A year ago if anyone had told me that I would be standing on my own on the side of Main Road handing out baby potatoes to the Peninsula marathon runners I would have shaken my head in disbelief and laughed uproariously.
And yet that’s exactly where I found myself at 08:30 AM on the morning of Sunday, 19 February this year.
To be fair, I wasn’t entirely on my own – I had Fiji at my side and we landed up chatting to a really nice lady photographer who was shooting the race. And besides, there were thousands of runners participating in both the half and full marathons, so I definitely wasn’t alone!
It’s the first time I ever got to cheer Craig on in person during a marathon. Seldom do the routes of his races bring him anywhere near home so it was pretty special being out there seeing him run past… okay, hearing him run past.
And, since I was there I took the opportunity of handing out some race fuel to some of the other runners who streamed past us. I couldn’t believe how fast the 2 kg stock of baby potatoes disappeared!
I certainly won’t forget the many words of thanks or the often humorous comments made by runners as they slowed down and reached for a potato –especially the marriage proposal I got. It’s amazing how marathon runners can find energy to crack a joke 26 km into a marathon! Yet lots of them do so
The photo is of Peter, a marathon runner who raises funds for the South African Guide-dogs Association through his running, who happened to run past as Fiji and I were there.
Talking of Fiji, I have absolutely no idea what she thought of the whole experience. Several times I caught her staring at the approaching runners in fascination and then turning to peer down the road as they disappeared off into the distance, twitching her ears in perplexity at this strange human behaviour.
I guess I’ll have to add it to the ever increasing list of times I’d love to be able to read my guide dog’s mind… or maybe not!
