John Korasie Elevation Chart
Instead of doing a long weekend run on my own, I joined a couple of club mates for a very hilly, early Sunday morning 30 km race.
At 4:40 am in the morning we already had 22°C. An extremely warm winter weekend in Cape Town 🙂
Luckily the race starts and ends in Simonstown, some 40 km away, where the temperatures were about 15°C for the start.
The race itself was worth the trip just for the sunrise. We climbed up Red Hill while the sun rose behind the mountains. Unbelievable.
The hills were pretty challenging and since I have not trained a lot on hills, I paid my dues later in the race. At half way mark I was on track for a 2h 32 min finish. After 18 km the race got tough, even if the steepest climbs were already done.
In a long time I had not consumed one of those energy gels, but this time I did. Maybe that was a bad idea. A few km later I felt it a bit in my stomach – it was still ok, but not 100%. Later on it got really warm and on the last 3 km the final slight uphill section got me walking.
The whales cruising just along the coast were a very welcome excuse to run a bit slower. Beautiful sighting of approximately 6 whales.
Anyway, I finished in 2h 37 min, placed 178th (out of 1232 runners), and was happy. The winner finished in 1h 44 min.
Somehow my stomach did not like it and on the drive home I felt I might need to throw up. It did not happen and after taking a 10 min power nap before having breakfast/lunch I felt better again.
The race is nice as a tough training run. Unfortunately they completely messed up the water supply. The runners behind me had to run for the last 1,5 – 2 h without proper water supply. The organizers need to up their game for the next year!
| Distance | 30 km / 18.6 mi ( 450m elevation) |
| Time | 2h 37 min |
| Monthly distance (August) | 137,7 km / 85.6 mi |
| Annual distance | 1,676.5 km / 1,041.7 mi |
