Yep, that’s me and Haile.
The bare facts: I ran my first ever half marathon in Hawassa, came third out of non-elite women, and met Haile Gabre Selassie who presented me with a certificate.
The explanation: So, obviously I’m pretty proud of myself that I even finished the race, as beforehand I was rather nervous about it. And with a time of 2 hours and 37 seconds, I’m also pretty pleased with myself! But as most of you have figured, this isn’t exactly a “3rd place” kind of time!
Running friends
The race was the first major marathon in Ethiopia – with a country full of amazing runners, it’s strange that there’s not an international marathon competition. So this year they decided to host one in Hawassa. Now, most of the competitors (other than the elite runners) were from America, on like a package tour of Ethiopia, with the race as part of it. Because of it being the first ever marathon, and because most runners came across half the world, most of the registered runners did the full marathon. Just checking the results, only 24 women actually ran the half marathon. It’s a shame that there weren’t more Ethiopian non-elite runners, hopefully that will increase in the years to come.
Post race party
For me, the run was good but definitely difficult, and my legs definitely wanted to stop working for most of the last part. Thankfully most of it was flat. I had to walk for a few hundred metres near the end, and the last kilometre, although it was downhill and tempting to push for sub 2 hours, I was mainly concentrating on just staying upright. I have to say I’m completely indebted to Francis who ran with me the whole way and kept me going!
The rest of the day was spent eating pretty much everything in sight, and hanging out with lovely people in beautiful Hawassa. A great day!
Debiopia 