Did the JC marathon yesterday. I had two goals for this race: a) Complete the race without compromising Ironman training too much b) Run a sub 5 Comrades qualifier Arrived nice and early. Or rather, arrived nice and early at 4:50 at the highway off ramp. Took me another hour to try and find parking at the cricket field which according to the organisers had "plenty of parking available." In the end I climbed a pavement 300m from the start line (having a bakkie has its perks). Didn't think the race would be a warm one but found myself sweating quite a bit almost from the start with the high humidity. Kept the pace constant at about 6:45-6:50min/km and completed the first lap in 2:23 feeling quite comfortable. Had a few incidents on the second lap with impatient motorists ignoring the marshals and basically driving through batches of runners. (A few choice words were spoken; having to break rhythm to avoid cars with 36km odd in the legs is no fun). Also had a few issues at the water tables towards the end with most of them having run out of water and only having coke left. (FYI Coke + Rehidrat is not a pleasant combo) Finished in 4:55; mission(s) accomplished. Legs a little sore this morning but the 30min recovery swim I did last night seemed to have helped quite a bit. Will take it slow for the next couple of days and then back to IMSA training. PS For any novices thinking of doing to JC next year; yes it is flat, but not necessarily easy, you have to work the whole time with only really one downhill of about 1km to relax a little
