Haha I'm not very good at race reports.
...it was an experience though yjor!! The race starts a bit late compared to what we use to at home, having no seeding and my wife putting my predicted time down as 4:30 meant i was in the 3rd wave (group G) 1st group. We started at 10:15.
The weather was near perfect clear skies but cool and off we went. The race saw 58000 entrants and the email we got yesterday said a record breaking 53000 finishers and to me this was the highlight. The fact that from the gun till the end you are never alone and that the road is always full of runners... there's no dead spots where you in no mans lands. The crowds are out in their thousands (still not a gees level like SA/CPT) but they came out.
Bands , drums, bagpipes all kinds of along the road. So cool! There was quite a few South Africa's out there on the route too, and that helped keep me smiling on the outside. On the inside i was crying
Now i don't run (as my brother puts it I'm almost anti running) so was relying on my cycling fitness and some of the training i did i was hoping to do 4:30. From the gun i made sure i kept my head and maintained my pace (6:20min/km). I managed to come home official time 4:29:38 last 800m i ran 5:33min/km to make in time.
My nutrition was always going to be a concern packed in only 2 fast bars as i forgot the rest at home, luckily one of my wifes guests offered me 2 pvm bars which i kept on me, I last tried gels about 10 years ago and couldn't stomach it around 15kms to go i grab 2 muarten gels at the table and with some water got one in at 10km to go and 5km to go... Can't say it helped or didn't i survived.
...glad that's done and my 1st marathon done. I'm still too sore whether or not I'll do another. Still walking like a penguin.
... lessons learnt is part of the reason i came was to help with logistics etc with my wife's company, i walked around 10kms Thursday 15kms Friday and 22km Saturday. I should of probably spent less time on my legs and feet. They were very heavy during the race...
