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race report two oceans marathon
Hi guys, i had posted this report the very same day but somehow everybody was reading another "thread" and so here is the report again as a new thread:
I had a great nights sleep on friday, woke up at 4:00 am saturday and wrote a text message to my friends back home in India:
It is Time
Seize the Road
Run up the mountain
like a Goat
Seize the Day
the mountain calls
Take the Bull
by its horns
It is time
My mountain Calls !!!
And Boy ! Was it time !!!
The best decision i made was to join the sub 7 pacing group. We started the run and within a few minutes, Clem Simpson , our pacer started to walk, and I thought wow, walking this soon is great.
so on and on we went, RUNNING about a km and then walking for about 30 seconds. we had lost 2 minutes to get to the start line and yet we were soon at a 7 min/km pace. We had a very strong wind, coming straight at us but fortunately it was not sunny.
We reached 15 kms at 1:43, the crowds were great, but I swear to God that the only thought I had was that no matter what, I need to stay in-step with my pacer.
We reached the half way mark (28 kms) in 3:15, Sweder had advised that I should target between 3:00 and 3:10 , but I felt that if Runners World's got this guy to pace us, lets keep up with him.
Often times I felt that i could run ahead but i was not sure of my ability to sustain a faster pace and I was not sure about the hills to follow so i stayed in line.
As we started up chapmans hill, i was all ready to run-up the next 5 kms but 100 meters into the climb and Clem starts to walk and I think WOW, walking up this is something I would have never done on my own. And so on and on we went walking and running. The sight from the hill was something I will never ever forget, the thousands of runners in front of me, the aqua green/blue water on the left, and 40km/hr gusts of wind which threatened to blow us off the hill.
On top of Chapman, I thought of Sweder and wondered if he too was on the mountains somewhere in England as he had promised.
SO chapmans climb came and went & I was again tempted to leave the pacing team and rush the down the hill, but i reasoned that my aim for this marathon was to get an easy blue medal and there was no way that i could get anything else and that foolish speed at this point could lead to a "DNF" so i stayed on with the group.
we reached the 42.2 km mark at 5:01 , then again when we hit Constantia Nek we ran up about 2 kms and walked the other 2, i would have never ever done that if i was on my own, but here I was at 46km mark and now I knew i had it in the bag.
So I said Goodbye to the Bus and turned up the gear and ran down. I reached 50 km mark at 6:03 And then the finish at 6:44:51 . The last 6 kms in 0:41:19 .
Clem came in at 6:56 as he had promised me and I went to him and thanked him profusely. There is no way i would have finished if i had not paced with him.
THANK YOU RUNNERS"S WORLD.
THANK YOU, ALL THE PACERS IN THE WORLD.
My wife ran her 21 kms and finished in 2:47 and when we met at the finish I hugged her and cried and cried like a baby !!!
I LOVE THIS GIFT OF RUNNING. and tonight my frineds and I shall be celebrating with Guinness and I just sent them a text which said:
It was time
& I got my wish
now can we drink
like thirsty fish ?
But before I sign off for today let me tell you what i did before starting to write this note, I spent about a half hour looking for info for "Comrades 2009"
THANK YOU GUYS ! Thank you Sweder !!
SEE YOU FOR THE BOMBAY MARATHON JAN 2009
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