The Cape Town Marathon

I am no longer a victim of my circumstance.

Yesterday, I ran the Cape Town Marathon and something extraordinary happened to me. I feel like I have crossed the bridge between being a victim of my circumstances and being a conquerer that is able to do anything and achieve anything that I set my mind to. The race was quite intense and I discovered firsthand why it is called an endurance race. I was immensely nervous at the start and felt like Eminem in that song and movie where he gets nervous before he goes onto the stage to perform. I was in group D4 and we had a runner (pace-maker) in our group running with a flag that read 4h15, (which I assumed was the time you will finish in if you stuck with him) and I immediately decided that that guy would be my target and that I would finish in front of him. So immediately my initial plan of keeping a slow pace went out the window.

I felt the pace was ok though and that I would be able to manage. I was almost wrong. The race tested me on so many levels that in the end, I thought that I was not gonna make it as it took all my energy. I had nothing left, I was gonna walk to the finish line. Then I heard it. It was a beat and the sound of a tambourine. Another runner was playing it to the pace of his run and was followed by a group. I joined and concentrated only on the beat. I had some energy again and was in a zone. I almost made it to the finish line but I just had nothing left. At last, I saw the end. It was probably the longest one-kilometer of my life (up until now. lol.). I was walk-running. I was gonna finish by running and not walking, no matter how it hurt. I closed my eyes whilst running as I convinced myself that if I can't see how far still, I won't feel it so bad. That's how I finished, running with my eyes closed.