Soweto Half Marathon; An Early Morning Run




The morning started early, very early.  Alarm set for 03:50, and that for a race only 20 min drive from my home.  We try to look enthusiastic at that hour, not an easy feat.  O yeah, we, I conned my little wife into joining me on these adventures about a year ago.  She still refuses the 21 kilometres and progressed up to 10 kilometres now.  That was how this would play out today, I do the half marathon and she, the 10 kilometre.  The dog does not share our optimism, she just do not understand why we have to start moving with lights on and all, at this ungodly hour.  Fortunately, she stays home.
The race was the Old Mutual Soweto Marathon and the venue FNB Stadium.  My start time was 06:30, and my wife’s start was at 07:00.  After what felt like forever, we are in the car and on the way to the stadium.  As we leave the house, the checking start, do you have your race number, do you have your wallet, do you have your running shirt with the licence number.  The answer is always yes, however, for effect, I stop the car, go look in back and report in the affirmative.  These little rituals keep the love growing.
Finding a parking spot is not a problem if you go early enough.  It does come with a bit of cunning and the running community is efficient in their selective following of traffic rules.  I mean, one lane in each direction is not really important if everyone needs to go to the same specific point.  Also, traffic lights just allow others to get the good spots, so they get ignored too when the starting point come into view.
All this done, we are at the race venue, fully equipped, thanks to the prior examination I passed with flying colours.  Physical preparation is very important, however, that happens over weeks and months prior.  On race day, the expectation at least is, you are strong and fit for whatever you are attempting.
This morning was a particularly boring pre-event with not much to do.  Courtesy of the organisers who advised that roads leading to the event will be shut off early, and they had half the world enrol for the event.  That explains the early rise for a local race with a fairly late start.  We were seeded for this event and had to find the seeding pens to get admitted in good time.
The morning was cool, but sunny and with a moderate wind.  Final preparations completed, we made our way to the seeding pens.  Then the big wait, like a lamb waiting his turn to be slaughtered.  It is about the same, at that stage of the morning I was blissfully unaware of the level of torture awaiting me.  Normally these big city races are nice and flat; this allows elite athletes to chase excellent times and world records.  Now that I have the benefit of hindsight, I did not think this through.  Johannesburg is about 1750 metres above sea level, and records are always set at or near sea level.  Still thinking my preparation was flawless to set an excellent time, well for me; I waited it out.  By this time, my wife went in search for her own herding pen.
Eventually the marathon race was set off, and the half marathon herd, about 8000 strong, moved to the start position.  The gun fires, and we are off.  Running is very simple, we all learnt how to do it very early in our lives.  The one foot goes in front of the other and repeat.  If you do this at a more aggressively pace than your previous attempt, the time is faster; that is the science behind it, there is nothing else.  This leaves me loads of time to think of all sorts of anything whilst my body endures the torture.  You are only occasionally required to pay attention, these are for picking up water at the water points, when route split off, or when there are a load of slow runners blocking your way.  All of this result in running being a very relaxing event for me.
Running events of this scale are very well organised.  Between water points there are 3 kilometres, enough distance to start feeling very sorry for yourself and doubt the next water point will still have something for you.  Apart from that, following the instructions of the marshals and dodging the odd idiot in a car ignoring the marshals, are good enough.  Expecting limited interference from natural disaster and meteor strikes, I aimed to be home and dry in about 105 to 110 minutes.
I made an interesting observation in the past 14 months since I started running; the organisers are extremely sadistic people.  They will find some sort of hill in the distance, skilfully guide the runners there, and then make them run up and down the same hill all day long for their entertainment.  The downhill bits are not that bad, I still carry some extra weight, which is extremely efficient as a gravity assist on those parts.  It is the uphill bits where the gravity pack has to be carried along, that kills me.  The organisers for this race did not disappoint. 
The first one and a half kilometres were gentle uphill, good for a start, always good to get that bit over.  Thereafter, we took a sharp turn to the left, the road sign said Diepkloof.  I ran the Diepkloof half marathon a fortnight earlier, and that was an up and down affair of note; this memory raised my level of concern a bit.  It was the next about 10 kilometres which raised concern to a state of panic.  We were going downhill big-time.  I am intelligent enough to know where I parked my car; we had to get back there, so there had to be an uphill in the future.  When it started, we had a 9 kilometre climb.  That gravity pack I described earlier, was fully in play, and this was torture.  With 3 kilometres to go, I found myself looking for that meteor strike that would stop this pain. 
It did not happen, and I finished the race in just over 108 minutes.  I got myself a nice medal for my effort and was re-united with my wife, who was sporting her own medal and clocking a time of 61 minutes for the day.  We shared our stories of the race, the things we thought of whilst running and the things and people we saw on the way.
Why do I do this?  Well, doing no exercise is a sure way of growing ever slower and fatter by the day.  That experiment has been performed by myself in past years, and the outcome is extremely repeatable.  Running, for me, is one of the most efficient methods of exercise, it keeps me healthy and work away stress.  All those things the doctor tells us to do to live longer.  Apart from this, it is very relaxing to get out of bed every morning and go for a quick 7 to 8 kilometre run, it just starts the day right.
The races; I attempt a half marathon at least once a month when in good health, I find it a good test of strength.  For some other weekends a 10 kilometre race is a good training opportunity.  The event organisation assist that I can push a bit more than the morning runs.  There are also the people, the aged advanced are most inspirational to me.  Today there was a guy, 78 years of age, gunning for the same time as me.  I would love to be that guy, at that age.
I also have all that time to think in a relaxed environment, and I collect a medal; Mutley would be proud.
Sunday, 4 November 2018

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