My Two Oceans Half Marathon Journey!

Earlier this year I decided that I would try by all means to do something different at least once each month. I came across a friend’s Instagram post about the Two Oceans Marathon and thought I would challenge myself and register for the race, it was early January at the time and I figured that I would have enough time to prepare myself as I already had been training from the previous year. At the time of registering, the race was already full so I decided to give it a miss but none the less continued with my regular training.

I was super excited at the end of January when I got an email telling me that due to some cancellations I had managed to move up the list and now I had a spot! I was super excited as I knew things had just got real and I had to be fully prepared for this. I had always been running 10 kilometer races but I had never in my life completed a half marathon so this would definitely be a first.

In hindsight I realised that I required way much more preparation for this half marathon than I actually had put in. My training consisted of 5km runs during the week and the weekends usually 10km runs with the ladies in our running club. I also made sure that I also studied the route that we would run for the half marathon so that I trained appropriately. Thankfully, the management of the Two Oceans is super organised so once my registration was complete I would receive weekly health tips advising on what to do and what not to do before a marathon or half marathon, I was super impressed!

At some point in February as my work load increased, I found myself doubting I would be able to do the race as I was unable to put in the required time. To add onto that, I had an earlier knee injury which had not quite healed but was almost there or so I thought. Fortunately, I have colleagues that have run several marathons, one of note was Veli, who has taken part in The Two Oceans Ultra, Berlin, New York and Boston marathons, he was key in keeping me motivated to go forward with this race such that the day I made the purchase for the ticket to Cape town it was him that talked me out of the nervousness and was standing by as I clicked on the buy ticket icon! From that point I knew it was real and it was happening and I was going to go and run the Two Oceans Half Marathon!

The days turned into weeks and before I knew it , it was the week of the race. There was so much going on and again I considered pulling out, thanks to additional encouragement, I made it onto the plane. I was as ready as I possibly could, I had my running gear, running gels and everything else and most importantly I was on that plane!

There was so much excitement on the trip to Cape Town as a lot of people were travelling for the race. I felt proud of myself that I had made it this far but the bigger challenge lay ahead of me. I calculated what my average speed had been from practice and roughly how long it would take me to finish the race. My average per kilometer was 7.5-8km per hour and I figured I would make it in the 3 hours 10 minutes given to complete the race so I lay my fears to rest. I had looked at the map to see where the inclines were so that I knew at what stage I would need to slow down or add the speed, I had it all figured out in my head, I was good to go.

The morning of the race arrived, I was nervous! But remembered in my mind the quote that says It’s not the finish line that matters it’s having the courage to start that matters, at least that kept me going!

I went to pick up my running buddy Pam and we set out on our way. We made it smoothly to the start of the race. The energy and buzz was just awesome, as the start gun went off for the half marathon, the DJ cranked up Katy Perry’s Roar. In my mind I was glad that I had had the courage to come through and I was finally doing this!

And so the race had begun! It was early in the morning at 6.10 am, but at least the weather was kind and it was not cold or too hot. We paced ourselves so as not to run out of energy. The best way to tackle a half marathon is to tackle it in bits. From the maps, we knew where the tough spots were and we knew where the key markers were, so the key was to at least target to get to each marker and set the next target as the next marker or incline.

Main Road

This was the first part of the run, though mostly flat, the traffic was a bit slow as people were still kind of excited, people walked a bit, this was the warm up stage, I kept going back to my morning run where it always takes up to 2km’s to fully warm up and start running.

Edinburgh Drive

We made it from Main road and the uphill started and that’s when the chit chat stopped from most of the runners, it was becoming serious at this point, again we paced ourselves, did a run walk and capitalised on the downhill along the 5-6km mark. From this point it was fairly flat. It was a smooth run into Constantia and through Parish Road.

Southern Cross Drive

If ever there is a tough part to the half marathon it is at this point that the casualties begin. This is by far the toughest stretch all uphill for at least a 5km stretch. This uphill stretch starts from the 11km mark and peaks just after the 15km mark, my aim was to get to this point and so the toughest strip began. It is at this point where you do not hear people talking apart from the spectators that keep you going and cheer you on. This is purely a mental game, one has to be mentally strong to get through this part as the fatigue also kicks in quicker because its uphill. I decided to pace myself and for a greater part this was a fast walk and not run for me. I realised that while my training had included inclines, it had never included inclines stretching as far out as this but I had come this far and was going to do this. After such a long struggle with feet stinging I made it to the top of the hill! My strength was depleted but I had to press on. At this point my battery had run flat and I had no idea as to how much time I had left but the aim was to get to the 18km mark before the cut-off as I knew I could finish from 18km.

Rhodes Drive

Just after the 16km mark going downhill, I stumbled and landed on my knee, I was in the most excruciating pain. The spectators encouraged me to continue going and I limped on for a bit and my mind gave up, I couldn’t go on. I had done my bit. At this point I was 2 hours 16 minutes and 8 seconds onto the race and I had just about another hour to finish the race. 

In hindsight I do wonder that if I had pushed would I have made it but at the same time I look back and I am proud of myself that I made it that far into the race. This experience taught me to endure, and to try. I left Cape Town with a medal but one thing is for certain I will definitely be back in the next round! The fact that I made it that far into the race gives me the determination that next time round I will finish. I will be going in much more prepared this time round and I will definitely be bringing home my medal to show it!