What a great
sport we have chosen to do, another excuse to get away for the weekend and get
some great training and complete another Ultra Marathon, an accomplishment many
of us take for granted, but in reality no matter what time you finish in it is
an accomplishment to be proud of, so well done to all who conquered OM DIE DAM
2013 .
After an
awesome lighting storm we witnessed while having supper on Friday evening, we
wondered what weather was in store for us on Saturday. We woke to a nice cool
overcast morning with lightning in the distance and the threat of rain, ( of
course it was going to rain as I for once put lots of sunblock on ! ) Meeting
fellow club mates at the start of a race is always a special part of the race.
Elsa, Vanessa, Riaan, Lala, Ntokosa, Gladys & I ( Paul ) were all preparing
for the 50km while Marie-Louise & Wimpie looked much more relaxed as they
prepared for the 21km.
The gun went
& we were off, besides Comrades I have never seen so many runners at a race
before, the first 8km was quite slow as there were so many runners and you
couldn’t get past them, slowly the runners thinned out and we could get our
pace going. Elsa & I became the pace setters for the sub 5 Hour Bus, not
wanting to run in the pack we kept just in front of the “Bus driver” and
eventually he kept chatting to us about the pace and how we must keep it
steady. That was fun while it lasted and we kept either in or in front of the
bus up until the famous Saartjiesnek, then Elsa, Vanessa & I showed the
others we came from Nelspruit where we train with hills and we cruised up
Saartjiesnek at a great pace and left the bus behind. On the way to the finish
we overtook a second Sub 5 hour bus and we finished strong. Elsa, Vanessa, Lala
& I all getting in under 5 Hours.
Riaan is
also a special case ( more like mental to me ) been extremely busy at work he
has been travelling the world and hadn’t run for two to three weeks, then he
pitches up at the start of the 50km and says he is aiming for a gentle 5h30, he
finished in a comfy 5h28. Well done Riaan, one day I hope to be as experienced
as you.
Well done to
all who ran and kept the Nedbank LVCC flag flying.
To make the
most of the weekend away, after the race I did the tourist thing and went up
the cable car to the top of Magaliesberg and had awesome views of the dam and
country side.
If I don’t
see you through the window, I will see you on the road.
Cheers,
Paul
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| Front: Paul Back: Hartbeespoort Dam |
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| Venessa, Elsa, Lala & Paul |
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| Hartbeespoort Dam |
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