My first alarm went off at 1:50am and by 2am we were in the car and on the road. We arrived at the race site by 5, giving us just enough time to check in at registration, use the restroom and get ourselves prepared. My host mom gave me a big, warm hug and we wished each other good luck [she was running the 5k]. The gun went off at precisely 5:30 and away I ran!
The SuperSpar marathon in Bela Bela was a race of contrasts. The first 20km or so was pretty flat and I was feeling good about it. It would be quite misleading to any runners that hadn’t already studied the course map for elevation gains. I was constantly checking my posture and making sure my alignment was good. I knew that if I was kind to my…
I had no idea what I was in for. I’ve ran may races, everything from 5K to half marathon; but no amount of training could equip me to tackle this beast.
In order to prepare – I started asking around to find others who were running or had ran it before. I knew that a full 26.2 miles would be like nothing I had ever experienced.
I found a girl in 1 of my classes who would also be running, this is her 5th year! Here I was – a marathon virgin – and I had a 5 year veteran marathoner sitting next to me. I picked her brain, asking her everything about it. I wanted the insider tips- from preparation, to diet, to the actual race, and how to recover after.
There’s a right way to run a marathon, and a lot of wrong ways to do it. I felt armed and ready after all that she shared with me.
This experience mirrors the way I have found myself passing on EDC knowledge to future EDC headliners. I’ve had many friends ask me about my EDC experiences because they too want to go one day and want to be fully prepared.
EDC can be a truly amazing, or a not-so-positive, carnival depending on one’s interest in learning, preparing, and executing all the how-to’s for the best possible EDC experience.
Stay tuned for the ultimate how-to guide for surviving EDC …
Inside the Dark Minds of Koko and Airec 