As I stood in Parque Central at 6:30am on a Sunday morning, surrounded by thousands of other enthusiastic contestants performing all manner of strange warm-ups and stretches (I’ve devided that this is a tactic to put the opposition off – the stranger the move, the more professional you look), with a Guatemalan reggaeton version of Don’t Worry, Be Happy blaring through loud speakers, I wondered if life really did get any better than than this. And I decided that even if I didn’t finish the race, just being there to experience this moment was worth the effort.
Registration, 6am Sunday morning
Making new friends with the other runners as we all crowded together at the start line, I could definitely understand why people participated in these things: the feeling of being a part of something bigger, the comraderie that comes from undertaking the same challenge or difficult experience is just not one that is common in most of our day-to-day lives. I couldn’t stop smiling, and I definitely wasn’t the only one.
However, that smile and feeling of excitement soon started to turn into consternation as we were released from the starting line and the slow close-bodied shuffle eased into a run as people started to move out…I was fairly certain that everyone seemed to be running past me, and I started to feel worried that maybe this running idea wasn’t the wisest one I’d ever had. But I wasn’t really prepared to spend the next few hours thinking about what a mistake I’d made, and so moved my thoughts instead to thinking about why I had decided to do this – for Project Seres – and to all the people that had believed in both me and the Project and generously sponsored me to run this half- marathon. It didn’t matter if I crossed over the finish line hours after everyone else, I was doing this for something that I, and a bunch of other people, believed in.
Pre-Race Preparations
After the first leg of the journey out of Antigua to Jocotenango (about 5km), the part of the race that I enjoyed the most began. From Jocotenango, we turned and spent the next 10km running towards the beautiful volcanoes that rise so majestically to the south and south west of Antigua. With this majestic site ahead of me, and the streets lined with enthusiastic supporters cheering us on, I found that I just ran. Without thinking about what I was doing, I let myself get caught up in the moment – the music, the noise, the cold water hosed over us, the sun overhead – and suddenly we were 5km from the end, and it was now my turn to pass people by.
3km out from the finish line
Thinking only of the cold beer at the end of it all (Guatemala had put on a beautiful but very hot day for the marathon), I was lucky enough to catch site of a friend of mine waiting a few kms before the end – who managed to snatch a photo as I ran past. In the bar later, Pete reprimanded me that 3km before the end of a half-marathon, I shouldn’t really have been running along with a huge smile and throwing out the victory sign as I ran past him. Maybe he was right. The last few blocks to the finish line, I found the energy to sprint to the end, crossing over at exactly the same time as a women that I had been following the last 5km. I am sure it was a glorious finish, and was a little saddened that noone was there to see it. Official time: 2hrs 7mins – and I’m sure the burst at the end made all the difference!
My first half-marathon finished, as I wandered around Parque Central enjoying the post-race festivities I was already planning the next one. It’s a great experience and a worthy personal challenge and, most importantly of all through the generosity of Project Seres’ supporters, we managed to raise over $1,100 towards the Aquaponics Project! To those of you that did donate and pledge money to Project Seres, my sincerest thanks and deepest gratitude.
Just in time, I also finished off all the construction for the prototype, and the day after the marathon I got the system up and running – I have uploaded a short video of it all working, which you can see my clicking on the link below…and hopefully in a few months we will have great photos of healthy tilapia and green vegetables.
Thankyou again,
Corrina
