Samoan 49th Independence Day Run

A couple of weeks ago Adam and I took part in the Samoan Independence annual Marathon /Half Marathon/10 km run. We have been training for this since the start of the year on and off, Adam more seriously than I. We rose at 5 am (yes this is true, even I!!) and headed to the start line in the pitch black of darkness. Bumped into a few other people we knew including some netballers who were running for Rotaract and a few touch rugby players. It was a cool day with a few clouds about which was a good thing and we hoped the torrential rain of the night before would hold off. At 6.30am on the dot the race began. I had to laugh at the two girls who got about 500 metres down the road and then discussed how much they didn't really like running and whether they should stop and walk!! 10km is a long way, made even longer if you feel this way.

The route started near the wharf and followed the main road up past Apia Park and around the coast line to the Head of State's residence and then back. Adam’s goal was to run it in under 55 minutes which he managed to achieve with 51:37 time and about a 5^th place which was only seconds behind the 3^rd and 4^th place getters. Not too bad considering he had only just got back from Canada and hadn't run for more than a week. My goal was to plod the whole way and not stop to walk. I did manage to achieve this and slowly passed many of the other girls along the way. At the turn around I had noticed I was coming about the 4^th girl and surprise, surprise I passed number 3 within a kilometre of the finish line as she seemed to slow down her pace a lot. So I made it home in 3^rd place and won us a voucher to our favourite Italian restaurant – Giordanos!! Yippee. Have to say this is the first and probably the last running award I will win in my lifetime. It’s taken 40 years and it seems that if you want to get a place it’s a good idea to pick the right race to run in!!!

We hung around after this as knew Adam’s friend Slava from Russia was running in the marathon. Low and behold he blitzed the field and came in first, in 3 ½ hours looking fresh as a daisy and as if he could go further!!! Good one Slava very well done. Slava works for the Animal Protection Society in Samoa and it’s good to see him back in the country. After the race and the prize giving we found him jogging home which admittedly was not far, to Aggie Greys, however is the guy mad?!!!!