Marathon

It's been once again a ridiculously long period since my last post... I know I keep saying this but I really think I shall make more of an effort in future to jot down my random thoughts in passing before I let a year go by once again. Miss me? ha ha

I recently ran the Two Oceans half Marathon (21,something kilometers) and the whole experience of my first race got me thinking once again about the absurdity of humans...

What other animal would make a journey of that length (I say this relatively because I have no doubt many animals travel broader distances, but I'm speaking in terms of human physical travel) for the simple fun of it. That's it. Wildebeest and Zebra partake in Miles and miles of travel each year to reach better grazing ground, but to run a huge distance for the sake of running (and to perhaps tell other human beings how far you have run) seems silly from an outside perspective. The things humans do to keep themselves occupied...

That's just the surface value. What was my experience of the race itself? I was haphazardly shoved in between some eleven thousand people at 06:00 in the morning (still dark), I could not see much (being a head shorter than the rest of my fellow runners, but I still felt this sense of anticipation and excitement. My heart beat faster then than it had perhaps the entire race thereafter. We sang the National Anthem and then the cannon sounded. Ready to run! Not really... I only actually ran about 5 minutes into the race. I only crossed the starting line 5 minutes into the race... we left the excitement of the pumping music and the cheering crowds behind us and a weird silence engulfed us. it was not a deathly silence, it was the silence of the hum created by eleven thousand pairs of tekkied-feet pounding the road. the grunts and pants of fellow runners striving to keep up with the crowd. here and there a joke flies out from somewhere and you giggle from the randomness.

It's been a while... let me check my Garmin and see how far I've come... What?! 672 meters?! How can that be possible! Got to speed it up a little... I wont make my time... there are people everywhere and there is no where to pass... you are held back by the slow people around you.

The breathing is getting heavier, the sky lighter, and I feel pretty good. Its been about 10 kilometers and you know that you still have some way to go so you reserve your energy for the hills. You want some water, but there are such crowds around the watering posts that you'd rather leave it. can't stop running now...

Completely lost. I live here and I don't know where I am. This is good. The scenery is beautiful and the fact that I've never seen it before distracts my brain temporarily from thinking about how tired my legs are. The people around me are quiet now. No more jokes are being passed about flippatly.

4 kilometers to go. I know now where I am. I jog here often and this is very discouraging! I know how far it is to go and more importantly, I know how far it feels! Far from being finished! Won't it end already? I'm not exactly tired... I mean my legs are starting to strain, but they're not painful and I'm not breathing heavy. 4 kilometers...

It is about 1 kilometer to go, I am running as fast as I can but I cannot estimate just how fast that is because I don't really care. I just want to be done now. I'm like a horse, who after a tiring workout knows that it's home-time and I'm getting there as quickly as I can with what energy I have left... I'm waiting for the screams of "Go Eden!" or "You've done it, Eden!" but either I can't hear them or they're not coming... I'm on the grass, the final stretch! I race to the end line... or what I think is the end line - only to see that it is a little further on... on my last legs, my waning energy, I pass at least two other people raising my arms in glorification for the photographer that I see, unable to smile... did he get that? I'll only know a little later I guess. But this is it! Jarringly I stop running - for the first time in two hours and thirty-one minutes and my legs feel fuzzy. I'm numb and it feels weird to walk, but the cold steel of the medal in my hand makes me feel glad.

That's after all why humans run so pointlessly isn't it? for a shiny cold piece of metal on a ribbon...