I am ecstatic to report that I qualified for OMTOM on Saturday at the Sasol Marathon. We couldn't have asked for better weather. The first lap was nice and cool and the sun made an appearance in the last 10km of the race. My plan was to just qualify, even if I ran a personal worse. My longest run since Comrades last year was Tough One and after that my training went seriously downhill with this nausea problem. The first lap went well, we walked at two water points, the only climb we walked every second pole and we stopped at one of our club supporters at the 20km mark. We went thru halfway in 2:13. I had to really concentrate not to push too hard to control the nausea. From km 24 to 30 my wheels came off... I had to dig very deep to keep going. When we reached the 30km water point the nice downhills started and I felt better. I realized that we had an hour and a half to do 9 km... It was the best feeling in the world to realize I will make it even if I walked to the finish. We did a lot of walking... I was definitely not the distance fit. With all the walking in the second half, the nausea was under control. I even stuck to my rule of not walking in the last km... We finished in 4:42... Second worse marathon time, but I am happy. Sasol Marathon is one of my favorite marathons. It is a well-organized race and they probably have the best water points of all races. They have so much food on the road, and Creme Soda. There are lots of trees, so lots of shaded streets. If you want to run a PB marathon, Sasol is a marathon to aim for. It is also not too far to drive, so you don't have to book accommodation. Now that the stress of qualifying is out of the way it is time to concentrate on Om die Dam in less than 6 weeks time....
