A half marathon in Joburg. Have a shower, get on a plane, 16 hours later, get off the plane, run a half marathon in Washington DC. This style of life is becoming the norm and trust me... it's far from easy and not even remotely glamorous.

The need to run... wherever I am

My working life takes me all over the world. Whilst this sounds quite glamorous, the reality is that constant travel really isn't that exciting after a while - especially when I am meant to be training almost every day. I seemingly spent half my life in a plane, taxi or hotel which makes a consistent training schedule almost impossible. Consequently, I have just had to embrace the randomness of my location and run... wherever that may be.

Now, this isn't alwasy easy. Some places I work (and where I live for that matter) I most definitely can't go running whenever or wherever I want. Take Nigeria for example, I have armed bodyguards with me outside Lagos and Victoria islands and am otherwise locked away in my hotel. So I am on a mind numbing treadmill more often than I am outside.

Back to back intercontinental half marathons

A half marathon nowadays sadly constitutes a short run (something I never thought I would say!). My minimum distance for a single run is 21.1km over a weekend, so if I am travelling, I have figured I just have to make it work somehow.

So, this week was a good example, I did my standard half around Joburg in the sun (and it is getting nice and hot now!), went back home, packed my bag for the week, went to the airport, flew the 16 hours to DC, got off the plane, went to my friend's place, ate an omelette and went out for another run. I actually know DC pretty well and actually do know where I am going. A rare thing happened though... something that I don't think has happened before. I actually enjoyed this run...

It was a stunning day, crisp, but not too cold, bright sunshine and not too many people about. I got to run around the mall, the Lincoln monument, the tidal basin, the Jefferson and Washington monuments, Capitol hill... and a few more laps. What was REALLY rare was that after about 15km (all I was planning to do), I voluntarily decided to actually carry on and push it up to a half marathon. I felt good and looking down at my watch I came in at 1.38 without really trying.

A strange feeling and I am hoping it will be one that lasts as the mileage goes up and up each week.