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702 Walk the Talk

25 July 2010


Belinda and i did the 15km part of the 702 walk the talk. The day started off really early with me waking up at 4:15 to be at Belinda’s gran’s (Dawn’s) house by 4:45. We set off to Kieran’s house (Dawn’s son) as he was providing us with a lift to the venue. Four of us squished into the back as Kieran and his fiancée, Nancy took the front. We got dropped off at the corner of Emmerentia, and not realizing that he was going back home had to whip off my tracksuit quickly in the car. The morning wasn’t too cold, despite being 6am, so i didn’t mind being in shorts. We took a walk up the hill to the start, which was about 1km away. Dawn set off at 6:30 doing the 30km walk. Belinda and i hung around at the start for an hour, watching all the late 30km walkers running to the start and start walking once they got to the banner. The crowds for the 15km came with 30 minutes before our start, and the mood was set. To get warm and our heart rates going, Black Eyed Peas, I gotta Feeling played loudly as the crowd jumped up and down, waving hands in the air. Away we went.... After about 3km, there was a water point and people throwing t-shirts. I decided to go to the tables and take a shirt, but this ended up in me almost getting stampeded on. The lady on the other side of the table saw me and reached out at me with a shirt- success! My friend wasn’t able to get one though, and we lost each other for a few minutes through the fight. After a quick phone call we were on our way. The route was interesting and incorporated bits and pieces of routes like Pirates, Wobblers hat race and a Edgars Women day race i did a few years ago, so at times i felt like a bit of a tour guide pointing these things out- “oh, look it’s zoo lake....” Along the way i realized that walking, even casual, is hard work, and could feel muscles i don’t normally use for running, every up hill was a pain in the hips and butt.
The greatest moment though was crossing the finish line and being able to sit after 2 hours 34 minutes. After stretching for a bit, we went in search of something sweet to eat and drink (coffee), then sat at the finish watching the hoards finish. I decided this was the perfect time to try maintain my tan i obtained in Denmark, and whipped off my shirt to lie on the grass. At odd times i would look up and see people looking my way or even Belinda looking at me funny- i remembered South Africans don’t just take their tops off in public like that. This didn’t worry me though and continued lying there until Dawn finished before putting my top back on. We listened to live entertainment for an hour, and it was pretty good, but at that time all i wanted to do was sleep and not party! After the entertainment ended, we headed back down the road and waited for Kieran to take us home. We eventually arrived home at 5:30.

It was a fun filled day, definitely something different, but it was the best feeling to put my sore and tired body to rest at the end of the day.

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