So far in my life, I have run 3 half-marathons: Dexter-Ann Arbor my M1 year of med school, Detroit my M2 year of med school, and Ann Arbor in March of my 2nd year of residency. My time was by far my best in the Detroit Half-Marathon, somewhere around an hour and 45 minutes. Never before have I signed up for a race with just 4 days notice.
After going into the Ministry of Health Professions Council in Gaborone on Wednesday, to complete our orientation and our registration as physicians for a temporary Botswana medical license, while driving home, Adrienne and I saw a sign for the Gaborone Half-Marathon. We were a little too far away to see any of the details, so that night, we googled it. Of course. Well, the official website said that there was a race this Sunday (today), but that registration had closed on February 28th. It also said to check their Facebook page, so we went ahead and did that, and lo and behold, they were accepting registrations until the next morning at 8 a.m.! They said to register online. Only problem, there was no link from the website... Hmmm... after a little more digging on the Facebook page, there was a link to register directly from there! So, we went ahead and registered, but could not figure out how to pay. Adrienne emailed the coordinators, who said they would accept payment at the race number pick-up on Saturday. It turns out, people were even registering on the day of, haha, strict deadlines.
Even before racing, Adrienne and I had started running about 3 miles a night whenever we got home earlier, which, last week, corresponded to the two days we did not have to go to Molepolole. I'm not sure how we'll manage to keep up on work days because we get home so close to sunset. To complete our preparation, we went for a nice walk on Saturday morning and ate a lot of pasta, which we washed down with "Energade," a knock-off Gatorade. We went to Airport Junction Mall, about 20 minutes away, to pick up our race packets. This mall was also the start and finish line for the race itself. They also offered a 5K and a 10K, but Adrienne and I decided to go all out.
Early, early this morning, we set off with our trusty cab driver, Samson ("no matata," which means "no problem"), at 4:45 a.m. to make it to the start line for our 5:30 a.m. planned start. Well, we were about the third people to arrive ha. The coordinators were still setting up signs. So, we tightened our shoes, fastened our race numbers and chips, and tried to get warm. When we met, it was about 55 degrees and dark. About 120 people signed up for the half-marathon (21K), my best guess according to race numbers I saw. A lot more for the 5K and 10K, though these races started after ours. At 5:40 a.m., we gathered into the starting pen and took off! There were a fair amount of women running, almost half, and only a few other foreigners. There was a lot of representation from a Gaborone running club called "Striders." At this time, it was still dark, and light was just beginning to shine on the horizon. The sun rose at 6:15 a.m.
In looking around at our competition, we could tell that we had absolutely no chance. There were not many truly amateur runners, only a few. There were some who had clearly trained with their running club, then there were some crazy-good runners, which made me wonder if their national team runners participated. We quickly settled toward the back of the pack within the first few kilometers. Every now and then, someone who had arrived late to the race would pass us, including one incredible runner who was kicking his heels and making great time. He was a contender. Adrienne and I, for several kilometers, were in last place! We laughed as we realized we were losing the race.
There was one man with whom we were neck-and-neck for a while. As we passed him one time, he told us that he was an asthmatic who had forgotten his inhaler! A medic was on the way, apparently, but we still did not feel particularly proud of ourselves for passing him. He passed us a bit later and stayed ahead for a while, but we eventually passed him for good around 13 kilometers. I do not think he finished. There was another woman in a bright pink shirt who was occasionally walking (like we were, mostly at the water breaks every 3 kilometers). She was within our line of sight the entire way, keeping us going as we hoped to eventually catch her. That's mostly who we saw for the grand majority of the race! That's it! the rest were far ahead. The people who had signed up to race had been in it to win it! There were not the hoards of amateurs like there are at American races.
The race was mostly flat, except for a couple of "fly-overs" a.k.a. bridges/overpasses. The sun came up in earnest at around 8 km, just over one third of the way there, and it got very hot. We did a pretty good job hydrating and got water at every station, but that sun was beating down and eventually my mouth tasted the dust. The ground here is red clay with a layer of sand/dust over top. For the most part, we were running right on the road, which they had marked with cones, but they had not closed the streets, so in a couple busier areas, we ran instead on the sidewalk so as not to be so close to the cars, especially since the field had thinned out so much. By about 14 km, an ambulance was passing us, stopping, then following us, clearly under instructions to clean up any stragglers. They may have picked up asthma man.
Finally, there were 5 km to go. My left hamstring was really starting to feel tight, and the sun was beating down. I was about ready to finish. Adrienne does not run as frequently as I do, so she preferred to do more of a walk-run method, but with my hamstring hurting, I just wanted to stay in my stride and finish. I looked ahead to the girl in the pink shirt and told Adrienne I was going to go for it and pass her. Within probably half a kilometer, I first passed a man in a black t-shirt who had fallen behind, but smiled when we exchanged hellos. Finally, going over the last fly-over, I passed the pink shirt, smiled, and said "almost!" which she repeated back to me. As I thought I had reached the turn to the finish, marked by cones and race officials, it turned out, we had to run a bit further and around to get to the finish line! It was tough, but it did give me the opportunity to pass two more people! I would have been more excited, but it was a man with a knee brace and his buddy, ha. Not exactly much to be proud of. As I finally hit the home stretch, I pumped my arms as I crossed the finish line. To my surprise, pink shirt was ahead of me! What! She explained that she could not take the last bit past the expected turn, she just needed to finish. I grabbed some water and watched Adrienne finish! The ambulance and a police man on a motorcycle followed her for the home stretch, hahaha, what an escort!
We celebrated our completion of this task with a big breakfast at one of the restaurants at Airport Junction Mall, which is quite nice. We laughed at how this race felt different from our previous races, but what an experience! We unfortunately did not get race t-shirts, which they did not have this year because, as one of the coordinators said, "our sponsor has disappointed us," but we did get Gabs 1/2 Marathon medals to commemorate the race. Pretty awesome day!
After going into the Ministry of Health Professions Council in Gaborone on Wednesday, to complete our orientation and our registration as physicians for a temporary Botswana medical license, while driving home, Adrienne and I saw a sign for the Gaborone Half-Marathon. We were a little too far away to see any of the details, so that night, we googled it. Of course. Well, the official website said that there was a race this Sunday (today), but that registration had closed on February 28th. It also said to check their Facebook page, so we went ahead and did that, and lo and behold, they were accepting registrations until the next morning at 8 a.m.! They said to register online. Only problem, there was no link from the website... Hmmm... after a little more digging on the Facebook page, there was a link to register directly from there! So, we went ahead and registered, but could not figure out how to pay. Adrienne emailed the coordinators, who said they would accept payment at the race number pick-up on Saturday. It turns out, people were even registering on the day of, haha, strict deadlines.
Even before racing, Adrienne and I had started running about 3 miles a night whenever we got home earlier, which, last week, corresponded to the two days we did not have to go to Molepolole. I'm not sure how we'll manage to keep up on work days because we get home so close to sunset. To complete our preparation, we went for a nice walk on Saturday morning and ate a lot of pasta, which we washed down with "Energade," a knock-off Gatorade. We went to Airport Junction Mall, about 20 minutes away, to pick up our race packets. This mall was also the start and finish line for the race itself. They also offered a 5K and a 10K, but Adrienne and I decided to go all out.
Early, early this morning, we set off with our trusty cab driver, Samson ("no matata," which means "no problem"), at 4:45 a.m. to make it to the start line for our 5:30 a.m. planned start. Well, we were about the third people to arrive ha. The coordinators were still setting up signs. So, we tightened our shoes, fastened our race numbers and chips, and tried to get warm. When we met, it was about 55 degrees and dark. About 120 people signed up for the half-marathon (21K), my best guess according to race numbers I saw. A lot more for the 5K and 10K, though these races started after ours. At 5:40 a.m., we gathered into the starting pen and took off! There were a fair amount of women running, almost half, and only a few other foreigners. There was a lot of representation from a Gaborone running club called "Striders." At this time, it was still dark, and light was just beginning to shine on the horizon. The sun rose at 6:15 a.m.
At the starting gate, ready to go!
Racers gathering
In looking around at our competition, we could tell that we had absolutely no chance. There were not many truly amateur runners, only a few. There were some who had clearly trained with their running club, then there were some crazy-good runners, which made me wonder if their national team runners participated. We quickly settled toward the back of the pack within the first few kilometers. Every now and then, someone who had arrived late to the race would pass us, including one incredible runner who was kicking his heels and making great time. He was a contender. Adrienne and I, for several kilometers, were in last place! We laughed as we realized we were losing the race.
Sunrise in Gaborone
There was one man with whom we were neck-and-neck for a while. As we passed him one time, he told us that he was an asthmatic who had forgotten his inhaler! A medic was on the way, apparently, but we still did not feel particularly proud of ourselves for passing him. He passed us a bit later and stayed ahead for a while, but we eventually passed him for good around 13 kilometers. I do not think he finished. There was another woman in a bright pink shirt who was occasionally walking (like we were, mostly at the water breaks every 3 kilometers). She was within our line of sight the entire way, keeping us going as we hoped to eventually catch her. That's mostly who we saw for the grand majority of the race! That's it! the rest were far ahead. The people who had signed up to race had been in it to win it! There were not the hoards of amateurs like there are at American races.
The race was mostly flat, except for a couple of "fly-overs" a.k.a. bridges/overpasses. The sun came up in earnest at around 8 km, just over one third of the way there, and it got very hot. We did a pretty good job hydrating and got water at every station, but that sun was beating down and eventually my mouth tasted the dust. The ground here is red clay with a layer of sand/dust over top. For the most part, we were running right on the road, which they had marked with cones, but they had not closed the streets, so in a couple busier areas, we ran instead on the sidewalk so as not to be so close to the cars, especially since the field had thinned out so much. By about 14 km, an ambulance was passing us, stopping, then following us, clearly under instructions to clean up any stragglers. They may have picked up asthma man.
Almost done! 16 km complete!
Finally, there were 5 km to go. My left hamstring was really starting to feel tight, and the sun was beating down. I was about ready to finish. Adrienne does not run as frequently as I do, so she preferred to do more of a walk-run method, but with my hamstring hurting, I just wanted to stay in my stride and finish. I looked ahead to the girl in the pink shirt and told Adrienne I was going to go for it and pass her. Within probably half a kilometer, I first passed a man in a black t-shirt who had fallen behind, but smiled when we exchanged hellos. Finally, going over the last fly-over, I passed the pink shirt, smiled, and said "almost!" which she repeated back to me. As I thought I had reached the turn to the finish, marked by cones and race officials, it turned out, we had to run a bit further and around to get to the finish line! It was tough, but it did give me the opportunity to pass two more people! I would have been more excited, but it was a man with a knee brace and his buddy, ha. Not exactly much to be proud of. As I finally hit the home stretch, I pumped my arms as I crossed the finish line. To my surprise, pink shirt was ahead of me! What! She explained that she could not take the last bit past the expected turn, she just needed to finish. I grabbed some water and watched Adrienne finish! The ambulance and a police man on a motorcycle followed her for the home stretch, hahaha, what an escort!
Adrienne crossing the finish line! Note the ambulance on the right.
We did it!
We celebrated our completion of this task with a big breakfast at one of the restaurants at Airport Junction Mall, which is quite nice. We laughed at how this race felt different from our previous races, but what an experience! We unfortunately did not get race t-shirts, which they did not have this year because, as one of the coordinators said, "our sponsor has disappointed us," but we did get Gabs 1/2 Marathon medals to commemorate the race. Pretty awesome day!
How I felt at the finish
Gabs 1/2 Marathon Finishers
Epic racing you two! You're both 'striders' in my book.
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