RACE REPORT: Timbercity Red Hill Marathon Marshalls Run – My first DNF by Lauren Tuck
Sometimes you fly… sometimes you fall
My first ever Red Hill Classic. The marshal’s run and a beautiful day, light breeze and still cool as the sun began to wake up the world. I felt great as we started out, a little faster than I had planned but it didn’t seem like a hard effort so I kept on cruising, past Masi and Ocean View and sticking with the group for safety, but there was barely another soul awake at that hour and all was quiet.
Through Kommetjie and then the climb up Misty Cliffs everything was going well and as I passed 10km I thought I might finish closer to 4 hours than 4.5. And then… it all went wrong. Around 12km in I felt a niggle in my calf, a slight cramping that started setting off alarm bells in my head as it got progressively more intense. After a pause at 15km in Scarborough I set off again but I knew something was wrong. Caring club mates gave me Eno (for the next water point) and a sachet of Deep Heat, which I tried my best to rub in through the sweat and mostly just succeeded in making my hand burn, but I knew in my heart I was done, this wasn’t a cramp, something had pulled and if I didn’t stop I would tear it.
At 17km I stopped to walk and then tried to run again and that something went twang and then I could barely move at all. I hobbled along to 19.5km and the next water point, where I knew I’d be able to catch a lift back, all the while fighting with the voice in my head that told me I should just keep going, I’d be fine. I tried one more time to run as I approached the water stop and managed exactly two steps before the pain made me realise that I would be an idiot to push through and I would ruin my chances of getting to the start line at Two Oceans. Sense prevailed, and I bailed (thanks for the towel and the kindness and the lift Colette).
While my race absolutely did not go as planned (and I had a bit of a cry in my car on the way home), I did learn some valuable lessons.
1: ramping up your mileage while neglecting mobility is a recipe for disaster. Some people can get away with it, I’m not one of them.
2: if you ignore your body when it starts talking to you, it will eventually have to scream to make itself heard.
3: FHAC is awesome because its members are just the best. The sympathy, support and encouragement from everyone just blew me away.
So now I (im)patiently recover, but watch this space, I’ll be back.
