Slow Mag Marathon Race Report

I ran my third marathon on Sunday.  It was cold and overcast and drizzled a few times along the way.  I ran with a long sleeve t-shirt the whole time.  I thought it would be good weather to improve on my last marathon time, but it wasn’t to be.

It was a good race, I rate it 17/18 on my usual race report form – the reason that they didn’t get full marks is because there were no toilets along the route.

Ian and I were late for the start because I was still using the porta-loo. We had to run  about 400 metres to the start and still wend our way thru’ the slow starters but it didn’t make any difference to us.  We caught up to Karen who was lined up in time.

The race is rated 3 on the Nedbank Runners Guide and altho’ there were no long or steep hills, there were enough to make you feel as if you were working the whole way.

The route went thru’ a lovely golf estate with some beautiful houses.  The residents of the estate had a watering table which was well manned, well stocked, good music playing and on the second lap, some needed chocolate and salt.  Thanks to all those volunteers.  We also got to see some of the golfers on the second lap.

I met some nice people along the way and spent about 8 kilometers with Chris which I really enjoyed.  We parted ways at the end of the first lap where I “slowed down” to chat to Ian and eat some almond bar.  I nearly caught up to him at 30km but I needed to stop at the garage toilet and I didn’t see him again.  I take that as a good sign since he was needing to finish under 5 hours to qualify for The Comrades.

Ian and Karen ran the half marathon.  They decided at the start of the race that they wanted to break 2:10:00 so they set off at a much faster pace than I was ready to run.  They finished in their goal time and were very impressed with themselves.  My intention was to finish in under 5 hours, which I achieved and Alan also achieved his goal of 3:20:00.  All round, a good Sunday morning outing.

For pre-entry, we got a t-shirt which I think is a great one – Red with the silhouette of a runner made up of smaller silhouette runners.  (I’m very sure that one of the runners that make up the silhouette is my dad).

All finishers got a red bag with their medal, a water bottle and a peak cap.  Mars bars were also handed out to the finishers.