Race - Cape Point Nature Run 13km

A beautiful run, but quite tough with its gradual unrelenting uphill. It was an early start; even though the race only started at 07:40, we got a note (from a very entertaining organiser - love his writing style, a little un-PC with his announcements, but entertaining nonetheless), that the gates to the nature reserve were only going to be open from 06:00 - 06:45, and 'sorry for you' if you miss this. Fortunately I love early mornings, so this was not really a problem.

For some or other reason I had thought that Cape Point was closer than I remembered, clearly had not been there for some time (a reminder to self for next time -  fill up with petrol the night before; luckily on fumes we got to a petrol station on time afterwards!). 

Parking was quite far from the start, so we got quite a warm up by the time we arrived at the start.

It was quite cool and misty, but did burn off later. It was wonderful to see the Hout Bay Harrier guys running at the front and doing really well. 

There were weird distances, 11, 13, 24 and 34kms - I did the 13kms, which took us to Cape Point. 

There were no water points along the way, so I took along my Powerade bottle & juice, another note to self - don't be too generous with the concentrate, sweet drinks are heaven sent during the race, but this was just a bit too sweet after a while. I should also invest in a bottle bag, as running with a bottle in hand gets a bit clunky after a while. 

I found the race quite tough, and ended up walking a lot - especially the long uphill; I didn't feel too bad, as most of the people seemed to be walking that stretch. 

The last km, especially the last stretch to the race was a wonderful downhill. My time was unfortunately a dismal - 01:31:22