By Carola Bogezi
Dedication and hard work got me to where I am sitting now, looking back on my first half marathon completed on 25th September. It was a great adventure. Let me take you back to the beginning of March 2016. Because my husband was involved in an accident that totalled his car, he had to use mine. He runs a mobile garage, so without wheels he is not very mobile. On top of that my kids are quite attached to mum and really want me to take them to school in the morning. To minimise delays on all fronts, we would all get in the car at 7.30 in the morning. First drop of the little one at nursery and then hubby would drop me and the oldest at her school and I would bring her to class and make my way home on foot. That in itself is not that impressive as it is only 2 km, but it was a start.
When people ask me how I managed to run 21km, I tell them I started small. I couldn’t run those 2km the first few times, because I just wasn’t fit enough. After a week I put on my oldest running shoes and started to run little bits. As I have kept logs right from the start I can see how far I have come. (My first logged ‘run’ was: 5 min run-1min walk x3). Five minutes became seven, seven became 10 and on and on. I logged my time, distance and intervals and I could see myself become stronger. Within a month I completed my first 3km continuous and a month later I ran my first 5k race. It turned out to be 5.4km, but I still finished under my target time of 40min. I cannot explain the boost that gave me mentally! 5km became 10km and in solidarity with my friends running a half marathon in Vic falls I logged my first 11.5km on that same day.
I seriously started looking at training for the Westgate 1/2 marathon, planning a training schedule and making it work. As a mum at home and the kids on holiday during July and August it was hard to keep at it, but I did. I knew as a family we would have to make sacrifices and we discussed whether I could count on everyone’s support. Early mornings became too cold, so I had to maximise my time to run between hubby coming home from work and the moon rising in the sky. In preparation for the 1/2 marathon I ran a total of 267 km of which the longest runs are 16km. I improved my average pace per km from 7m 47s in March 2016 to 7m 16s in September. Mileage per month almost doubled in the same period.
Was it always easy to put on the running shoes and press go? NO! But the challenge that was before me meant that training had to be done. Now looking back I celebrate and I know you can do this too!