Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.

Allen Saunders – 1957

The Wings for Life World Run 2024 happened this past Sunday (5 May 2024) – The local start time for South Africa runners was 1pm (A hot clear day in Johannesburg made for a tougher run)

Some improvement

I did improve on my 2023 distance by more than a km, but did not remotely achieve my planned goal of 25km:

I did highlight some personal concerns when I set my goal of over 20km for my run, but at the time I was still confident in my ability to push on the day and achieve a reasonable result.

Circumstances

I went for my annual health checkup on the Tuesday prior to the run, and without thought got my annual flu vaccination – this year’s shot put me, unexpectedly, on my back with flu symptoms for the next two days and on Saturday I was still feeling the effects.

My dad was checked into hospital on the Friday morning – while he was okay enough to be checked out on the Sunday – this added stress to the run and changed the planned location of the run – it also made the start of the run very tight.

Two of my four huskies had a serious altercation with a porcupine on Saturday afternoon, requiring an urgent and costly vet visit.

The alternative route used on the day turned out to be a lot hillier than the original planned route, making for a much tougher loop for the day.

High work stress and lack of sleep in the weeks leading up to the run also contributed to a lacklustre result.

Excuses aside

I still had a satisfactory (if very hot) run on Sunday and I am happy that I improved some over my previous years result. Maybe by next year I will have a better understanding of my own abilities and will be able to put together a more reasonable plan for the 2025 Wings for Life run and stick to it.

If you are interested in participating, entries are already open: https://www.wingsforlifeworldrun.com/en/registration/app/register