The Gun Run

She runs with me.

I am so grateful to have a friend like Khuselwa. She knows where I come from and has watched me grow. I ran the Gun Run with a cold because I never wish to let her down. She is a girl that is a friend and I am very proud. I also ran with a cold because I am crazy. But also I have been faced with a lot of obstacles lately and I just wanted to fight back and say "till here and no more". I mentally refused to recognise that I am sick and took a med-lemon with a Stoney cooldrink heated on the stove and went to sleep the night before the race with the belief that I would wake up healed. I only had four hours of sleep as I worked the night before but I woke up fresh and called Khuselwa - she was already on her way.

The race was awesome and I felt ok in spite of my cold. There were mostly white people (because maybe it was a bit expensive to enter) so I could not laugh out loud when I saw a girl trip and fall over a cone. We ran the entire Sea Point Promenade and the views were spectacular as per usual, and it was a lovely cool, sunny morning.

When I came out of rehab, I asked my Higher Power to send me a woman that shares my passion for running and hiking.

During the Gun Run, I saw her again, She was too far from me. I could not catch up as I could not risk it with my cold. Even if I could catch up, I probably would not have the breath to be able to speak to her. The first time I saw her was the very first time I started running. It was at the Rondebosch Common. She was running in a team and they lapped me whilst running around the Common. The next time I saw her was at the Bay-to-Bay run where I did my knee in trying to keep up with her. Halfway through the race, we were running next to each other and she commented to me that the hill is neverending. I had no breath to reply and then she was gone, and I was done and had no energy left for the race. I finished the race but the last say five kilometers was a huge struggle. All of this reminds me of Mary Cable. Mary was a girl that I had a crush on at school. I joined the athletic team just because she was on the team. I never did work up the courage to speak to Mary but hopefully, I do better next time in the races.