NMC Fast 3 in 1

 

Liz and I really enjoy this race, we stay at the same place every time and it is just so peaceful and quiet.

Martine from Midrand Striders joined us again and did the 21. We drove down on Friday, collected our numbers and off to out Accom for a relaxing evening, good braai, with a little rain and  some wine... It is really difficult getting up and 2:45, but once up the adrenaline takes over. 

Caught the bus to the start which was further along the road to Sabie as the finish was now at Riverside Mall and not the stadium so no more heartbreak hill. Met up with the Dollenbergs ( ex Midrand) on the start line and had a bit of catchup, they ran together and did comfortable sub 4's, must be amazing to actually be an athlete. 

I asked Liz to stay with me to halfway but after 10km I realised that the 2:15 goal was not going to happen, I offered Liz the option to go ahead but she stayed with me. In the past I have done more running training but felt that  it affected me too much so did not run much this year. I felt this lack of training and needed to take it easy.  I only ever run the downs, knowing the route helps as I tend to start walking at very similar spots very time.

Liz got me to half way in 2:21 then took off like a rocket, eventually completing her first ever negative split which was really awesome.. I carried at sub 7 feeling mostly good but I could feel the camber quite a bit and on along stretch down to 30km I suddenly felt a twinge in my knee, so moved closer to the edge  of the road which was  more level. I walked quite a but down teh hill, knowing we had some climbing ahead , I felt I was walking well so kept on keeping on. 

Nearer the end I was able to jog again , Race screen    (https://apps.garmin.com/apps/6a30651b-ca67-41a5-96dc-60634983fc93) is awesome as you can correct the pace, in my case I clicked a lap at 20 to go, which corrected the watch to be 20km at 20.2 which gave me a slight buffer. The only issue I have is that some times from the 42km mark it can be 400+ m to the finish line but it was not in  this case , even though my watch ended on 42.5km I was still safely home in time. Qualifier done. 

Liz was 2nd in age category for the marathon, Martine was 2nd in age category in the 21 and I qualified,  very successful day all round!

We will be back...