So
yesterday I ran a half marathon! I’m so proud to say that I got to accomplish
my first half marathon here in Cape Town with some of the friends I’ve made on
this trip. Since day one there have been a solid group of girls that have been
registered and have been training. Meanwhile, Bernie and I have debated it
always going back and forth on the matter. Neither of us have done one before
and although we’ve been running frequently together and alone we’ve never
really officially trained for it, at least I haven’t been. So the week of the
marathon finally approached and honestly the day before Bernie and I decided to
go for it!
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| Bernie & Christina |
The morning
of the marathon we had to wake up at 4:30 to be dressed and ready to leave. We
had a cab come but because of all the traffic due to the marathon we had to get
out early and walk to the starting line in Newlands. Already at 5am the streets
were crowded with marathon runners and you could feel the excitement in the
air. People were dressed in matching outfits, face paint, flags, and even
rabbit ears for Easter weekend. Finally we got to the starting line and the gun
went off and so did we! I never thought I would be so excited to run but there
was music and fans already lined the streets cheering and taking photos from
every direction. Bernie, Caitlin, and I all started at the same time but
shortly after we started we lost Caitlin. It was up to Bernie and I, both first
timers, and we were on a roll. The whole race almost seems like a blurr because
it was done in Kilometers each time we passed a checkpoint I was trying to do
the calculation in my head to see how many miles we had left. But even as the
race was going on we would run through water stations and little points where
radio stations would be, or bands, or tv stations. It was awesome, we would run
by a camera and Bernie and I would see ourselves dancing by to the music. I was
actually really surprised by the marathon and the ambiance through out the
whole event. Having people on the side cheering and music playing really helped
to motivate us and once we saw that we had one kilometer left we booked it.
Bernie and I sprinted all the way through UCT and once we stopped running I was
suddenly flooded with emotions. It was completely unexpected but Bernie and I
hugged and I felt myself tearing up. I felt so accomplished and proud of myself
and shocked quite honestly that I got overwhelmed with emotions.
Running a
half-marathon was an amazing experience that I am so thankful to of
accomplished here and share with my friends from UConn.
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