It was so great to do a marathon with absolutely no pressure. Having qualified at Madmac I sort of decided to try for a marathon PB at Kaapsehoop.
However I had severe set back when I fell on a walk on the Wed after Madmac. I have never fallen like this, i think it was on a slight downhill and my right foot got caught up in a piece of strapping tap. Before I could react I was horizontal, managed to get my palms to break my fall, rolled onto my elbow which hit my ribs, then caught hip and shoulder. I finished the 10km but then felt all the pain and stiffness.
My ribs only hurt initally when coughing and or breathing deeply. The first day I could actually breathe without feeling my rib, was the day before Kaapsehoop. So between Madmac and Kaapsehoop I mannaged 2 x 15kms and about 6 x10ks and few dog walks , all very slow for me. Definitely not marathon worthy training.
With the 5th being our wedding anniversary we went down a day earlier , staying at Hippo Waterfront lodge as usual.. It is awesome to go back to such a welcoming,peaceful place. We drove the route on a very hot Friday, walked to the lookout on the escarpment. It was useful having a good memory of the route..
My confidence from Madmac meant I should still aim for a fats marathon. I guessed I needed about a 2:22 first half to have a go at 4:54.
Getting up at 2:15 is not that great but we managed to get to bed at 8ish so at least some sleep..The parking at the stadium was a bit like our election results, chaotic to say the least we managed to park after about 30 mins, walked to the busses only to be greeted by the heavens opening.. Every bus seemed to be 21, finally we found a 42 bus, and we set off for the big climb. The route had changed a little bit from 2021, we eventually went to the start and forged our way a little bit down to the start. The start was delayed by a few minutes as late busses arrived with more desparate runners. Very clever to put the toilets in front of start. Sometimes I wonder if race organizers have ever done a race before...
As the gun went we watched herds of runners stream away, did not move for about 2 minutes, eventually crossed the line about 3:30 after the gun. My first km was way slower than I expected, that was the first time I actually thought about the actual speed of my training over the last month and realised that it was super slow. I therefore decided not to push too hard early because then I woudl fade. I walked comfortably on the out and back and proceeded down the hills where I was really pleased for shoelaces as without them I would probably have slipped out of my shoes. I did a few kms with the legendary Tobie, which is always fun, quite a few km's were done with on off rain. My first real experience of "racing" in the rain. I actually enjoyed it as the normal "hot hot hot" became "wet wet wet"...
Getting to halfway in about 2:31 I knew I was in for a long day but was also ( just been interrupted by Pasha who took my hand off the keyboard, looked at me and said " It's walk time Dad" walk done) keen to end strong. I tried to walk srong in the second half and was actually no that far off an even split. This calculation is becoming more complicated by mat to mat timing as one never seems to know what tie is what. I did feel strong and felt like I passed about 300 runners over the last 7 or so kms. I felt really good, except for the wicked 40th km. I ended in 5:10:25 or something but totally happy
Overall a great day out and Liz did a very credible 4:26, also with minimal training due to her Oz trip..
We will be back but I really think I prefer the less popular NMC fast one in March. I think its a more enjoyable and forgiving route.
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