Soweto Marathon

Yesterday we ran the Soweto Marathon. Really a great race; The scenery was spectacular (which other marathon runs along the houses of 2 Nobel Price winners?), the route challenging and the crowd really awesome.

The organization, however, was terrible. On Saturday people had to stand at least for 2 hours, in the sun, in line to get their race numbers, the kilometer markers were put down at random (Joost ran from 9 to 10 kays in 4:42 and from 10 to 11 in 3:22???) and worst of all: There was only water on the course! It was 32 degrees C out there, and we were loosing salt by the kilos, but no way to refill them. The event was sponsored by Powerade (an energy drink which has electrolytes in it), so we thought we would be fine. On the route we saw only two stations with Powerade: one quite early and the other one already went out (although we weren't the slowest runners). They also served Coke, but also here: many stations just didn't have any coke any more when we arrived. At the finish we had to stand in line for another 20!! Minutes to get 1 cup of Powerade, not a bottle or something, only one cup.

To the race itself: We left at 3:45am and about 15km before Soweto we saw a guy with a Soweto Marathon Shirt running along the highway. We picked him up and found out he was going to run the marathon as well. On the question why he was running to the race (and not eg. taking a taxi) he answered: I always run to the races....

On kilometer 8 Anita picked up with a blind-runner who asked her to guide him, which she did. She ran a little bit to fast with him, which she had to pay for at the end of the race. Still, considering being her first Marathon and all the hills, she finished in an excellent 4:23.

Joost had an excellent race as well. He ran on a 4:16 kay/minute (in order to finish under 3 hours) schedule which worked out really well. The first 21 in 1:28 and 30 in 2:07. On kay 32, there was a steep downhill toward Winnie Mandela's house and there, without notice, both legs severely cramped up simultaneously. He got some salt (inspired by Peter Dixon) from a woman who was cheering along the course, but that didn't help too much. Therefore he had to walk the last 10 kays and decided to wait for Anita just before the finish line. We had finished together (which was great).

Now it is time to relax and start focusing on the cycling and swimming as well. Our next race: the Half Ironman in Midmar on the 28th of January.