21.1Km Done & and Dusted

The weekend of the Two Oceans 21.1km was finally here and it was time to face my challenge… All the 10 weeks of training, trying to eat better, prepare mentally, take vitamins, climbing f**king hills (I am sorry I don’t normally swear, I usually mind all my P’s and q’s but hills ohh my soul hills are my worst, I can’t even begin to explain the torture they put me through really and truly)…..but I had to go face my mountain.. I had promised myself that this was a challenge I really wanted to achieve, I wanted to set an example for my girls and show them that through hard work and determination there are no limits… But at the back of my mind I still had my doubts that I could really achieve my goal, I had only ever run one or two 12km runs and so was silently preparing my if at first you don’t succeed speech…The Sunday before we were due to fly out my trainer and good friend Celeste (whom I need to add has more faith in my abilities than I do, drove to my house at 4pm and said you can do this lets run…!) and we ran a whole 16km and you know what I survived!!! This was just the motivation I needed it changed my whole mind set, I thought if I can do 16km and still feel good I can make it to at least 18km and then just walk or flatter my eyelashes and beg someone for a piggy back ha ha ha ha… I am so grateful for that day having someone believe in me so much that they gave up their family time on a Sunday to show me what I was capable of, it meant more than I could put in words…Everyone tells you and encourages you verbally and you listen and take things in but to have someone walk the walk with you is extra special… Celeste I can only say thank you over and over again..!!! So mind and body all set me and the Mini Matisse crew made our way to Cape Town…

On the Friday before my first 21.1km they had a Two Oceans family fun race of 5.6km and Maya was so keen to join this and was telling everyone before she left that she was also running the Two Oceans… It really is so true what they say about kids following what you do more than what you say…Maya watched Craig and I training and would ask to join.. So we started doing family walks around the estate with her and in no time she was walk/running 5km…A couple of months ago when Maya broke her hand we nicknamed her flash and since then the name has stuck with her, and so flash was already for her first Two Oceans… But you now us we overdo things and so had a t-shirt printed just for our special girl, #Flash was good to go…

The morning of her race it was drizzling and it just wouldn’t stop, I was so worried with how easily the girls get chest infections that it wasn’t a good idea for Maya to run…The look of disappointment on her face when I said she couldn’t run, there was actually tears in her eyes, and so we sat in the car for 45min waiting for the rain to die down, but it was not stopping any time soon… and so we cracked under parental pressure and agreed to let her run, a decision I never regret making cause the look of pride and sense of accomplishment on her face with that medal around her neck was priceless..Our super hero had done it again,#flash is unstoppable… Dad took one for the team and ran with Maya while I was the family photographer… But this brave girl who achieved 5.6km at the age of 4, left me with big shoes to fill the next day… If my four year old was fearless enough to face her challenge , I had to be brave too, I had no choice…

I woke up at 3:30am the next morning to start getting ready for the race…That adrenaline mixed with fear of the unknown and what to expect… The nerves of all the time preparing and training coming down to this one moment… Someone up there really loves me cause there was not a raindrop in sight that morning, cause if there had been I doubt I would have made the 21.1km…Just before the race I really needed to pee and I knew if I didn’t go then I wasn’t going to make it very far in the race before having to stop.. so I joint a line which felt like it took forever to move… Finally finished and all ready to go I joined the runners by the starting block with 8 minute to spare.. As I was waiting there I started casually chatting to a stranger as you know me its hard to keep my mouth shut, and am asking the man how they will start us off for the 21km and he looked at me and said no sorry this is for 56km you need to be on the other side of the road under the bridge…I know I always aimed high but placing myself at the 56km starting line before even trying a 21km was just a push too far ha ha ha ha…. so I had to sprint to the 21.1km starting line and made it in the nick time…

This race kicked my ass by 16km by legs were cramping and heavy and I was so ready to just give in but the vibe of this race just takes you through the motions and before you know it you are at the finish line and still don’t know how you got there…. The music and bands playing, people calling your name (its on the race number I discovered while walking to the starting line), people offering tequila shooters or home made snacks on the side of the road, people sitting on camp chairs with drums or people twice my age running and making it look so easy, the view of the mountain as you run, the list just goes on and on…There is just so much to love about this race it truly is the most beautiful race…Luckily for me I joined a “bus”/running group around the 6km marked and just followed their pace the whole way through.. A man called Rudy (its on his race number) lead the spartan harriers and I just followed his lead… They tell you when to run, when to walk, when to push harder, when to hold back, his jokes, his comments all made the run so much more doable…. Every time we passed a kilometre we had to sing ‘another one bites the dust’ it was so much fun I was killing myself laughing while trying to breathe at the same time… I honestly made this race thanks to this mans advice and when the race was done I was lucky enough to walk past him again and thank him… I wanted to hug him for getting me through it but thought this poor man must think I have a few screws loose ha ha ha ha… and so folks there it is the 21.1km done and dusted in 2 hours 37 minutes and I survived (well truth be told I couldn’t walk straight for 4 days and am still waiting for feeling to return in my one toe) but I am here blogging about it and it feels so good…

Someone asked me what did I do to reward myself for completing the race.. The truth is I didn’t even think of that, doing something I didn’t even think I could do was all the reward I needed… Really what you put your mind to you can achieve, our biggest battle is with our minds… Right now I feel like how Rocky felt when he got to the top of the stairs, you know when he reached his peak that unstoppable feeling, like whats next, what can I challenge myself to do next, that bring it on feeling..!! The only thing I must say I needed was next time ill have a makeup and hair crew waiting to touch me up after the finish line ha ha ha ha, the 21.1km tiredness could not be hidden in any of my photos and the after effects of running are far from glamourous… I felt like I was on a Nike advert in my head when I was posing, but when I look back that the photos I see it was more a old age commercial I was posing for ha ha ha ha ha

The rest of the time after the race, while walking like hop along Cassidy we just soaked up all the Cape Town vibes… There is truly so much I love about Cape Town.. We got married here cause we fell in love with the charm it has to offer and every time we go back there is just more magic to be uncovered…We couldn’t resist squeezing in a quick trip to the art gallery (Zeitz MOCAA) it was stunning, I was worried the girls would find it boring but they loved it and even Cianna’s attention span lasted all the floors…. You know us there is a always time for art ha ha ha…Here’s a few pics of our time spent in Cape Town…

I believe its called the Two Oceans race cause when you run the 56km you actually see the Oceans mmmmmhhhhhh…. You know what I might actually be tempted to try a 56km, who knows never say never right hee hee… Thank you to all my friends and family for all their support, they all got me to the finish line… And so thats one off the bucket list…And a extra note just for my girls ” May your dreams be larger than mountains and may you have the courage to scale their summits” (Harley King)…

Love