Posted on Feb 23, 2011 under Peninsula Marathon |
While my original plan was to premiere with my first half-marathon in April 2011 for Two Oceans Marathon 2011 a spontaneous decision made me enter and run the Peninsula Marathon in Cape Town on February 20th. 9 days prior to race I felt fit enough for the 21km race, even though I’ve never done more than 16 km before, and I was bold enough to signed up for start number 4227.
My Problems only began thursday before the race sunday, when my new Asics running shoes I had just bought in December were stolen and I decided to go for a last pre-race 13km run in my 5 year old Nikes. Just after the race I realised that my left Calf did hurt and it didn’t got much better until Saturday evening. I knew I couldn’t do the race in my old shoes, so I went to buy new running shoes and got new Asics and some great advice at The Athletes Foot at V&A Waterfront. The very helpful advice I got from Athletes Foot owner Grant Bryant was that I should be using my old inner soles in the brand new running shoes.
Race day:
With this in mind I arrived in Bergvliet on time for the 7am race start – see photo above for my impression, standing at the end of the start block. The start went well and after few minutes everybody was able to run at his or her own pace without accidentally running into others. The ache from tension in my leg didn’t really got worse during the race and I only felt weak towards the 16k mark but had no serious struggle to finish the race. My only serious issue was Runkeeper on my Android phone that crashed after 8 km just to restart with a new session that I can’t merge together. This is the reason why you can only see the last 13 km on this map.
The race is seriously beautiful and despite the strong South-Easter wind I fully enjoyed the run past Muizenberg, Kalk Bay, Fish Hoek and Simonstown. Without my Runkeeper tracking my run I couldn’t check for time and was really surprised to end 1:58:20 and was #346 out of the 1265 half-marathon runners when the Peninsula Marathon results were published!
The Atmosphere at the finish was really pleasant, as drinks were available, 15-minute massages could be bought for a mere 50 Rand and I met four friends from the The Drinking Club with a Running Problem who just finished the full marathon in 4:29 running together for the whole race! After some glasses of Moreson bubbly we were strong enough to move to a very late breakfast at Boulders Beach restaurant – aaaah – I love these beautiful days in Cape Town!
Randolf Jorberg right after finishing the Peninsula Marathon
Posted on Mar 04, 2010 under Running |
After some not too serious training but a good amount of excitement today was finally the day. The Lighthouse Ten Run 2010 was happening and for me it meant that my random running was about to become somehow more serious, as I was now measured not against myself or some computer program on my Phone, but ‘real’ people running next to me. Joining in was my ‘Sportsfreund’ Cecily, who followed my call for company on Facebook only a few days earlier.
Arriving early one hour prior to the scheduled start at 6.15pm was definitely a good idea, as it gave us great parking, no queues and time to chat to other fellow runners who told us about some of the processes with the archaic time measurement, though my only goal was to run the 10km in under one hour…
The run didn’t start on time, but was moved to the odd time of 6.22 to allow even the late birds to participate. Despite warnings from another friend to stand in front of the starterfield, we were just behind the middle of the field but everyone got moving quite quickly, so the delay for the last runners, before they could really start running shouldn’t be much more than two minutes, what I think is very reasonable for a run with much more than 1500 participants.
Race day was one of the hottest days and temperatures in Cape Town went up to 34°C I never found it to be a problem, as the sun was not burning too much anymore. The race itself was really beautiful and I could always manage my relaxed jogging speed of just under 6 minutes per km and did even manage a sprint for the last two kilometers, when I left Cecily behind. But see the Lighthouse run on Everytrail yourself that I recorded with my iPhone:
Only the last hundred-something meters were causing a big problem. Because so many runners arrived at the same time the congestion made people wait several minutes before they collected their finisher-number (mine was 932) and I’m interested to see how the organising club is going to tell us exactly what results we scored, as mine should’ve been somewhere between 56 and 57 minutes…
But this small problem that could be solved with a modern chip-based timing system and it did in no way destroy the beautiful experience that this run was for me – Thank you Atlantic Athletic Club Cape Town for organising such a wonderful event!
Posted on May 25, 2009 under Comrades Marathon |
This is a race-day report from 2009 Comrades Marathon finisher Onne de Boer whom we met on Twitter where he is one of our loyal followers. We thank you for this piece and ask our readers to submit more wonderful articles like this:
Hi, my name is Onne de Boer. I live in Canada, in the Maritime province of New Brunswick. I’m 45 years old, have been running most of my life. Not competitively, I have been competing in triathlon. My greatest athletic feat to date is the 25th Anniversary of Ironman Canada. Finishing in 11:56 (Pictured on the right)
Qualifying and Training for Comrades
The event I used for qualifying was called “Not the Honolulu” Marathon in November of last year. This event is a self sufficient event, meaning I have to carry everything for the distance there is no support. A good friend accompanied me on the second half of the marathon, which was the official half for the day. I finished sub 4 hours for a D grouping at Comrades.
I followed the sub nine hour training program from the Comrades site. Training started in January – a little bit of running prior to that, but nothing formal. Please know that training was very difficult, I was usually in temperatures that ranged from -5 to -20 Celsius. On more then one occasion my water froze next to my body under my layers of cloths. Weather improved by April and there were a few days I could run in shorts and a jacket.
Once in PMB my family hooked me up with Christopher Zondi (15566) 14 time, now 15 time finisher of Comrades. We ran together a few days and the benefit of having someone local is that I didn’t have to pay attention to where I was. Thank you Chris! A true Comrade!
Race day
I had a restful sleep in PMB. I was awake at 3am, rested until 3.30 and then got up for a bowl of oatmeal and some hydration. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Jan 09, 2004 under Running |
Sunday 4th January 2004
Just read last years report and although I did the same time as last year, a 1:37, this year seemed a lot easier. The route isn’t as hilly as stated – next year may change my mind – but its really a quite fast race.
This year I went out with John Walland and Bruce Fordyce, for a slow race – they left me at the 2km board. I wasn’t up for a race so early in the year. I caught John with a few km’s to go after Bruce blew him off as well.
KPMG is one of those races that although no medal or t-shirt, just the same old beer glass, it’s a great race to start the year with.
A great day to see the faces after the festive season, some more festive than others…
Sunday 05 January 2003
This is a tough course and specially tough after the festive season’s parties and reduced training.
What we have come to expect from the race is a well organised race, easy access, good water tables and good marshals. The race today didn’t disappoint.
Cool weather made the first half easy running with it getting a little hotter later but certainly not like the scorchers we have been having lately.
There seemed to be larger crowd than last year but certainly encouraging for the sponsors that their race is being well attended.
The person who selected the course must be a sadistic physio. They seemed to have found every hill possible Where they could go flat, they go big. Why a physio – well I’m sure that many will be contacting their physio on Monday with a little niggle here or there.
My right hamstring didn’t want to be left out once again and although not as severe as Soweto, certainly made sure that I ha a slow race. It was one of those races that I felt I was running a steady pace but seemed to be loosing minutes between markers In 2002 I did an easy 1:23, this year 1:37 – why, I don’t know and will put it down to less training over November / December and too much of hosting parties, going to parties and well just parties (and that’s my work – not all play)
See you next year….
Posted on Jan 12, 2003 under Running |
Sunday 12th January 2003
Dischem & Bedfordview Athletic Club have done it again.
The field this year seemed more than in previous years but must have been the same due to the 4,000 runner cut-off. In an almost perfect race, the only problem, and I had to look for one, was the narrow start. Starting in the middle of the pack means a 8 minute first kilometer. So if you are going for a PB, start as close to the front as possible. A help would be if the walkers start further back in the pack – with all due respect to the walkers as they are most welcome on race day.
The great thing about the race is the lack of hills. There are slight gradients in the first 10k’s but nothing to really push the heart rate up. The finish is fast and work the quads quite hard.
As for the characters on the road. Everyone seems to know Spiro or “Spi”. This character can run and run pulling all those having a quiet stroll into a steady sub 6m jog. You get the Sports Connection “boys”, the odd Chappie wrapper and the worn-out Germiston Callies ouman, amongst others
My daughter thought Santa had visited again when I arrived home with the goodie bag. A great t-shirt, a great race and well organized event. A definite top 10 for the year.
Time: 2h12m
Posted on Nov 10, 2002 under Running |
Organiser: Wanderers Athletic Club
Date: Sun 10th November 2002
Dischem half – watch out.
Here is a race that I feel could become one of the highlights of the running calender. It’s a great pity that the race was almost without a sponsor and the club had to fund most of the costs of the race.
The route has been changed to a fast, slightly challenging at parts, course. The registration was a pleasure, parking and traffic also no problem. It does help to get to a race a little earlier. I arrived at 06:20am and found parking inside the Wanderers grounds close to the start.
The weather changed drastically before the start. It became windy and cold and looked as though there may have been rain on the way. The cold and wind soon disappeared and the rain stayed away. It made to a cool race for the first hour.
The start went off without the problems of Soweto. The route takes you to Killarney Mall and then along the golf course. The large jacaranda trees lining roads made for a picturesque morning run. There is a danger of slipping on the jacaranda but with a little concentration, you can enjoy the beauty of the trees. It was a change to run through old suburbs so well maintained and lush with tress and flowers.
After the split for the 10km, the route does a detour through the Melrose Bird Sanctuary. A true little oasis and a nice change from the tar. The route goes back on itself and ends off with a mild long climb to the stadium. The last kilometer is very fast.
The race for me was a test to see if I could run a half marathon in OVER 6 minutes per kilometer. My training doesn’t allow me to race until March 2003. So it was a great test to run a race as a training run. I finished on time in 2hrs08min.
A tribute must go to the RAC Grand Master (GG) who ran the second half always ahead of me. He would not permit me to go ahead which I didn’t want to do anyway. I pushed him in the closing kilometer to a sprint to the finish. We ran the final kilometer in well under under 4 minutes.
Posted on Nov 03, 2002 under Running |
This is for me the toughest marathon of the year. Collection of the numbers was a little chaotic due to many runners registering on the day. According to the race rules, no registrations are taken on the day which obviously changed due to the high demand.
Getting to the venue and parking was easy and well organized, compared to many other races. The start however wasn’t that smooth. The road proved too narrow for many runners who opted for the outer boundary and then a huge cut across the veld after the gun. Many runners were impatient for the gun and went off only to be called back and create more hassles for the organizers.
One thing we can rely on at Soweto is heat. The day prior was cool and overcast which didn’t carry over to race day. The temperature went to at least 20 degrees by the start. This meant that, with the increased field, water points for the first 20 kilometers were under pressure yet again. The same problems of the past few years.
This was my third running of the Soweto Marathon and it proved more difficult than the last. My training was better than ever except for the four weeks leading up to the race due to work pressures.
On race day Sunday 3rd November 2002 I started at a casual six minutes per kilometer which is an easy pace. Then the same hill at around 22 kilometers hit once again. At around 23 kilometers my best friend came in the form of tree which without it, I would have been flat on my back. Both hamstrings went into spasm. With the assistance of another runner then the Old Mutual physio’s, I was back to a walk and later a jog. My first 21 km’s was in 2h05m, the last in 3h05min. A finishing time of 5h10m, my PW (personal worst)
I will most likely be back again next year with a little more hill preparation under my belt. A few new friends made and an overall enjoyable day.
