RUN WITH RORY crying back to my car. I couldn’ t even get to 15km! Panic set in even more properly now. Hillcrest Marathon in like a few days, and I can’ t even get past 13km! What on earth am I going to do?
I had to have a very difficult conversation with myself about recovering fully from this horrible bronchitis that just seemed to loiter long after my last antibiotic dosage. I sat down and said,“ Rory, calm down! You are still sick. You should not be running at all. You’ re panic running now and making it worse.” And then I realised I was in the dispensary queue at Clicks and everyone was listening to me.
I quickly pretended I was sending a voice note to my empty hand as my phone was in my pocket. I think I pulled it off. I was there to ask the pharmacist to please fix me so I could run the Hillcrest Marathon in a few days.
And then, I ran the Hillcrest Marathon a few days later, and besides trying something new on race day that left me scrambling for a R2 coin, so I could urgently access the toilets at Caltex, it was dreadful! I was in absolutely no state to run a whole marathon for two reasons: Firstly, I hadn’ t fully recovered from bronchitis and secondly, you can’ t expect to run a marathon in under five hours if you only have a few kilometers worth of training under your belt. I finished in 5 hours and something and something.
Here ends the lesson, Champions! If and when you get sick, it will never be at‘ a convenient time’ and you simply have to wait it out, before getting back onto the road. Oh, and never, ever try something new on race day, but if you do, make sure you have a R2 coin!
Till next month Toodles
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