RACE REPORT: Sanlam Cape Town Marathon - My first marathon in the bag baby by Mary-Anne Nielsen

A little back history before I start. My 1st 5km run with my uncle was in Matric. I can’t say I understood why anyone would willingly get up so early to run, this was the only and last run I did until much later in life. To this day, I’m so grateful for that run and what he told me. Back in the day he was in the army, he said they ran for 40km’s with full heavy kit. What he said to me on that run… Mary-Anne, all you have to do is keep your breathing under control, if you can keep doing that you just switch your mind off to the pain and you can keep going and going. I always remember his words when I run longer distances now, it gives me strength when the going gets tough.

Lastly, just to say thanks to Linda Welsch (ex FHAC member) who told me about her running journey, she started running around the block at first and slowly increased, joined FHAC running club and went on to run and finish Comrades. She is such a huge inspiration to me, she helped me get to my first 10km and told me so much about FHAC that I couldn’t wait to join too. I’m so happy I did, such a fabulous and supportive club! Now I absolutely love running, I can’t get through my week without my runs, it’s become my way of life and I love it!

RACE DAY:

I woke up at 3:15am without my alarm, so excited – the day is finally here.. my kit all set out and I’m ready to rock and roll. I met up with Theresa and a few others and we headed through, lots of chatting about race nutrition tips so time went by very quickly and before I knew it, we parked at the Waterfront. A quick walk up to Green Point stadium, some photos of course and we dispersed into our batches. The excitement was real – so many. Trying hard not to be too nervous, you got this, just go out, you’ve done all you can, what will be will be now.

Not too long after we were off, I checked my pace and slowed down, remember what they told you, don’t go out too fast, it’s a long way. I fell into a steady pace and got swept away with all the runners, time seemed to just flow – my first memory was seeing Table Mountain running on the M3 out of Town, wow… something I would never be able to do normally, quickly stopped to get a few pics, a massive sea of runners in front and behind me that had overtaken the normally traffic filled road and our beautiful mountain and blue skies ahead. The wind was a bit hectic but it didn’t matter, I was running somewhere new, it was so beautiful and I got swept up in the mass again.

Running down Woodstock I loved looking at all the little shops, the wind again head-on, I noticed a lot of people started walking a bit here so I did the same, just taking it easy today. My only goal is to finish.
A few km’s on, running through Rosebank and Newlands I couldn’t believe we’d be hitting Claremont soon – I remember that would be the turning point to start heading back. I was very good and took my GU gels religiously every 7km’s, plenty water, the 3km water points seem to be whizzing by now. It was very hot though, at most of the stops it was 1 water for me and 1 got thrown over my head to cool down. The gees around Rondebosch common was just AMAZING, I got goosebumps and felt so emotional running around, I was so happy to see some familiar faces from the club (I gave poor Di a sweaty hug, sorry Di 😉).

Now it was time to dig deep, 21km done… I was excited but then realized I was only halfway and quickly pushed those thoughts out my head. Don’t overthink, just run and keep running. I switched off and kept running, the stretch along Mowbray Black River Park was lovely… flat with the wind on our back and the lovely Woollies snack truck. Again, remembering what my teammates advised, try eating something if you can to get energy so I grabbed a salted baby potato which was actually lovely and carried on running. I absolutely loved the cool mist run through! My feet were quite sore now, so annoying but I refused to let it ruin my run, so I stopped every now and again to stretch and rotate feet a bit and kept moving on. All I needed to do was get to 30km, then it’s basically a 10km right?! The stories we tell ourselves 😉

Running through Salt River was tough, I tried to distract myself looking at everything around me and thought, we are running back into Town, nearly there – just keep going. I definitely started slowing down, running up Mill Street area were both hills were more walk than run … today was not about time I just needed to finish.
I was so thankful to get to the top of Mill Street and then fell into pace again with the mass, running down Long Street I got totally distracted until we reached the blue carpet with all the music and gees – I nearly started crying, how embarrassing, argh, the excitement of the day and all the gees was just so overwhelming, nothing can beat this feeling. Luckily I managed to pull it together and kept going…not there yet just keep going! The gees on this race is just out of this world!

Heading to the Stadium, I only had about 10km’s to go but my feet were really sore now, it was really hot, for me this was the tough part. The last few km’s.. the Beach road loop was torture heading out, it just never seemed to end, when was the turn around?! I spotted a few of my friends running back already on the other side, walk run, walk run and eventually I got to the turn around point.

The worst is over… I’m actually going to do it, only 2km’s to go!!! The sore feet didn’t matter now, spotting my hubby and daughter gave me the last bit of energy and I sped up and ran in…I felt so strong, running over that finish line was just the best feeling ever. Everything was so worth it. I couldn’t wait to find our Gazebo and go greet my team, my running family.
Each and every one who helped me get my Marathon (special thanks to our Tues eve run group!). I’m so grateful.