One Argus bike race, one Ironman and several beers later, the Padre found himself at the start of another race.
It all seemed quite simple. Run with the Indian Ocean to your left until you get to Fishhoek. Then cross the mountain, turn around and run back to Cape Town - this time with the Atlantic Ocean on your left.
This time the odometer would read 56kms.
Not many could handle the pounding on the body and the battering of the mind. And the toll of doing heavy mileage in the run up to the Two Oceans Ultramarathon would have to be paid.
Would the Padre have enough in the bank to pay the Pain Fairy?
My 5 weeks of sunshine has come to an end and I stepped off the plane on Tuesday straight to work. A quick stop at home en route to drop the family, revealed that in the 5 weeks away, the shower stopped working, the freezer frosted up to the point of the door not closing anymore, and a hoodie took the Corsa's left mirror as a trophy. A lovely start to my (luckily short) week.
Easter weekend brought the last of my 3 races in a period of just over a month.
Post the Cape Argus and Ironman SA, I sort of kept the running going - an easy week followed by a 24km run in Seaview 6 days after IM which was meant as a recovery, but hurt more than IM (well almost! 18km up and 6km down - so much for recovery). A few 10kms midweek and then a 15km race which went OK all considered.
The week coming up to Two Oceans was hectic with a trip to a mate's wedding in East London and all that goes with that (beer, beer, meat, beer, cocktails, shots, beer,) and a quick trip to JHB to see my wife's 92-year-old grandfather. Three days left in PE and off I went to Cape Town Easter Friday afternoon, just in time to make registration.
I was quite good with my diet before Ironman but afterwards it went for a ball of shite to put it mildly. Braais and Beers and very few greenery (well not the ones you eat anyway...). Panic set in and as many carbs as possible were consumed between Thursday lunchtime and Saturday morning. I am by no means an experienced endurance athlete, but have run enough marathons to know that what's written in this paragraph spelt one thing only - a gastric disaster.
Race morning came and went and four toilet stops later I was actually feeling quite good when I lined up at the start - well relieved is probably a better word (pun intended). By the time I left after the 4th loo visit, the seeding barriers had already lifted, but it's Africa and I managed to join from the side as all moved forward. The gun went and off we go.
28C predicted and bar the day before I'd not seen an energy drink since IM. Race started 1 hour later so it was strange to run the 1st 30min in daylight as opposed to darkness the year before.
About 4 or 5km into the race I noticed some Italians in front of me. How many Italians named "Roberto and Alberto" on the back of their vests does one normally encounter in a SA Ultra I thought. A closer look revealed Robby Ric and his boet. I knew they were running but what a nice surprise to meet up early in the race. We ran together and chatted and I did my best to keep up. I was under no illusions less than 4 weeks after IM and they were doing 4:50 kms aiming for sub 5 hours. We kept going hitting 28km in 2:20 - perfect for sub 5h as the race only starts here and the 2nd 28km is much harder than the 1st - Chappies and Constantia Nek awaits. Up to this point I had just taken in water as my stomach would cramp at the sight of Powerade. My legs had also felt fine as it was mostly flat so far.
Enter "Little Chappies". Here IM starts whispering in my ear "slow down my boy I'm going to bite you"; Good idea to listen I thought. I bid the Italians farewell and dropped off to a pace of between 5:30 and 6min/km climbing the hill. It starts steep but is over quickly and the scenery is fantastic. The relief is shortlived as the real Chapmans Peak looms. I'm taking on Powerade now I've run threequaters of a marathon on water alone. As soon as I start the long drop from the top of Chappies down to Hout Bay, I have to stop. Bent double with stomach cramps. 20km to go. Not good. Walk a bit, take a leak, it subsides and I run down to the beautiful Hout Bay. 40km and the marathon mark looms. Realise I can go through under 3:45 which a few years back was a PB, and pick it up a little. Already decided no more Powerade. Leg cramps I can deal with; stomach cramps make me useless.
Constantia Nek - a beast of a hill about 6km long although only 4km really bite. Run walk run walk IM talking louder and louder. I listen and take it easy. The top of Constantia is a great place as you know you have less than 10km to go and the crowd support is awesome here. What's not awesome is the 45 degree camber on the road as you run down towards Kirstenbosch. At 51km I see some familiar caps and shapes 100m ahead - The Italians! Clearly I'm not the only one running on my cramp threshold. As mush as I wanted to finish with them I could not close the gap and in fact it widened again to 3min as I had to stop a few times to stretch out the cramp from the calf muscles, now totally depleted of electrolytes.
Onto the grass, last couple of meters; 5:23:44 and off to the showers and the UCT bar to see how the Bulls lose it again in the last 5min.
A few beers later I go look for the Italians at the Bedforview tent. Alberto donates more beer and I watch the end of the race from here. Standing there watching the last 30min to the 7h gun of Two Oceans 2006, made me realise what a special race this is and what a priviledge it had been to take part in 3 of South Africa's top races in such close succession.
But back to reality, a long season awaits with many training miles, quite a few races and even more beers.
Looking fwd. to a few cold ones on the Embankment watching Buhr and Keeto pound more tar in the London Marathon. Sad to miss out this year after 5 years on the trot, but lets face it - IM (and now Two Oceans) is shouting at me that it's a good thing!
Only joined SAUK at Christmas 2005, so looking fwd to meeting more of you in person during the course of the 2006 season.
Till we race again
Eugene
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