A dream come true

I've been giddy with excitement for the past two weeks, but I didn't want to share anything before I was absolutely sure that everything was in place.  I've since received confirmation, though, and can now finally share my thrilling news: I got a spot in the Skukuza Castle Lager Half Marathon to be held in August 2013 in the Kruger National Park!!!  Can you stand the excitement?!  I'm not sure I can.

[Source.]

I've been trying to get into this race for years - not only is it a once in a lifetime opportunity to run a race inside of the world renowned Kruger National Park, but I also have very fond memories of our annual family holiday trips to the park growing up.  When I close my eyes I can literally still smell the thatched roofs and hear the Guinea Fowl racketing in the background - gooooood, good memories.

Fun memories with my mom and dad at the Kruger National Park. Yes, we're silly like
that :) .

We'll see how the training goes, but I'm thinking that this might also be the perfect opportunity to shoot for a new half-marathon PB (with all that extra adrenaline from keeping an eye out for lions and elephants, you know...?)  A part of the race is run in the park itself (i.e. outside of the fenced-in Skukuza rest camp area), with a whole group of game rangers and a helicopter scouting the area for game and keeping runners safe...  

Exciting times ahead!