I found out about the race sometime last fall, and decided it might be something I'd want to do. I knew a half-marathon was on my List, and I figured what better place to run my first one than in Africa? I decided about three months would be a good amount of time to train, so I had a fellow PCV help me make a training schedule. It consisted of two shorter runs during the week, a long run on the weekend and walking or biking on other days. It was perfect. The best part was that it got me up to the long runs very slowly, which is good because before training for this I had never run more than 35 minutes. Looking at the weeks were a short run would be 5 miles, I got quite nervous. But I had heard people say that anyone can do it if you just start slow and stay consistent; so that's exactly what I did. Turns out, it's true, I can run long distances. I will say that I don't particularly enjoy it though. I kept trying to like it, but no matter what I did, I just got bored after an hour or so. Not even tired, though that certainly happened too, I just wanted to be doing something else or most of the time I wanted to just walk slowly and look around me. Most of my runs were in the vil, where it's quiet and secluded and beautiful. But I pushed on. I never did get up to 13 miles before the race, I actually only got up to 7.5. But I was fine with that. My goal was to cross the finish line, I didn't care about my time or how I got there. I also knew I'd have some disruptions to my training, such as Dad and Kristi coming to visit (which was obviously WAY worth disrupting my training, though I did still manage to run quite a bit while they were here) and a medical trip to South Africa to get a wisdom tooth pulled. I ran when I could, walked when I couldn't run, and thought about running when I couldn't do either. Each time I went a further distance I was ecstatic and felt even more prepared for race day.
Getting to the race was, as it almost always is in this country, time consuming. I left my vil on Wednesday and stayed in Kasama that night. I took an 11 hour bus ride to Lusaka Thursday, another 7.5 hour bus ride to Livingstone on Friday, and walked across the boarder to Zimbabwe on Saturday morning. Needless to say, I was exhausted. But the backpackers I was staying at in Zim was outside of town and nice and quiet. After registering for the race the following day, packing myself full of yummy carbs, I headed to bed early. I really didn't get nervous at all about the race. I think because I wasn't worried about my time or anything I was able to sleep and be pretty calm. There were quite a few other people at the backpackers who were also running, so we all woke at 5:00 to get some food and water in us and head to the starting line. It was cold that morning, as all mornings are right now, so we layered up and tried to keep moving as we waited for our 7:15 start time. By 7:00 we knew we had to face the cold and take off the layers, which was only possible by lots of jumping around. Before I knew it, the gun went off and the race had begun.
I knew that I had zero desire to push myself to be fast or pass certain people, so I stayed in the back and just took my time. I quickly realized how social and fun a race can be, even when you're about to run 21km (13.1 miles). I talked with a lot of people as we waited for the gun, and then people from all over during the race. I'm not a big talker while I run, and I did most of the race alone, but the times I did end up chatting with people made me smile and happy about how social and supportive the race was becoming. I knew there would be people along the way to cheer us on, but the best support was when people were going back up a hill that you were just going down and they gave you the thumbs up and the "you-can-do-it" or "great job" and "keep it up". I loved it. Oh, and then there was the course itself. I already mentioned the incredible view of the falls. But most of the course was next to the Zambezi River and through a game park. I saw a lot of warthogs, which have a striking resemblance to Pumba, beautiful chirping birds, and though not an actual elephant, lots of its droppings. I just kept looking around in awe that I was actually able to run this race in such a beautiful place. There were baobab trees all over and the sun was shining through. The weather was perfect, not too cold once we got running and only started to get hot in the last 30 minutes of the race. And I've never felt happier crossing a finish line. I just couldn't believe that me, who had never run more than 35 minutes before the training, had just done a half marathon. The last 5km I did end up speed walking/running due to some really hard hills, but I did 10 miles before I walked the first time. And I have NEVER run 10 miles. That alone made me feel very worthy of the medal they placed around my neck as I crossed the line. And the t-shirt was a nice mbasala (bonus) too.
My body was more achy than its ever been and I was more hungry that I've been in a long time, but I just couldn't stop smiling. We went out to this awesome cafe outside where I had an ice cold strawberry banana smoothing and an incredible, huge mushroom burger with fried onions, cheese, avocado and a chutney sauce, complete with a side salad and crunchy fries. I was in heaven. Though I plan on taking it easy with my runs for my last 9 months in this beautiful country, I am looking forward to training for another half once I'm home. Though a fun run might be first on my list with some friends and family when I get home :)
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