Hot hot hot

The guy who tried to kill me last Saturday has done two London marathons, about 12 years ago. He remembers that for one of them, the temperature was at a record high for the running of the race: 19 degrees Celcius. N-n-n-n-nineteen! That's my teeth chattering, not a Paul Hardcastle impression. I think 19 is probably about the coldest I have run in, and that only at about 6am - I don't think I will have finished a run in anything less than 20 degrees.

The Red Cross is sending me a running vest for the big day. I may need leggings and a jersey too.
.

Back on the mountain

Up on the mountain running again tonight, and feeling much stronger. Saw a couople of interesting things. As the world knows, today is the 20th anniversary of Mandela's release from prison. There were police parked at strategic intervals along the road on my commute home, ready to stop the traffic for him when he left parliament. From the mountain above Kirstenbosch, I saw the aerobatic display team pootling around the skies over the southern suburbs. I think they were Pilatus trainers, for the airheads amongst you.

The other thing, which nearly caused a pile up as I stopped to examine it, was a wasp and a spider. The wasp was dragging a spider, which it had paralysed, across the path. It looked just like the photo at that link. I've seen one before, and it hid the spider, then flew around checking if it was visible before flying off. What the wasp does is to lay its eggs on the spider, and when it's babies are born, their first meal is the still alive spider. Ain't nature grand!
.

Overdoing it again

Once again, I seem to have pushed it a bit. I'm either over-training or under-sleeping, I'm not sure which - probably a bit of both. Having surpassed myself in the half marathon on Saturday, I've collapsed physically. It's taken me until today to feel like I've got the energy to run properly again, and I've got a persistent sore throat that doesn't seem to be going away. My left knee is also achy, but I'm not sure if that's a bruise, wear & tear, or some kind of referred pain from my back.

Anyway, I'm going to drag my sorry, sore legs out of the door later for a few kilometres to see how it goes. Looks like I may be missing a few targets this week.
.

Half measures

Another weekend, another half marathon. This one was a lot flatter, conditions were beautiful, and I had a pacemaker. Mike was keen to break 100 minutes, and was busy at the start trying to convince me that I could too. I, on the other hand, had been feeling knackered all week - even more so than usual - and hadn't slept well for 2 or 3 nights. Anyway, Mike missed his 100 minutes by 3 seconds - although I pointed out to him it took 20 or 30 to cross the line - and I did it in 1:41.58, a new record for me. Since I'm fitter than I've ever been since I started running this kind of distance, I keep improving on my own times, which is quite satisfying.

I have still never run more than 21.1km, so the next few weeks is uncharted territory, but I'm starting to feel like it might be possible.
.

Bruno's in!

My faithful running partner has got a place in the marathon too! He managed to get a place via the St John Ambulance. He's an easy sell to them, as he has run marathons before, is already in training, and is a marketing whizz, so will have no trouble raising the cash. His target is lower than mine, so it's a good job I've got a head start.

I'm not sure if we will be running together though. Apparently there is some form of seeding in the race based on your predicted finish time, so they put the faster funners at the front to minimise congestion. I don't remember putting a time on my application, but if I did it would have been about 4 hours. Bruno has put something more than that, so he'll just have to catch me up. More speed training - we need to hit the hills!

In other news, 7km tonight with no nasty incidents, or need for further Immodium. A relief to everyone I'm sure.
.

Two bob bits

Can you believe it - I'm on a new project (woo!) and I've spent the first day at work feeling pretty ropey. Dodgy guts you see. Must have eaten something yesterday. Tonight I had a run planned: nearly 14km - over an hour of running. I felt great. At least, I felt great as far as the running was concerned. Then about half way round I started to feel not so great, and pretty glad that nobody was running behind me. Half way along the beach I had to stop to clench my buttocks. Luckily Dunes is at the end of the beach, so I dived in there and used their facilities. Since their tables are mostly outside, the toilets are easily accessible from outside, so I could get in and out with no embarassing explanations.

All the while this is going on, on the psychic iPod is Whole Lotta Love: "... I wanna be your backdoor man". Hmmm
.

Kloof Nek

Yesterday, stepping up the weekend long run, I did the Kloof Nek Classic half marathon, which took my weekly mileage (kilometreage?) over 60 for the first time, and my total since I started this whole thing over 600km. This is getting serious!

The run starts down at Camps Bay High School, then goes up (UP) to Kloof Nek, then up some more and along past the calbe station. It then turns for the first time, and you pass anyone who is behind you as you come back to Kloof Nek, then up again to the top of Signal Hill, and a great view of the new stadium at Greenpoint. You then turn again, back to Kloof Nek, and back down to Camps Bay High. It's a punishing course, and the last 4km or so, which is a steep down hill is probably much loved by Cape Town's knee specialists, as one friend remarked. My heel tends to get sore, as well as the knee, but hopefully it won't get worse as I increase the distance. Kudos to Bruno who was at the J&B Met (horserace / party) on Saturday, ran on Sunday morning, and played golf on Sunday afternoon. I think he went to bed early last night.

As for me, I ran 1:54, which isn't bad given the hills. I don't seem to be getting any faster, but I can run for longer, which is probably a good thing. At least I get today off.
.