So, I have been studying and working extremely hard recently (I still am really) and my mom convinced mi that it would a good idea to take part in a 10km 'walk'. My mom is completely nuts for running, she has done a number of Comrades Marathons and has a ton of medals from other races. While I certainly give her kudos for her unbelievable drive to get up at the crack of dawn and run around the block numerous times, it isn't really my bag. After a bad cross country experience in primary school, I pretty much gave up on running and focused on hockey and swimming instead. Of course, once high school was over, so was any attempt at being fit. I keep meaning to do something 'exercisey' but now that my mom had suggested this walk, I thought it would be a good idea. My sister was going, so we could keep each other company, and I was going to get a medal to start my own little collection (if I finished that is!).
At 06h30 on Sunday morning, my sister picked mi up. Bleary-eyed and nowhere near bushy-tailed, I got my race number (3339, such a cool number). We queued up at the start and people-watched until the starting gun went off. People of all shapes and sizes (not to mention fashion-sense) lined up to give it their all. The beginning was quite nice, a bit crowded, but nice. Then my sister picked up the pace...
My first goal was to reach 3kms because that is where I was told there would be some liquid. It took forever to reach the 3km mark, I swear it was really 5kms but my new running shoes were holding up quite nicely (I haven't owned a pair of running shoes since high school and I was really glad I bought them), I couldn't imagine my docs or Circa's performing quite so well. So, by 3kms I realised three things; one, running shoes are not overrated, two, I am a poor judge of distance and three, after 3kms, Coca Cola (which I don't really drink) is just delish!
There was no loitering at the 3km mark. Oh no, you keep moving... uphill!! That's another thing, there were a lot of uphills! In fact it felt like entire course was uphill. My mom told mi the grading of this particular walk was pretty easy (a 2 I think it was). I be honest, I don't think my poor out of shape body could have handled anything worse than ultra-easy. We kept powering on and, with my interest in property, I couldn't help but start looking at the lovely houses of Houghton.
6kms came and went, more coke and water to keep my body going. My sister and I then began counting down, we were past halfway - hooray, the medal was in my sights now. By the time we reached 8kms, I was ready to stop. Gees, I thought there was no way I would feel so knackered, but then 9kms came. Phew! If have learnt anything from The Biggest Loser (yes, I watch just about every reality show there is) is that you need to find your limit and push through it. Well, if I thought 8kms was my limit, I was wrong! 9kms really kicked my butt. But, reaching 9kms did give mi hope that I could push through to the 10km mark. Our conversation that was keeping us going was pretty much laid to rest at 6kms and sister and I trundled into the sports ground (and the final few hundred metres). After a few more attempts at jogging to the end, we had made it! 10kms in 1 hour 44 minutes we had done it! Medal in hand and blister under foot (I don't know if I can blame my shoes for that or if I just walk funny) I headed towards my final helping of coke.
All in all, despite not being able to walk like a human being for three days, I would definitely say the walk was worth it (and I even got a little bit of a tan!). After completing the walk my mom thrust an entry form into my hands for the next 10km walk, this Sunday. I can only guess it will be a little bit easier, I hope!
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