In the last week of September 2016, I decided to officially start my running training from the beginning of October. Since I’m not a runner, I decided to run 1km on each of the last 5 days of September. Then I continued this distance daily for the first week of October, with a plan to increase it to 2km daily, then 3km daily for a full week. I built up really slowly and didn’t even break a sweat. Average pace was slower than slower. What was the reason for all of this? To get to OMTOM 2017 without extending my injury list – ITB being the worst of them. I eventually built up to 10km runs and then moved all over the show but never more than 15km. I was preparing for my 1st half marathon in the Dis-Chem event in mid-January 2017. I survived with my ITBs saying a big hello. I then went to run the Johnson Crane event as my 1st marathon. Maybe too much too soon, since my ITBs were not ready for that distance. I bailed after the 1st lap, thank goodness that it was a double lap race. Roughly a month later I was attempting my 2nd marathon start at the Township Marathon but the result was the same, once again happy that it was a double lap race. That was it – OMTOM 2017 was not going to happen for me but since flights were booked, I could still enjoy a break in my birthplace. I didn’t want to lose my base that I had started on, so I continued training with no main race in sight. I kept the training as basic as possible, and through it I was going for lynotherapy sessions to sort out my ITBs. Slowly but surely I was making progress but the pain never disappeared. I was just managing it in my training. I then entered the Vaal River City Marathon (September 2017) secretly, even my therapist didn’t know. I wanted to use this as my qualifier to get it done as early as possible and then just concentrate on staying healthy and managing my ITBs to a point where my threshold was at least through three quarters of a marathon. Goal achieved - that is qualifying for OMTOM 2018, as well as silencing my ITBs. Many things happened in training from that point, very little negative and a hell of a lot of positive. The negative was blistering at Soweto. I took a 3 week break thereafter since I never really had a break. The monotony was eating at me. From 1st December, my countdown to OMTOM 2018 began. I did what I felt was necessary, only slightly faster but this didn’t speed up the waiting period to the big day. I ran many half marathons, and 1 marathon as LSD training, punctuated by some quality sessions in-between. I had little niggles here and there but my 2 main issues were not issues any longer. Very mild ITB issues and blistering started to disappear. My taper began with a complete rest week, followed by 2 light weeks. What follows is my OMTOM 2018 race report. I got to the start very relaxed. People were all over the show but I stayed in the car with my sister and brother-in-law. I still had to do my ITB prep before the race. I wasn’t in any rush to go to the chutes and just soaked in the vibe. I saw some friends, all of whom were doing the half marathon. My best moment leading up to the start was just standing in a sea of people as the majority sang our national anthem, I just closed my eyes and decided to hum along. We were finally here…well not exactly…the canon went off to signal the start and it took 3 minutes to cross the start line. Getting through the crowds was slow but it worked well to keep me slow enough to warm up properly through the 1st 3 km. It’s exactly what I needed. It was really cool to be a part of the most beautiful marathon. Then reality set in, I started feeling things I haven’t felt before – niggles around both knees, and we only just started. I changed my mindset immediately to just go with the flow and ignore the pain. That lasted until just under 10km but it didn’t slow me down, I was still going according to schedule. The 10km mark signalled a point of stepping it up slightly, everything was going smoothly, I can’t recall any incline, any difficulty, any issue with anything or anyone. Everything was perfect. I experienced this feeling all the way to Chappies, even over the climb but then the headwind hit us on the descent. That was a blessing as I was advised not to chase down Chappies. We were still going fast though. Since this was my first attempt at ANYthing over a marathon, I was psyching myself up to get through to 42.2 without stopping, and even take it 45km if I felt ok. I did feel ok until that point but I forced myself to walk a little once I reached 45km. My feet were in so much pain. It was a run walk strategy to finish the rest. I got to the top of the Nek and took an ice lolly from the side, I don’t usually eat those but the flavour burst was just what I needed. The descent of the Nek was going to be my main challenge due to the camber. If I wasn’t running that section in the gutter, I was walking and I am extremely grateful that the bad camber was at that late stage of the race. The last 3km was where I got the most support from the crowds, many shouting my name but I didn’t know too many of them. I knew my goal of a sub 6 wasn’t going to get away from me, so I didn’t push too hard, I did it comfortably with just over 6 minutes to spare. Provisional finishing time – 5:53:56. My highlights of the day, I never felt tired at any point, no blisters and ITB issues, my family and friends were there to support me, I could have achieved a better time but that doesn’t bother me at all, I ran a PB for my marathon and managed to do a sub 4, ripping my previous PB apart by about 20 minutes, finishing my 1st attempt at an Ultra. Will I do it again? Possibly, but if I don’t that’s ok, and I will definitely recommend it as a great race to run. Thanks to our CREATOR for all that we are able to achieve. Thank you to all of you who encouraged us novices to go for our goals.
