This was my first Two Oceans anything and first ultra. The route and the fellow runners made for an unforgettable day that I will cherish for a long time.
End of 24 and beginning 25 I got a slight tear in my calf and re injured myself due to tons of speed work. Divorced my coach and signed with someone who actually ran a tom and comrades and from there it was smooth sailing. I pitched at the start line with low expectations since my longest run this year was 25km - under promise over deliver was my motto. Heck anything further than 42km would be a win for me. Let it be known I'm slow and started in L batch so my experience is from the back of the race.
The expo was fully stocked, exciting and full of goodies. They promised an experience so full marks to them. But I just want to collect my race pack and go sit in a corner and question my life's choices. With no directions and non helpful staff to guide you to the collection point we had to walk the full expo. Yes I know the vendors paid blood money so the Ikea model of forcing entrants to walk past everyone makes money sense. But not leg sense. Turns out there was a non marked slipway at the entrance to get to the hidden registration venue but let's leave it at that. I personally like the shirt design and can't give a damn about the lack of goodies in the reg bag. What I do care about is the overall details being fed last min in micro portions on the website.
I run with my hydration pack since I side stich just thinking of taking more than one sip of water at a time so I was fully prepared with water and fuel for the majority of the race. At the parking venue (groote schuur high) there were 3 porta potties... nervous bladder forced me to make a quick stop and I hoped and prayed for another at the start line. Nothing. Asked a marshal and they just shrugged and said nope they don't know. A look of panic on a lot of my fellow batch mate's faces. Surely as the race starts there will be many along the way... right?! I mean 17 000 runners with gels and nerves is a well known toilet humor fact. And I come spoilt from 2 x cape town marathons where there's more loo's than runners and 5 star aid stations every 3km's. But otherwise the start was a well oiled machine with on point starting times, neat batch formations and clear speakers with excellent communication. Ok off we go. Found 3 loo's hidden behind the first water station but the queue suggested a long wait so I puckered up and ran on. But this seemed to be the theme of the race. Perhaps I'm blind and missed them or expecting too much but seeing as some runners sprinted with a white banner to any bush that gave half decent cover I believe I'm not alone in this finding. And if a loo had no queue you know why.
The distance covered in the dark is a blessing since it's not the prettiest, but you quickly got to know your neighbors and find your rhythm. After months of running and training solo, even entering solo it was such an uplifting moment to find my people. By the time the light hit the sky we had a stunning view of the sea and the cool breeze whispered sweet nothings in your ear. We were all chatting and laughing as we made our way up little chappies and my pace was still steady. I fell a bit behind on the actual Chapmans peak climb since I got too cocky with my time gained and talking nonsense. Then came the horrible surprise... The one thing I never anticipated is the off cambers on every down section. My knees protested and my hips crunched like a drivetrain on a muddy Wines2Whales race. I knew as I ran down I'm heading for trouble.
I was true to my word and flirted with the cutoff times. My hydration bladder was emptying but I found ample water, coke, poweraid and ice right to the 44km mark. The supporters provided salted potatos, bananas and swieties but this dried up very early in the race. One sweet lady drowned me with Amasi milk, baptized me with Vaseline and slapped me on the rump... I never felt so loved and revived in all my life. But the wheels came off for me and many others up houtbay main towards rhodes. The water points felt just too far in between and since I didn't waste time to refill my hydration pack so I too was feeling the pinch. And this was also when the heat started poking through. Lot's of locals with hosepipes came to the rescue but the frenzy of the cutoff made a lot of people - including myself - panic at the disco and do stupid things.
Unfortunately by now the hips and itb threatened to teach me a lesson after I tried to negative split my way to the finish so at 51km I called it a day - comrades is so close and injury now will mean a lot of money lost in airplane tickets and accommodation. So I ended up in the trunk of a Spiedkop's car while I waited for the sweeper - 5km from the finish line - with a birds eye view of the remainder of the race. PS I was too sweaty and smelly I couldn't get it over my heart to sit inside her car. Then the ambulances started whizzing past and I heard on the radio (the Spietkop was such a character and ended up joining me in the trunk) of all the injuries, concussions and heatstroke's being reported at a rapid rate.
I wish good health and speedy recovery to all those injured runners
Bottom line is, the route and fellow runners were beyond amazing and I made lifelong friends on this journey. It sucks that I came so close to the finish but also stoked that I proved to myself I'm damn slow but still strong. I will be back next year to finish, even though I don't feel like putting my money down in support of the race organizers. Were there ample marshals? Yes. Was route safety a priority? Yes. Were there enough EMT services on the route? Mhhh doesn't sound like it. I made my point clear on the portaloo's already. Could there have been more water tables towards the end? Yes. Do I regret entering and participating? No. But for such a big race it feels a bit last minute slapped together. Especially since they started packing up when there was still a decent amount of runners determined to make it to the finish. But I'll be back next year to finish what I started!
