“Every morning in Africa a Gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. In Africa it doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or a gazelle- when the sun comes up you better be running.” Roger Bannister paraphrased from Born to Run by Christopher McDougall.

When the gun went off on Sunday I just wanted to go out at a reasonable pace and keep my cadence high and stride optimal. I felt ok and ended up running at a fair pace up Rhodes Mem. Nothing too hectic. Then the cheering crowds and fellow club members on the way down. The sharp right turn along towards Newlands Forest. Then suddenly silence. I could not hear the footfall of the runner in front of me. I could not hear my breath or my heartbeat. Nothing. And yes I was still alive. I had hit the zone so hard it jolted me awake. I kicked into overdrive and just ran, flying more like it, hardly touching the ground. Just fantastic.

The fealing only lasted about 4km and it was still a few kms to the end. I had to work rather hard to maintain from here on out but I did not really care what happened.