This was a lovely race. I had entered quite early in the year
and had it on the backburner and only got my backside in gear in terms of planning
for it last week. I found a really nice apartment in Sedgefield via AirBnB.
Initially I was quite happy to drive through by myself, then I saw a post on
the Western Province Athletics Facebook page saying that someone had a spot on
their bus available. I was very thankful
not to drive on my own, as I had been in Johannesburg the previous day, which had
started really early to catch the 05:30 flight and only got home at 23:00, so
was quite exhausted.
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| Beautiful Sedgefield |
The drive was quite long, but it was festive to drive with a
bunch of fellow runners and I caught up on my crocheting, writing and sleeping.
The only snag with coming on the bus is that I had no transport here, Uber has
not reached Knysna yet. Fortunately the owner of the AirBnB accommodation was
willing to fetch me once I had collected my race pack and was registered. I had
also phoned Knysna tourism to find out about shuttles between Sedgefield and
Knysna and they were able to put me in contact with AfriZone (?) backpackers
who had organised a shuttle for the morning and I could get a seat on there.
The lift back from the race was organised by the owner via the Sedgefield
forum, so well sorted all round on the accommodation and transport front. The
main item that I did not cater for sufficiently was food. I had thought that
there would be a shop or restaurant within walking distance; not in Sedgefield.
The restaurants recommended also don’t do deliveries. F O R T U N A T L Y Mark
packed me the most amazing picnic bag of snacks for the
road, so I had a steak & kidney pie and crisps that I could tuck into for supper.
The registration process was very quick and painless, with
that said, I think we have been spoiled with the goody bags we receive at Cape
Town races – the Spar Ladies race and TwoOceans bags are brimmed to the top, so
receiving a shopping bag (fortunately I had packed a running bag just in case) with
a couple of flyers and two magazines was quite disappointing. It’s always nice to get samples to try new
products. With all of that said, I do appreciate that the run is not about the
goody back. The communication was great, we received mails outlining the
process and a check list, that was very useful to make 100% sure everything was
ready.
It was an early morning start, so was super happy that I had
put everything out the night before. The pick-up was at 04:45, happy with that,
as I would rather get to the start early than stress about being late. I love the
energy at the start of the race, as everyone heads to the start. We were taken
to the start in taxis – very well organised. Momentum sponsored 2000 wonderful soft
red blankets. Initially I thought that I wouldn’t take one as I had read that
the weather was going to be really warm today; boy was I grateful that I took
one – it was chilly! At the beginning of the race, they collect the blankets
back and any old warm clothes that you may have and then distribute it to the needy.
This is a great concept, the only problem is that the officials can’t stop
people asking / begging for clothes at the start of the race, the particular
system has yet to be refined a bit more.
So once we received the blankets you walk up a dirt path
towards the start. It’s eerily quiet and wonderful to breath in the crispy morning air.
As everyone headed to the start with their red blankets, it did look as if we
all belonged to a cult on our way to some or other ritual, which I suppose we
all were!
It’s very well sign posted for toilets [toilet town], coffee,
tog bags, start. I first handed in my tog bag so that I did not have to walk
around it the whole time (it went very quickly), then headed to the coffee
tent, where there was free coffee / tea / rusks / bananas / breakfast bars /
fruit juice / water and drinking yoghurt (skipped the yoghurt) – this totally made
up for the good bag!
I found a piece of cardboard and sat on it as the ground was
wet; note to self is to take a plastic bag or something with next time; may not
be so lucky to get a piece of cardboard again. After visiting ‘Toilet Town’ made
my way to the start. Managed to get fairly near to the beginning. There were
1100 marathon runners; in total the number of runners are capped at 8000!
The undulating route is beautiful, really quite something.
There are what feels like a million hills, but they are not hectic at all, just
as you get tired from going uphill it rolls down. What is different from other
races is that the distance markers indicate how many kilometres you have left,
not how many you have done. Took this photo at the 13 km mark (i.e. completed
8kms).
There is a HECTIC downhill at around the 5km left mark – happy to be
running down it and not up! Along the way there was a medical team handing out
Vaseline, there were Bar Ones going and slices of orange (skipped them all).
Was very grateful for my SuperC’s and for the water and Coke along the way.
I always find it tough when I see a stretch of the race double
back on itself; the last part does just this as you run underneath the road,
and you think to yourself, oh boy I have to run all this way back as you see
the other runners passing you. Fortunately it was OK, I thought it was
going to be a slight incline, but it was actually quite flat, if not a little
bit downhill. Really tried to push myself, but my legs just did not want to
know anything about going slightly faster. Was so happy to see the finish line!
Time: 02:32 – quite happy with it, as I did walk quite a bit
during the second half of the race. Something I tried during the race was to
get as much oxygen into my lungs, and breathed quite deeply, this seemed to make
me (somewhat) less tired and also took my mind off the ups.
I really like the design of the medals of the runner
combined with an elephant. Must admit that I really missed an ice cold Coke at
the end of the race. Pick n Pay had their own brand of cold drink; I opted for
water.
After changing into comfortable dry clothes, I needed FOOD. As
I was standing in the queue, I saw Momentum’s Multiply VIP tent, and I found a
recent e-mail from them and as a member, I was given access.
Downed a hot chocolate,
and one of the keen friendly helpers brought me a hamburger. I would have loved
a sports massage that was also offered there, but the soonest was at 14:00. It
was blissful to sit outside and soak up the sun. I think there were free drink
as well, I just could not stomach wine or beer. I made my way over to the Pick
n Pay tent, and got some oysters; can’t be at an oyster festival in Knysna and
not take full advantage of them. Also got some sushi for supper.
Will I do it again? Most likely, it would be wonderful if
there is a bigger contingent from Hout Bay that participates.
Something that I did find quite humerous, or perhaps, intrigued by, is more apt, is that a 'breathing room' is recommended (page 45). As the author says, we have rooms for everything else, bedroom, lounge, television room etc. in this breathing room, the author suggests decorating it very simply, and not to be too bright. You may want to have a small bell, one with a beautiful sound, a few cushions or chairs and perhaps a vase of flowers to remind us of our true nature. Every time you feel a little upset, you know that the best thing to do is to go to that room, open the door slowly, sit down, invite the bell to sound, and begin to breath. The following bit is where it becomes intriguing, "Suppose your husband is irritated. Since he has leaned the practice of breathing he knows that the best thing is to go into that room, sit down and practice. You may not realise where he has gone; you were busy cutting carrots in the kitchen. But you suffer also, because you and he just had some kind of altercation, the anger translated into the movement. Suddenly you hear the bell and you know what to do. You stop cutting and you breathe in and out. You feel better, and you may smile, thinking about your husband who knows what to do when he gets angry he is now sitting in the breathing room, breathing and smiling. That's wonderful. Suddenly a feeling of tenderness arises and you feel much better. After three breaths you begin to cut the carrots again but this time quite differently..."
