The Pirates half marathon road race pretty much mirrored the kind of week I had last week. A Runner’s Guide difficulty rating of 5 (the worst you get!) it’s an extremely hard route that features a run over Northcliff Hill. It is tough going up and jarring coming down. The race is characterized by three epic hills with names such as ‘Kakhuis Een’ and ‘Kakhuis Twee’, and the road is spray painted with the words ‘Oh Sh1t!’ to make you humorously acknowledge that perhaps crawling on your knees would be faster than trying to run.

Ironically, the race did not scare me as much as I thought it would. With my two running buddies (Running Junkies) alongside me, there was never a doubt that I wouldn’t finish the race. My week had been challenging in a similar way with lots of moments where I was thrown out of my comfort zone, forced to take on challenges that my mind immediately conned me into thinking I wouldn’t succeed. But I did. I really did. 

Pirates 21.1km. Just saying…