We were invited by the mountain club of SA to a presentation by Nepal Tourism on a group of Nepalese woman who have set out to climb the 7 summits see www.sevensummitswomen.org for more. We could not turn this opportunity down, having been in the Kumba last year. So Namaste's were brought out of the closet, it was a great evening although they served us dinner around 9pm. A bit late for the night before race!! We ended up going to bed around 11:30pm. No Guinness this time!
The alarm sounded at 3:30, we got ready hoping to leave before 4:00am, I was not exactly sure where the start was but we entered the entrance gate I found on my gps and off we went. There are tow entrances, this was not the right one. I managed to find the other one on the GPS and off we went, a bit of dirt driving was fun but a shortcut none the less. The road in the reserve could not cope with cars parked on either side and traffic both ways so it took some time to find parking, then to sort out our entries,Liz wen to the loo and I said to meet back at the car. About 100 in front of me with mere minutes to the start, the helpers were struggling, many people could not find their numbers but they kept on searching. I saw our names on an envelope, being tall helps sometimes, grabbed them and gave them to the guy handing out our T shirts. I ran back top the car, it was only a few minutes before the start, got our numbers on, I have printed some labels without details on to save time. As we were leaving the car we heard the announcer I guessed the start was delayed. Others were still coming in to the car park. We made our way to the where we though he start was, where are all the runners? I stopped to tighten my shoes as my feet were moving around in my shoes. In the distance we see the leads runners nearly a 1km down the road.. no delayed start, start the watch and off we go. When I got to the 1k marker my watch was close enough to 1km to be happy I found the start.
This the profile, other than the up and down it has no correlation to the profile on the entry. Having some severe misgivings about the race , the organisers etc, by 5km I was really enjoying the race. I set out to do the downs at or below 7.00/km and to try and keep around 7:30 on the ups. I did however decide to keep it comfortable and not push too hard. I ended up going a bit slower than I hoped- my hopes were actually way too fast for this route. I find it amazing when doing a 52 how going through 21 or 32 or 42, which are normal race distances, does not feel like the end of the race, but just an achievement of a distance marker. I go to 21 in 2:34 which was good, 32 in 3:55 and 42 in 5:14, I was really happy with these times, but up to 35ks my average was still 7:22. It was from here onwards that my pace slowed. The hills contributed but also the lack of long distance training had an impact. I suppose that's why we do these longer races, to build up the required stamina.
It was encouraging to be able to leave many runners behind over the last 10ks, even when we drove out after finishing I saw numerous runners who I had passed during the race. Next major race is Loskop 50 on 20 April, there is the possibility of a 50k training walk on the 7th April, maybe a slow LSD there would be a good idea.
I really struggled with my shoe laces today, they were way too tight, I did not want my heels moving up and down. I tried stopping to loosen them and release the double know but then a few ks later the knots came loose, but were still tight over the top of my foot. I could feel they were really tight but did not want to loosen them too much.The tops of my feet, directly under the laces knot were pretty swollen after the race, they have gone down today but are still a little tender. I think these shoes are a narrower fit than my other pair of Kayanos. I will need to sort this out before my next long one as these are intended as my Comrades shoes...
Another race down, 248ks for the month so far can I get to 400? Time will tell
The alarm sounded at 3:30, we got ready hoping to leave before 4:00am, I was not exactly sure where the start was but we entered the entrance gate I found on my gps and off we went. There are tow entrances, this was not the right one. I managed to find the other one on the GPS and off we went, a bit of dirt driving was fun but a shortcut none the less. The road in the reserve could not cope with cars parked on either side and traffic both ways so it took some time to find parking, then to sort out our entries,Liz wen to the loo and I said to meet back at the car. About 100 in front of me with mere minutes to the start, the helpers were struggling, many people could not find their numbers but they kept on searching. I saw our names on an envelope, being tall helps sometimes, grabbed them and gave them to the guy handing out our T shirts. I ran back top the car, it was only a few minutes before the start, got our numbers on, I have printed some labels without details on to save time. As we were leaving the car we heard the announcer I guessed the start was delayed. Others were still coming in to the car park. We made our way to the where we though he start was, where are all the runners? I stopped to tighten my shoes as my feet were moving around in my shoes. In the distance we see the leads runners nearly a 1km down the road.. no delayed start, start the watch and off we go. When I got to the 1k marker my watch was close enough to 1km to be happy I found the start.
It was encouraging to be able to leave many runners behind over the last 10ks, even when we drove out after finishing I saw numerous runners who I had passed during the race. Next major race is Loskop 50 on 20 April, there is the possibility of a 50k training walk on the 7th April, maybe a slow LSD there would be a good idea.
I really struggled with my shoe laces today, they were way too tight, I did not want my heels moving up and down. I tried stopping to loosen them and release the double know but then a few ks later the knots came loose, but were still tight over the top of my foot. I could feel they were really tight but did not want to loosen them too much.The tops of my feet, directly under the laces knot were pretty swollen after the race, they have gone down today but are still a little tender. I think these shoes are a narrower fit than my other pair of Kayanos. I will need to sort this out before my next long one as these are intended as my Comrades shoes...
Another race down, 248ks for the month so far can I get to 400? Time will tell
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