It’s the final count down to Cape Town Marathon and I have a sore throat. It could be an imaginary symptom arising from maranoia or it could be real. I think it’s real because it’s been doing its rounds - that swine sore throat.
I am busy sipping on a concoction of honey, lemon, grated ginger and cayenne pepper which hopefully is going to burn the shit out of anything lurking in my body. I am also taking double doses of Efferflu C with vitamin C, zinc, echinacea and vitamin D. Surely to goodness any self-respecting sore throat would pack its bags and F*** Off.
To make matters worse I was chased by a pack of angry bees on the weekend and one of my stings was on the forehead between my eyes. I have NEVER had such itchy eyes. My eyesight is not good on a good day but is now quite awful - at least there are apparently 21000 runners that I can follow!
I’ve been feeling really down about all of this but as I put words to paper I feel more positive - the mysterious “they” are right - nothing beats putting your thoughts into words. Once they are out there, they feel less dark.
Anyway, back to the marathon. I am seeded in Y batch - there are batches A to Z leaving in 2-minute waves and my predicted seeded time is 6:06. I pray they are right but think they may be a touch optimistic. I will give up my right to new running shoes this coming year if I can just finish in time - and for someone whose greatest excitement is new running shoes, that is huge!
I have been listening to Coach Parry’s advice on YouTube re the route and the pacing and have even ordered myself a pacing chart for a finish time of 6:20. It’s been a long build up with many blips along the way, but here goes - I WILL get better and I WILL run that marathon!