I ran the Om Die Dam half marathon today in Haartebeespoort.

Sam and I finished the race in 2:24:05 according to my watch (the official time is slower because they started the time when the gun went off and not when we passed the starter mat).

I missed my personal best time by 30 seconds!! However, considering I wasn’t planning a PB race today, I’m not cut up about it… I was hoping to do 2h30 or even slower because it’s my last long run before Two Oceans and I didn’t want to kill myself.

Just checked on Strava, and this race was a personal best! Whoop! I beat my previous PB at the Soweto Half by 2 minutes! Wow! I’m actually over the moon. I wasn’t trying for a PB at all.

I’m blogging about it before my body forgets the pain it’s in. LOL! These are my thoughts after spending most of the rest of the day sleeping and hobbling.

Every muscle aches at the moment, and I have the most awesome blisters on my feet… in fact Sam took a photo of the one blister because it was red and in the shape of a heart.

What I learnt this race:

  • I’m glad we read the info on the website about the time we should aim to arrive at the venue… we aimed to get there at 4:30am
  • I cannot imagine running further. I actually had tears watching and cheering on the guy that won the 50km race (he finished 15 minutes after we finished the 21). I cannot fathom running 50km. My body is absolutely finished. Every muscle aches.
  • Waking up at 3am is for the birds, and was far too early for me to have my compulsory breakfast
  • Future Life shake in strawberry is actually not that bad, and travels well. I didn’t have the normal bubbles in my tummy for the first 10km, so it clearly worked.
  • The last 2kms seemed endless. I had completely lost my mojo by then. I better get over this before the Two Oceans!
  • I’m stronger on hills than I’ve ever been before.
  • I’m going to miss my friend Sam when I run the Two Oceans in 2 weeks time. We run races so well together, I push her on the hills and she pushes me on the flats. It’s going to be a long and quiet race.
  • Loved running in the new RWFL kit, it’s so much nicer than the old yellow kit… pity it’s going to change to the orange Team Vitality kit.
  • The slip slops I packed in my bag were the BEST idea ever after the race! I really needed to get my shoes off.
  • I must remember to pack plasters for the next race though, in case I get more blisters, I had to find a medical tent today.

What I thought of the race:

  • The traffic was a disaster. In fact, this may be the reason I won’t do it again. Loads of people were late for the race as a result. We left home at 3:30am, and only parked in Haarties at 5:30!!
  • The route was hard. The first 5km were uphill, and then it was flat for ages. I’m not sure now whether I prefer a hilly or flat route, because you can recover on a downhill on a hilly route. There’s no resting on a flat route.
  • The route markings were fabulous, better than the other races I’ve done.
  • Every water point was well manned and stocked. There was one water point that didn’t have bins for the used water bags… I pity those people having to clean up. I took a lot more water than I usually take because it was so damn hot.
  • The milk tart tartlets handed out at the 15km water point were amazing… I really needed something solid in my tummy for energy.
  • LOVE the medal design!

The start of the race with the usual congestion

 

This was after 12km, and the only stretch of the race on a major road, but I did like the view of the hills.

 

Sam and I at the finish 🙂 Look at those big smiles!

 

 

The RWFL Rand Park crew that finished the 21km 🙂