PR - 9:59:05 (official) 9:55:56 (my watch)

I got up with my wake-up call at 3.  Then they called back to tell me the VCR was broken and they couldn't tape the race for me.  I did my stretching routine and Tom called at 4:05, of course I was awake.  I did get some sleep.  We went down for breakfast at 4:30, and I limited myself to coffee, toast and granola with milk.  No need for protein or fat to ride up the hills this morning.  Back to the room for a shower and dress for the race.  I'm a ball of nerves.  I have drank 3L of water in the last 18 hours.

Tom agreed I should get him at 5:15 to walk to the start.  He wasn't ready and needed a few more minutes, so I waited downstairs in the lobby.  I tried to use the bathroom, and at 5:35 asked the desk to call his room.  No answer.   I didn't know if I had missed him go by when I was in the toilet, or if he hadn't come down yet.  Finally, I couldn't stand the anxiety any more and started walking to the start.  Tom caught me a block before I reached the tog bag trucks (Biddulph's Removals).  We dropped our bags, shook hands, and I walked into the back of the E bin.  Tom made his way up to the B bin.

Unlike in 2000, this year I heard the cock crow and I heard the gun go off - sounded like a cannon.  It must have taken 3:09 to walk in the crowd to the start line, where I started my watch, since that's the difference between my time and the race time.  We were running (mostly) almost immediately, but the crowd backed up a few times in the first few miles.

  The Start

My plan was to run 1.75 miles and walk .25 miles all the way to the 50 mile point.  Then I would decide if I could run the rest of the way.  So I started, and found that I was running faster than most of the E people, so I did a lot of weaving in the first 1.75 miles.  Then I walked, and they all went by me.  Then I started to run again at 2 miles and had to weave around everybody again for 1.75 miles.  Still, I decided that I would stick to my plan.  This is what I had practiced, and it was being put to the test.  I even resolved that if it got late in the race and I thought I couldn't finish, I would still do this plan for 11 hours and retire when forced to do so.  I had practiced this routine once for 7 hours and once for 6 and felt very confident that I could do it for 54 miles.

I was over-hydrated, and needed to find places from the very beginning to relieve myself.  I tried to do this when I was in the walking section and was fairly successful in that.  In the city, when you're on the expressway, the overpasses are crowded with spectators (yes even from the very beginning at 6:00 when it's still dark outside.)  Under the overpasses seemed to be a good spot, although the traffic coming south in the other lanes was still there.  You can see my mile splits on the graph below.  Every 2nd mile is .75 miles run and .25 mile walk.  The trend lines seem to indicate that I ran slower but walked faster as I progressed.  This may be due to the elevation gain in the first half of the race, and that I didn't have to stop as much later in the race.

As we began running, I seemed to be in a grumpy mood.  I recalled that both long training runs at Green Lakes were pleasant experiences.  I had looked forward to the training runs, and although I was alone, I had my Audible Otis player to listen to War and Peace, and I was really into running all day.  Today, even though it was the race I had trained for 6 months to be at, I was not into it.  I knew I could do it, I just didn't feel like it.  I'm not sure why, it could be the crowd (I seem to enjoy the crowd less and less) or it could be that since I didn't have anything to listen to I felt I would get bored.  I tried to focus on the scenery, as it seemed to brighten up very early in the race.  I pulled my sunglasses down off the brim of my cap before getting out of Durban.  I tried to keep positive thoughts, and popped one of my 20 lifesavers whenever I seemed to start griping to myself about not feeling like it.  I also began eating a bite of Balance Bar or Clif Bar (I had 2 of each in my pockets) on every walk section, just like I had practiced.  I took all the water sachets I could get, but nothing else - no PowerAde, no potatoes, bananas or oranges.

  Botha's Hill - 50K to go!

I ran along clicking off the miles, using my Nike SDM (Speed Distance Monitor) watch.  I set it up so the chronometer displayed the mileage in the big numbers in the center, which was all I could really see, or wanted to.  I did not know the race time except when I ran under the halfway scaffold in Drummond, and noted the time was 4:58+.  I seemed to remember how happy I was in 2000 running through Drummond with Tiekie, knowing that I was halfway, and that I had run every step.  This year I noted that I was in Drummond in the same time or less than it had taken me in 2000.  Except that in 2000 I ran every step, and this year I had walked 1/8th of the way.  I felt like that was a significant difference at the time.

  Drummond - halfway home!

When I got to 34 miles I was beginning to get bored with the whole thing.  I was on track, and I was using my food and lifesavers at a rate that would last to the finish.  Physically, I felt okay.  My legs were not sore, and I didn't have the desperation I had felt in 2000 for the last 35K or in 2001 for the last 15K.  I was just in need of some other distraction for my mind.  I decided that there were 8 2-mile sections left to get to 50 miles.  I started to focus on them, counting each one off as I ran 1.75, walked .25.  This seemed to be enough of a goal, and was challenging.  It seemed like the hardest of the 8 was the last one, in which I had to run the entire length of "Little Polly's" hill.

  At Tumble Inn only 12K to go, smiling for the camera.

At 50 miles, I decided I did not feel like running the whole way, but that I could continue with the 1.75-0.25 routine.  Of course, Polly Shortts is in miles 49-50.  I started up that hill, and began to feel very hot.  I remembered reading Fordyce's article that said there was very little to gain by running up Polly Shortts.  After 0.4 miles of the 49th mile, all on the hill, I decided that I was too hot and needed to cool off.  I walked.  This is the only exception in the whole course to my pattern.  At that time of day, the hill was in the shade, and I took my hat off and carried it and walked briskly but thought about trying to cool off.  I walked to the top, which was somewhere in the 50th mile.  It seems like the crest was at 49.4 miles and I started running again.  I thought I should skip the walk at the end of mile 50 since I had walked a lot more that I was "supposed to."  But I was getting tired now, and walked again from 49.8 to 50.0.

Now I was in the affluent neighborhood entering Pietermaritzburg.  I was up Polly Shortts, and had no idea what time it was, but I didn't really care enough to look at my watch.  After all, I was where I was, and looking at the time would not change the time.  So I just kept going.  At 3K to go, which was very near where my watch ticked over 52 miles, I decided I would run 1K, walk 1K and run the last K into the finish.  It was the beginning of the 53rd mile anyway and I was "supposed" to run here anyway.  So I started running, which felt a little bad until I got my stride going again.  I really had no leg pain, although if I ran too fast I could feel a cramp start.  I had felt my little toe on my right foot back around 40 miles, and it hurt.  I figured there was a blister and thought I might stop at a medical tent and have them pop it, but after a while it stopped hurting, so it must have popped itself.  Now, at 52 miles, it hurt a little to start running from a walk, but once running, it didn't hurt at all.  When I passed the 2K to go sign I decided that even though I had promised myself I'd walk, I was running the rest of the way.

Then there was 1 K to go.  I waited for that sign, since it is only 2.5 laps around a track.  Then there was an 800 Metres to go sign.  I saw that, and heard someone with a bullhorn say that those of us passing that sign now had 6 minutes to get in under ten hours.  I couldn't believe that, since I had already given up on sub-ten, and had also given up caring about it.  But I decided that unlike two years ago when I walked in since I had the time, this year I would try to get in under ten hours.  And I thought I could run a 6 minute 800, since I had been doing 800s in speed work in 3:45 or so.  So I ran as hard as I could.  And I could not believe how far 800 metres is.  There are a few turns inside the racecourse once you run in, so you can't see the finish line until you're about 100 metres from it.  When I did see it I "sprinted."  I thought I saw 9:58+ on the clock, but the web says 9:59:05, which I'll take.  That's 1 hours, 1 minute and 28 seconds improvement in my up run time.