Lion of Africa half-marathon
I completed the Lion of Africa half-marathon on Saturday 6 Feb 2010. It was a strange kind of race. In the days leading up to it I psyched myself to try for a sub 2h30 marathon. My rationale was that if I can regularly run a 1h40 15km, I should be able to manage 2h30 easily. However, the day before the race I suffered from mild food poisoning and woke up feeling rather unwell on the Saturday morning. But because I'm a stupid, I mean a trooper, I went ahead and raced anyway. And I'm glad I did.
The course was hilly and pretty tough, through the suburbs of Tokai and Constantia. I took it pretty easy, not pushing hard at all, and surprised myself with a PB - 21h34"30 - despite feeling unwell. I only had a few spoons of oatmeal for breakfast, and 2 GUs during the race, each after 45 mins, and felt okay. I didn't even take my customary post-21k afternoon nap! Of course I know that I was just lucky, and that one really shouldn't race when feeling unwell - things might not have turned out as well as they did!
Anyway, I was pretty chuffed with myself at the end when holding my medal. First half-marathon of the year! So looking forward to the next one, in Langebaan, on March 6th. We're making a weekend of it and rented a house together with 2 other running families.
The course was hilly and pretty tough, through the suburbs of Tokai and Constantia. I took it pretty easy, not pushing hard at all, and surprised myself with a PB - 21h34"30 - despite feeling unwell. I only had a few spoons of oatmeal for breakfast, and 2 GUs during the race, each after 45 mins, and felt okay. I didn't even take my customary post-21k afternoon nap! Of course I know that I was just lucky, and that one really shouldn't race when feeling unwell - things might not have turned out as well as they did!
Anyway, I was pretty chuffed with myself at the end when holding my medal. First half-marathon of the year! So looking forward to the next one, in Langebaan, on March 6th. We're making a weekend of it and rented a house together with 2 other running families.
