The Peninsula Marathon
Cands / 
9 Comments / 
February 23rd, 2009 / 
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Yesterday saw me on yet another starting line, for my 3rd marathon to date. For those of you who have been with me from the start, my début marathon was on the Peninsula 42.2km so I was really looking forward to this. Unfortunately they changed the course route from one which had it labelled as the “Fastest Marathon in Africa” to I don’t know what, but I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to write it here without a PG rating.
I started with an old running partner Micheal aka “Old Faithful” aka “Too-Old-To-Attend-Raves-But-Doesn’t-Know-It-Yet”, we had a fabulous 19km together which consisted of him complaining about the route and his splits and his cold and me telling him to man-up, and unfortunately the fun had to end when I needed a pit stop and told him to go on ahead.
Half way up Red Hill, with my iPod doing damage to my inner ear, I was tapped on the shoulder by another runner who clearly wanted to chat to help make the hill go by quickly. Chatting to runners like this can be a bit of a gamble, some make you regret ever taking your earphones out to contribute to the conversation while others result in a friendship that is carried from one race to another. On this occasion I struck it lucky with Christopher from Atlantic AC who had me laughing in no time. The top of the hill came very swiftly where we were caught by a fellow Atlantic club member Adrie (if I’ve spelled it wrong I’m really sorry) who very enthusiastically contributed to our conversation as to why sunglasses get fogged up when you run (I’m not going to divulge our theory here because it was fuelled by 23km of running and an almost certain sugar low).
For 10km the 3 of us laughed and theorized and shared running tales until Adrie and I got our second wind and broke away from the pack, running together until the 37km mark where all the potatoes I’d eaten along the way finally resulted in a surge of energy and I set off to finish in 4:21 (sprinting at the very end which makes me think I really should have tried harder during the race).
I haven’t enjoyed a race like this for ages and I want to say thanks to Michael, Chris and Adrie for running with me. I also want to thank my trusty seconds Nicolene, Jeanene and Mary for being there with food and encouragement along the route.
Oh and I almost forgot, for the first part of the race I was lucky enough to be in the vicinity of the 9 times Comrades Marathon winner Bruce Fordyce, who I might add is a barrel of laughs and an inspiration to any runner!
The Peninsula Marathon
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What that chaotic start and some of the tables been poorly stocked from time to time. Not the best planned race and hope organisers fix up before next year
Hi Dan, yes I agree some of them were badly organized…
Sounds like an awesome race! So how did it compare to the previous marathons for you?
Joe
I can’t even tell you the difference… the first marathon I did the last 5km’s were hell (as well as the few days after). The second was also tough although I did feel stronger, but this one I really felt great the entire way and could have gone running on Tuesday again, so there is definite improvement.
Hi Candice. What an interesting site. Enjoyed reading your account of the Peninsula (and knowing now what I did not know then am honoured that you didn’t get straight back onto the iPod!). I have good memories of the Peninsula even though I had to grovel from 28Km to the finish on my own. But it’s great to meet people and chat along thge way – helps the Ks tick by. I told Kevin (Top Events) that the new course is far more interesting and scenic than the traditional (fast) Peninsula and they should seriously think about keeping it going forward. The start issues can be ironed out. Hope you enjoyed the 10K last night, in spite of the congestion. We appear to be victims of our own success here as numbers have escalated from 650 in the first year to 1500 last year and 1700 this year.
I’ll mention this blog to Adri – she’ll also be pleased with your comments. Hope to catch up (and stay) with you in more races to come. Hope your Two Oceans training goes well.
Chris (AAC).
I can’t get no respect – Cheeky bloody youngsters!
Hi Chris, I’m so glad you found my blog!! Last night’s race was great, thanks for saying hi I’m really glad I got to see you again, I felt a little bad that Adri and I had left you on the Peninsula Marathon (which I also think should be kept as the new route). I’m sure I’ll see you soon!!
Take care
You need to post pictures of yourself! We may have passed each other in races without even knowing it. Good luck with your 2 Oceans and Comrades training!
There are a couple of photo’s in some of my other posts, I’ll try and get a decent one up;) I run in a skirt so I shouldn’t be too hard to miss!