The Challenge : 21.1 km

If I stick to my PLANNED training programme and COMPLETE the CHALLENGE I would have ran MORE THANN 300km!!!!

The 16 Week Training Progress Sheet for Two Oceans Half Marathon (21.1 km)

Week	Duration	Distance	Calories	Comments
1	260	25	2822	Just STARTED!
2	116	15	1577	5km in 35min! 🙂
3	193	22	2364	Still going STRONG!
4	0	0	0	Off Sick 😦
Total	569min	62km	6763cal	Overall not bad 🙂
5	210	24.3	2780	Starting again 😐
6	225	32.2	3449	WHAT A WEEK!!
7	151	18.5	2000	ALL MY ENERGY 😦
8	77	10	1063	Recovery paid off  🙂
Total	617min	84km	9289cal	Base training(tick)
9	168	20	2196	Sunrise MONSTER!
10	243	20	2719	My 1st 15km!!!
11	166	19	1540	Back-2-Basics 😐
12	222	28.1	3084	My 1st HALF!! 🙂
13	159	16	1294	Pure RECOVERY 😦
Total	0	103.1km	0	Possibility is endless
14	303	32	3417	Tired, back on track
15	0	14	0	Still so TIRED!
16	0	33.1	0	2Oceans HALF!!!
Total	0	79.1	0	Impossible done…
Total	0	328.2km	0	A Million Smiles!

The Result

Finishing in 02:34:01

The BIG DAY

What a race! I can truly say I have never experienced anything like this before…No amount of physical training could have prepared me for what I have experienced both on an emotional and physically level.

I was so excited I could not sleep the night before the race, I was a bit irritated with myself as I knew I was going to feel tired the next morning (or when I had to wake up in the middle of night). I set the clock for 3:30 as we wanted to leave at 4am so that we could be there by 5am. It turned out that when we arrived at the start there were already THOUSANDS of runners lining up.  Everything was so organised. I looked at the runners as we were doing the zigzag (“up and down”) turn at the 8km mark and realised I was one of the last in the packing order :-(! This has never bothered me before, because I knew I would past a lot of them. In this race I could not. There were just too many runners. Definitely a learning for me! Will be staying in Cape Town in 2012, in Main Rd if that is possible!

They should call it a NIGHT/DAY race – You start when it is still cold and dark and you run through dawn and then suddenly the daylight…

It was really amazing to see all those runners on the road. Going up Southern Cross drive I could not even see the road or the hill, all I saw were runners’ backs and heads – That’s how close to each other we were running. I did not even bother running up Southern Cross (something I have trained for very hard) – that’s how crowded it was.

The race was not difficult. I ran much more difficult races before, even my 1st half was a much more difficult race to run. What makes Two Oceans difficult is the amount of runners on the road. I have read somewhere that you should not try to run a PB at Two Oceans (find another race! :-)…I ran the Springbok Pharmacy for my first HALF Marathon and even though the race was much more difficult I ran a better time than Two Oceans…so thanks for that piece of advice).

I ran the first half of the race “slow”. I was trying to stay close to the times for running a sub 2:30, but after 10km I as 5mins behind. For some or other reason, with all the runners on the road I just could not manage to get into rhythm, find my stride and just RUN. I now understand why they are saying Two Oceans is not the place to look for PB.

The last 3km (and with 20mins left to break 2hrs 30min) completely got the better of me – even though that was probably the only time I felt that I was running “faster” I was too tired at that stage to maintain a pace of 6min/km. I knew I was not gonna break a PB. I was a bit disappointed at the time, but as I ran into the sportsground and heard the crowd screaming and cheering everyone on I knew that this is what Two Oceans is about. In no other race in South Africa you will experience this (well maybe in Comrades :-). The crowd was just awesome. I am still getting goose bumps thinking about RUNNING to the finish. I was so tired at that stage but the adrenalin was pumping and I RAN all the way to the FINISH!! The time…2:34:01.

Now I am so charged up I am ready for the Two Oceans Ultra Marathon 2012! Even though I was tired running to the finish because I was running fast at that stage I felt that I could still run for hours after I finished 🙂

My 1st Two Oceans HALF Medal

I really like this medal and the 2011 Two Oceans Theme. (This is my MOMENT – All about ME. The organisers got the theme from the lyrics of one of Eminem songs :-)). Yes, I think it is about time one is selfish.

Some pics from the official photographers..