Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Run for [it]!

Run for [it]!

And we all know what [it] is, right? If you're not sure, well neither am I. But that is the theme for this year's MTN Kampala Marathon that will take place on the 22nd November. I'm registered for the full 42 km marathon. (What was I thinking?)

Training has not been so bad this time around; in fact, I'm quite enjoying it. I was pretty sick of running at this stage of training two years ago, before my first marathon. I guess I know what to expect, physically and mentally, and that makes training easier because I've done it all before. Ironically, it was remembering the time, exhaustion and discomfort of training 2007 that made it difficult for me to commit to this year's marathon.

Oh, and speaking of the marathon and all the training (about 20 weeks I'd say) that is required for the average human being that does not possess any super-human genes, MTN, the organiser, finally got around to promoting the event and announcing the new route. And in the announcement, Mr. Isaac Nsereko, chief marketing officer for MTN said:

“Our vision is to make it the best and most organised event in Africa and that is why we are coming up with so many changes."

Too late. Take a tip from your fellow marathon organisers (like the Two Oceans Marathon in South Africa) and get the date of the event out there well in advance. 22nd November has been sprinkled in a few newspaper articles and other reports since mid-August, but nothing ever seemed like an official announcement to the general public. Plus, the marathon's website has not been updated to include information on this year's event. In 2007, the date of the MTN Kampala Marathon was available several months in advance. I remember it being announce some time in July.

Registration has only been open for about one week, and MTN is already reporting over 6000 entrants. That's pretty amazing, I'd say.

See you in the corral.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I'm 9/16 weeks down in my training -- Marathon Dec 5th!!! This weekend is 18 miles!