**This is my first blog post as I begin a journey to 17 races in 2017. For an introduction to who I am and why I am doing this, please click here**

My first race was a 5km trail run on the 4th February 2017. Since January, I have been following a walk-run programme and two weeks ago, I joined a pilates class twice a week. I usually run when I get back from work on a treadmill as the kids are too young to be left alone, but where I can – I squeeze in a run outside. What a difference there is between the two! By the time the race came, I had really not trained as much as I would have liked but I had a good run on Thursday where I managed to run consistently for 3 km (around 21 minutes).

The Race: I felt surprisingly good at 04:20 in the morning when I woke up. The weather was cool and humid as we had enjoyed some light showers overnight.  We had a nice aerobics warm up session at the Wharic Rugby Grounds and we set off at 06:22.

I managed to jog for the first 2.5 km (at a pace of between 7.52 min/km and 8.34 min/km). However, it was most definitely a struggle. I have never run on a trail before so although there were not a lot of ups and downs, the surface was uneven and I was probably a bit too cautious. I also struggled to breathe properly and started getting exhausted way sooner than I expected I would. The route though was absolutely beautiful. The rain over night meant that the track was not as dusty as it otherwise would have been. It was beautifully green which is not a common sight in Gaborone, and we ran up a section which allowed us to catch a glimpse of the Gaborone Dam. There were also lots of cattle and donkeys along the way.

At around 2.5 km I found myself on my own. Many people were doing the 12 km race, and those doing the 5 km one like I was were either way ahead of me, or way behind. Trouble struck when I missed the 5 km turn that would have taken me home. So I ended up redoing parts of the path I had started with. I panicked when I realised that something was wrong but then decided to backtrack as far as I could until I saw the turn-off for home. By then I had lost so much time and when I finished the race, I had actually covered 6.11 km!

So it was not the best way to start my running journey. I am extremely disappointed, but I keep telling myself that at least I did it; plus I did an extra km and survived and as my cousin put it, “You got more than what you paid for!” 

Route: Started at Wharic Rugby Grounds and ran in the bush surrounding the area. (So from Point 3, I should have gone straight through to Point 6. But I went all the way to Point 4, then back to 5 then 1 and finally 6!)

My time: When I had done 5 km, it was around 44 min. Of course, by the time I finished the race it was a different story. So my final time was 53:53. (Thoroughly disappointed that I got so lost and ended in that time, but it can only get better from here!). My husband Ditiro did the 30km trail cycle in a time of  1:20. He was very pleased!

Lessons/Discoveries: 

1. Keep your eyes up when running so that you don’t miss any critical signs! This is a big lesson for me so early on in my running “career”
2. I need to learn how to breathe: I really struggled to breathe. I was already panting during the first km and I haven’t figured out how to time my breaths to the steps I take. Too inefficient and in the end I just felt like I was huffing and puffing. I have to work on this, otherwise, I may be struggling for a long time.
3. I run funny: I have a very strange running gait. Firstly, I am knock-kneed (which I knew) but when I run my “thigh internally rotates during ground contact” (thank you Dr Google) and on top of that (or maybe associated with that??) I have major over-pronation of the foot. So I need to figure out what I can do to fix this before I damage my knees.

Pros/ Cons of the race:

1. Lovely aerobics workout session in the morning. It reminded me of my aerobics days and definitely helped to warm me up.
2. Beautiful track – can’t emphasise this enough. A really scenic track with cows, donkeys and all! 🙂
3. 5km and 12km markings were the same green colour which seemed to contribute to some confusion on the track not just for me, but for others too. I think if they had been a different colour, then when I went off track I would have quickly noticed and turned around before adding a whole km to my run!
4. Signing up/ collecting packs for the race was a struggle as the organisers didn’t seem to know what was expected. The collection process took almost 2 hours!

Would I do this race again?

Yes! In a heartbeat – and this time I would probably try the 12 km race!

Till next time, keep fit!