night marathon and it takes place in a small town about 3 hours from Joburg.  The only problem is that it falls on the Saturday night before another race in Joburg that we usually run.  This year, we decided not to miss out on the Ottosdal Draf en Trap as they call it, and ambitiously entered both races.  Most people who run the night marathon will stay in the small mielie farming town for the weekend and drive back to Joburg on Sunday.  We, however had other plans.  We set out for the small town at 2pm on Saturday afternoon and took a slow drive into the land of the mielies.  While I opted for the half marathon, my running man decided to run the full marathon, despite the fact that we had both entered another half marathon the following day.  The Ottosdal 21.1km started at 6:30pm.  It was a smallish field of runners but a great vibe none the less.  I met a few friendly Jozi runners along the way, enjoyed a beautiful sunset and a leisurely run along one long, straight road with nothing on either side-except of course mielies!  I changed into warm, comfortable clothes as soon as I finished and waited for the marathon runners to finish so that we could begin the long journey home before another race in a few hours time. We stopped for a quick dinner in Klerksdorp (another charming town with nothing much to it) and were back on the road after 10pm.  We finally arrived back home and were in bed after 1:00am...the alarm was set for 4:30am and the hours went by even quicker than expected.  Before I knew it, I was re-tying my running shoes and getting back into the car for the drive to Benoni for yet another 21.1km.  Needless to say this second race was run a lot slower than the night before! Still, I'm glad I did it! Some people advised me not to do the two races, others told me it was sensible to learn to run on tired legs in preparation for Comrades.  I wasn't sure who to believe, but now that I've done it, I think I made the right decision.  Next year however, I may just skip the Joburg race and stay in Ottosdal to enjoy the post Draf en Trap festivities...those farmers know how to jol!