Cape Town Marathon 10km - Sunday 22 September 2013

View from our cottage at night

Since I had informed my other half that he was doing the Cape Town 10 km with me, I had heard surprisingly little from him about it.  I think he was hoping I would forget he was 'running' it with me.

But I hadn't!

We both found him some 'running' stuff and it was packed alongside mine.  I had suggested that perhaps he would like to do the 10 km in cycling gear but that didn't go down too well.

Snow on the mountains

Where did all that rain come from?!  So much of it!  So windy, so cold, and even hail as well!

It rained on the Thursday up to Cape Town, it rained overnight, it rained on Friday, it rained overnight, it rained on Saturday and it rained overnight again!

"I'm not getting out of bed on Sunday morning if it's still raining," he said.

"Don't worry, neither am I!"  I said.  "But it won't rain."  I think Steve was hoping that it would rain.

The race was due to start at 6.30am, and the sun would only just be up at that time - if it shone at all that day!

Our cottage in Cape Town

We were staying about 2 km from Green Point Stadium, where the races (the marathon and the 10 km) would be starting from, and as we (?) had decided we were going to walk the 10 km, not run  it, we didn't need to worry about getting there too early - no need to get into long lines for the loos!  Hooray! So, after a quick breakfast, we set off in the dark to walk to the stadium.

There was the usual 'kerfaffle' that everyone seems to need to endure, i.e. not enough signage, etc. so no-one knew where the 10 km start line actually was!  But we found it eventually!  The two races were being started about 100 m apart from each other, and with five minutes difference between the start times...

Steve is way ahead!

At the gun, we were off!  We had to walk until we got over the line and, gradually, we managed to start jogging slowly, as the crowd of runners let us.  The first kilometre went before we even noticed.  And the next one. "Hope the rest of it is as quick!" we thought.  We were both plodding along together, thinking things like, "Umm, well, we've both got this far", with every marker that we passed.  We both knew that the race may, possibly, become a slight problem for us if we went too fast!

But we carried on for the third kilometre, and the fourth kilometer, and then we were half way.  However, the markers seemed to be getting just that bit further apart.  Was it our imagination and we were starting to struggle?  I checked my Garmin, and it showed 7.15 at the 7 km marker, and 8.25 at the 8 km marker.  Yep, they were definitely getting further apart.

Coming up to the 8km marker

We reached 8 km (or was it 8.25 km?) and we could see the stadium appearing, and we agreed that if I wanted to "go for it", then I would go.  I carried on alongside Steve for a bit more then thought, "Ok, might as well get this finished now!"  I 'sprinted' off and decided to take runners down one at a time, and did so all the way to the Finish.

Steve said afterwards that that is what he did as well.  He would look at the runner in front of him and think, "How did someone that size get in front of me?" And pushed on!

The last kilometre or so was through Green Point park - very pretty, and then around the stadium to the Finish line, which also wasn't the route that the organisers had intended.  However, they said that this was due to the front runners running the wrong way, so to make things equal, everyone was running the same way!!!! (marshalling fault) Great!  And they also admitted afterwards that the markers had been put in the wrong place so that the route was longer than it should have been!

Shattered - but he's done it!

Anyway, to get back to it, eventually, after a few extra hundred metres, we crossed the Finish line.  Obviously, I was in front (!) but Steve was very close behind - he also put in a sprint - and we finished with just a few seconds between us.

We got our medals and then wandered back to the house discussing how well we had done, having both managed to struggle around the course!  Then, celebrated with breakfast in the sunshine!

Considering we were trotting along gently for the majority of the course, I think we did ok and in a fairly respectable time of 1hr 15min!  I am very proud of Steve.  When did he last run???  Well done Hubs!

View from the top deck of our cottage

Not sure he's been the same since, though! lol!  And I certainly don't think I would get away with entering him into a race again!