Around the middle of Febuary, a conversation went something like this
“Hey, wanna run a half marathon?”
Me: “That sounds hard.”
“No, it'll be fine.”
Me: “Ok.”
Following that conversation, I downloaded a training plan, followed it (sorta), and ran 21km in Rabat on Sunday. Here's the list of awesome things that happened:
-It was well organized. AND it started on time. Those two things rarely happen in this country, and so I was pleasantly surprised.
-People cheered you on through the whole course. The best was a group of kids standing outside their school with their hands our for high-fives. Second best was the yells of “Good Job Mademoiselle”
-There was a disproportionate number of men to women- Probably about 80%-85% men.
-It was GREAT to run outside, in shorts, with all the other competitors. There were over 2,000 people there from all over the world, all united by a common goal.
-Rabat is a beautiful city. Right on the beach, and we ran past what was literally a castle with botanical gardens inside. You really get to see a lot of a city running 13.1 miles through it.
AND THE BEST PART....
-I, formerly know as “weannie D'Jeannie”, finished in 2 hours and 16 minutes, only 6 minutes slower than I hoped for. I had never perviously run that far, nor had I trained for any sort of time-trial. And it felt good.
Hi! I am looking for "running mates" in Rabat. Do you have any suggestion? I have just moved in and would like to start running ASAP, but not alone. Any idea ill welcome :)
ReplyDelete