The world of Ali and Becs

Hello, sweet friends! I write to you today--my debut on this blog--as an official survivor of the 2009 Two Oceans half-marathon. Wooohoo!! I have blisters on both sides of each feet, a sunburned cheek, and knees that forced me to swallow a few Aleeve before I sat down to write this...but I am alive. And very proud of myself! Those of you that know me best know that I grew up a volleyball player--that & that alone was my sport. And then one magical day in seventh grade, I began going on short runs in my fancy forest-green Adidas windbreaker (ha!) down Clay Street...mostly just to catch a glimpse of my current crush, Wes Flowers, playing outside with his pet dog. But surprisingly enough, when my crush on Wes faded months later, my love of running did not. In college, I completed my first 5 & 1ok runs, and now most recently my first half-marathon. I have never thought of myself as a "runner"--I don't have a runner's body & I certainly haven't been in the game for very long, but I will tell you this: after running this half, my stereotype of "runners" has been shattered and re-defined. When a 70+ year-old man ran past me full-speed up Southern Cross drive and a 200lb.+ woman jogged alongside me for a few k's before eventually running ahead, I decided I had to let go of those pre-conceived notions of what a runner is to me. Anyone can be a runner, and today that anyone is me.

My goal was to finish the grueling 21.1 kilometers in under three hours and I did just that--crossing the finish line, hand-in-hand with Ali, at 2hours & 55 minutes. There are different time brackets for medals and if you come in after 3hours, sorry pal--no medal for you. Hence my push to finish in the 2hr mark. In between 2 and 3 hours gets you a bronze medal, so that's what we got. Your time is hardly counted after 3hours, as everyone is busy preparing for the first of the ultra marathon (56kilometers) runners to finish. This was Ali's fourth year running the half & to be truthful, his worst time yet because he was a sweet boyfriend & stuck with me the whole time. When I wanted to die the last 2ks up the hill to UCT, he was still trotting alongside me whispering "come on! almost there!" So! I am happy to have completed this great dream & journey. It was also so nice to see a few familiar faces along the way--Lyndsay (a fellow REACH tutor) was handing out water sachets with her church group & cheered us on, and my best friend Namita's house was actually ON the running route, so she was sitting at the edge of her driveway with a cup of coffee yelling our names as we ran by! I stood out a bit since international runners have bright orange running names & numbers, and just as I was about to cross the finish line, the announcer says "and here we have Rebecca Ponder from Norway!!" I had to laugh--I had asked for Ali's help with 2 long braids this morning, so apparently I looked Norwegian with them..a compliment I happily took!

This race was such a test of mindfulness & inner strength--certainly that more than physical. Had it not been for the jabbing stitch in my right side (I think I over-hydrated) or those painful blisters on my feet, I could have done a few minutes better. But I won't complain! Ali & I were two of 20,000 runners and not until about 5ks into the race did the "pack" thin out enough for us to actually have breathing room to enjoy ourselves. There was a full moon Friday night, so we were able to enjoy the beauty of that over the mountains as the sun began to rise around 7:30--halfway thru the run. Ali forgot to tuck his camera into his shorts, so unfortunately we don't have pics of us actually running the race--just a few of us recovering with our medals afterwards. So please enjoy what we have to offer below! One half-marathon down, many more to go...

Lots of love- Becca & Ali