Ticha has many labels – my bestie’s husband, a phenomenal father of two boys, my friend and brother, and a blogger extraordinaire. He is now also my Johannesburg Race Correspondent and will be guest blogging on “The Gaborone Runner” throughout the year. 

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I’ve been inspired to start running again because of my sister Shathiso. She told me about her plan to run 17 races in 2017, which I thought was a great idea. Shathiso is new to running, has little experience but has determination and organization as part of her genetic makeup. So far, she has completed three 10k races including smashing her personal best in the process! So I figured if Shathiso can do 17, the least I can do should be a minimum of 12 races this year (one per month I figured).

Before I tell you about my first race of the year, let me tell you about my last race. 1 March 2015 – I arrived at the start of the Hyundai Rock the Run 10k race. I arrived early and, as I was by myself, took a couple of pics on my phone and found a decent place near the start line.

I had no race strategy other than “keep running” and as the gun went off we started the race. Now, in most races, if you start in the middle or at the back you spend the first 1-2 kilometres weaving through the fun runners and walkers – as I started near the front, I had a clear road ahead and set off really quick (I didn’t realize how quick until I looked at my GPS long after the race – I ran a 5:36/km, 5:09/km and a 4:43/km! The first 3 kms were flat and downhill but as we all know “every action has an equal, and opposite, reaction”.

From 4-8 km, my pace slowed to a more normal average of 6:30/km as we went into the up hills and then I slowed right down to a 9/km as I started to run out of gas. At precisely 9.7 km, my legs finally gave in and literally buckled underneath me. My race was over and I had to get the medics to take a look at me.

Which brings us to 26 February 2017 and the Deloitte Pretoria 10k. This time I had done some (okay, minimal) training before the race, in running 6.7 km in my neighborhood a week before. The traffic was insane getting to the venue and I finally managed to find parking about 1.5 km from the start, which served as a warm up for the race!

I didn’t manage to collect my race number during the week, so I had to get to the registration tent to collect that. After all that, I was still at the start line with a good 15 minutes to spare. I managed to find a decent spot about 200m from the start line, and then it was a matter of waiting for the race to start.

My strategy this time was to keep it slow and steady – I don’t have a watch to keep monitoring my pace – and make sure I still had gas in the tank for the last stretch of the race. The route meandered through the leafy Pretoria suburbs and was not too bad at all – there were the obligatory hills but nothing as bad as the ones Shathiso and Ditiro encountered in their Mini Monster!

I was feeling quite strong all the way to the 8 km mark, and then there was an undulating uphill until just after 9 km which I really battled through.  When I cleared the hill it was all downhill/flat to the finish line but it was a monumental struggle for me. My breathing was ok, but my legs felt like lead and each step was a gargantuan effort to complete. I focused on literally putting one foot in front of the other to get to the finish line.

I was pleasantly surprised that I finished in a new personal best of 1:05, considering that I battled through that last kilometre. Looking at my splits I had a nearly identical time of roughly 6:30/km for 1-9 kilometres. That 9-10 km was a split of 7:21/km!

So now I need to register for my next race, so I can keep pace with Shathiso who is hitting them out the park at the moment!

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