|
Two Oceans 56k 19 Apr
Six O-clock Easter Saturday and the Fish horn breaks the morning
chatter of the runners waiting for the gun. It's a long way
to UCT and 7 thousand of us are standing in the morning mist
ready to take up the challenge.
It's hard to gauge how the run will go while standing in
a huddle at the start, but soon the gun is fired and we're
off. A couple of us had planned to start together to get into
the groove of things.
The first km was just over 4, a little slower than we had
planned, but just fine to get the legs turning. After a few
stupid races over the last few months, I was not going to
be stupid again.
I let Stef set the early pace and I just hung in there.
That only really worked for the first few km, before I found
myself 10m ahead. At Lakeside, we were just ahead of the lead
ladies and Stef decided that the pace was a little too hot,
so he moved to the side and let their bus go ahead.
I was still trying to hold back and to run any slower would
be difficult, so I just stayed where I was. OK, I did slow
a bit to let the bus do the work and it was good to watch
the top ladies fighting it out. I don't know what happened
in Fish Hoek, but the pace pick up a bit and I now thought
I was time to let them go.
The art of running a good race lies in getting everything
right on the day, well I hadn't got everything right I needed
a pitstop, so just before 25km, I visited one of the Port-a-potties
on the side of the road. 10kg lighter I entered the race again
and made the running to Ou Kaapse Weg, on way I past Mike
and could see the other up ahead.
As I started the climb I could see Stef drop Charles and
Paul. It didn't take me long to pass them and then I caught
Stef just before half way, that left us 5km of the hill still
to go, and go we did not letting our pace drop over 4:30.
The mist was still thick and at times we couldn't really see
the next runner ahead of us, then we rounded the last bend
on the way up and the mist lifted. I reached for my glasses
which had been sitting on my hat till now and put them on...
That didn't work the mist had left them wet. I dried them
as best I could and put them on again. No sooner had they
started to dry off properly then we crested the top and dropped
back into the mist. I knew I was going to struggle a bit as
we ran down the hill I could feel my quads a bit more than
I should have. At the bottom of the hill Stef's Dad counted
us at 228 and with the race only really starting we would
make up a lot of places. With the road been fairly flat at
this stage I had no problems and I found myself having to
hold back so as not to run away from Stef. We past the Marathon
mark in 2hr47:40, Stef was well on his way to a tenth silver
and I was looking good for a 2nd. We stayed together till
the bottom of Southern Cross when I slowed and let him get
away. My quads were a bit sore and I had plenty of time. I
kept the km under 5min/km and came home in 3hr49:26.
It had been a good day at the Office with a 10min PB, but
the question I've been asking my self is what would have happened
if I had run a little faster at the start instead of holding
back? How I have been running a little easier and would my
quads have felt better? or would I have packed up earlier...
It's a great race and I'll have to wait for next year to find
out.
So much is said about this race and the organization that
goes into it that all I want to say is that I'm very disappointed
with the so called expo. There wasn't a single special, in
fact it looked as if the prices had been hiked up and there
wasn't even anything good to see. Then you have the official
T-shirt, well over the last couple of year I haven't even
taken then out of their plastic bags, they are ugly and boring.
Come on guy design something we can be proud to wear.
| 
