I did it!
This weekend I broke my marathon virginity.
I ran 42.2km (that’s 26.2 miles if you’re American).
Yep, 42.2 big ones!
I still can’t believe it actually.
If you told me a few months ago that I would get to the finish line of one of these races I would have politely raised the finger situated between the index and ring and waved it in your general direction.
When I opened my big mouth after my first-hand witnessing of the 2016 Comrades Marathon and wrote in my blog, Things I learned in the Kingdom of the Zulu and at Comrades (by a guy who didn’t run the Comrades), that I would someday attempt to run the Comrades Marathon I didn’t quite realise the effort, commitment and emotion it would require of me.
I kinda know now… kinda.
Last Friday I trekked up to Nelspruit with a bunch of folk from Benoni Northerns Athletic Club to take on the Uniwisp Kaapsehoop Marathon, my first marathon and definitely not my last.
Accompanying me was my longtime pal Darryn de Kock, a still-to-be deflowered marathon runner himself.
The two of us have been working hard together in the last few months in pursuit of a Comrades 2018 dream.
Like I said in my blog, I’ve got the runs, I feel fitter, stronger and more determined than ever.
Anyway, these are some of the things I learned (and am still learning) about long distance road running while plodding alongside the herds of wild horses out on the roads of Kaapsehoop.
Let’s stop horsing around and start with some history (as I usually do):
1. Benoni and Kaapsehoop have something in common
Kaapsche Hoop is the original High Dutch spelling of Kaapsehoop as now spelt in Afrikaans.
Just like Benoni the town of Kaapsehoop was founded on gold.
According to good ol’ Wikipedia “The name of the town was no doubt derived from the fact that gold was discovered in the town which sits high above the De Kaap Valley – The Cape Valley – and the find then created the hope for the early inhabitants of the nearby De Kaap Valley area of attaining great wealth.
“However, the earlier better paying discoveries of gold at both Pilgrim’s Rest in 1873 and Barberton in 1881, followed by the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886 (later to become the town of Johannesburg), coupled with the meager returns obtained at Kaapsche Hoop led to the town going into decline.”
Tourism has rejuvenated the town since and I’m sure that the marathon is a great advertisement for what is really a truly beautiful place.
It was my first time there and you can bet your last Madiba that I’ll be back.
WATCH: This video, created in 2016, gives you a pretty good idea about the Kaapsehoop Marathon:
2. Nobody really knows where the horses came from
There are many fables as to the origin of the Kaapsehoop wild horses.
The beautiful horses have roamed Kaapsehoop for more than 100 years and the stories of how they got there have changed.
No-one really knows what is truth and what is fiction.
A woman who I met on the run told me that there are stories of them having been abandoned in the town after the gold was no more or that they could have escaped from an overturned circus truck back in the day.
Hell, I have no cooking clue where the horsies came from, but they are a tremendous sight to behold.
What a treat it was to see them greet us runners as we kick-started our 42.2km journey.
3. Barbed wire hurts
My race was nearly over before it even began.
Runners are incredibly civilised folk.
Any tree is a lavatory.
At the start many runners were dropping the kids off at school or emptying their bladders before their race…
Um.. charming!
Seriously, folks just drop their rods like it’s nobody’s business.
I, too, decided to shake hands with the president before the run, but was not watching my feet and ended up trampling in a pile of old barbed wire on the side of the Kaapsehoop road.
But for a few cuts on my leg I managed to unravel the wire around my leg and escape relatively unharmed.
An absolutely fantastic way to start my first ever marathon.
4. Running 42.2km is no joke
Duh, LG!
I have been through a lot in my life, but have never experienced an emotional roller-coaster like that felt while running a full marathon.
In the beginning there’s butterflies, then laughs and jokes galore in the early kilometres.
When the conversations stop, you know the race is getting real.
There’s a quote that appears in almost every marathon blog you find on Google by an American runner Lori Culnane.
It reads:
“Everything you ever wanted to know about yourself you can learn in 26.2 miles.”
It might be cliché, but running a marathon is definitely not for sissies.
It is a helluva social sport, but, when you find yourself alone on the road trudging along, just you and your own thoughts, you find yourself digging deep into your core and finding a drive and ambition you never knew existed.
I did not know that I could block out pain and focus absolutely everything on the goal at hand.
I used my five-year-old heart warrior nephew Jaden and his daily struggles fighting a congenital heart defect (CHD) as my driving force and motivation.
I knew that any pain I would experience out there could not even come close to the pain that he and my family has gone through.
When I was struggling I pictured his face.
It got me through.
READ about Jaden and his story here:
5. The friendships made are invaluable
I started running with the good people at Benoni Northerns Athletic Club (BNAC) and I am loving every second of it.
It is a real family at the club and everybody is on hand to provide encouragement, support and solid advice.
I do not think I would be where I am now without them.
In fact, the friendships made out on the road stay with you forever.
Also, they certainly do enjoy a few post-run beverage or two… or 20!
I mean, the club has its own Ministry of Cold Beer and Shade, for Pete’s sake!
You can’t buy that!
Well, you can, if you join and pay your membership subscriptions.
6. Running events show you the real South Africa
I’m not sure about you, but I’m sick and tired of all the racial vile that is posted on social media.
You would think that South Africa is going nowhere slowly with regards to race relations.
Do yourself a favour and go watch a road race.
You will see people of every colour and creed coming together for a common goal.
You will see humanity at it’s best (apart from the peeing and pooping in the woods part).
I think every South African should run a race at least once in their lives.
7. The journey has only just begun
So, where to for me now?
Well, I have penciled in and entered a few marathons and one or two ultra-marathons ahead of that looming June 10, 2018 Comrades date.
I qualified at Kaapsehoop for next year’s down run, but now I will try to better my time and get a better seeding.
The journey continues…
Check you out on the tar!
LG
* Please note that this is an opinion piece and that the views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Benoni City Times or Caxton Newspapers.
Check out some other blogs from this writer:
LG’s A to Z of a South African road trip
Things I learned in the Fair Cape
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