Race Report: Prison to Prison Half Marathon

"Learn something new.Try something different.Convince yourself that you have no limits." ~ Brian Tracy

This was my motive for ditching the 'Lion of Africa' half marathon in Tokai this past Saturday in favour of the 'Prison to Prison' half just outside Worcester. And wow, was I surprised at how beautiful it is out there!! Definitely a good call!!

We started out in Brandvlei near the prison's parole office (sounds scary, but we weren't in the actual prison, more along the lines of the admin/work area of the prison staff. We even ran past a couple of houses - I guess for the people working there and their families, as it is a bit of a drive from Rawsonville and Worcester). 

We started at 7:00 (a little late for the HOT summer days, but I guess it was mainly to cater for people driving long distances to run this instead of the bigger Lion of Africa a little closer to home). We did a 5km loop through a small neighbourhood before passing the start and heading back out in the opposite direction.

The majority of the route ran past the Brandvlei Dam. I was so glad that I'd decided to use this race to try out my new (and compact) camera. I'd brought it with, 'just in case', and driving towards the start, even though still dark, I'd caught a few glimpses of the dam. And decided right then and there that the camera was going to do the 21km with me!

All the pics (except of course the pre- and post-race ones) were snapped while running. I got the expected blurs, but the majority of the pics were surprisingly clear!

Okay, back to the race: km's 5-13 were out along the dam, while 13-21 were back along the same route. The route can best be described as 'mildly undulating'. The up's enought to shorten your breath, the downs just 'down' enough to recover and make up some time. It was a fairly lonely route, with very little by way of traffic, and small 'busses' of runners ahead and behind me. The field was so small because most runners would have opted for the better known and closer-to-home 'Lion of Africa' in Tokai. Which was fine by me - no congestion, and very little litter along the side of the road (some runners are quite inconsiderate and just throw their empty water sachets/coke cups wherever, giving the rest of us a bad name!!

By far the biggest bus was the group from Brackenfell AC. I was just behind them all the way, and they were quite amusing in their antics! It was obvious from the start that they were using this race as a club training run - they were taking it easy and having a ball! Everytime one of their faster club-mates would pass them on an out-and-back portion of the route, they'd all stop and wave and cheer for them! It's a pity they didn't give any advance warning of this, as I'd have loved to snap a pic or two, but by the time I'd gotten my camera out of its pouch and switched on, they were off again... At least they kept me smiling the whole way, and made the kms just fly by!

By 15km it was pretty hot out, and I'd poured a fair amount of water over my head and down my back to cool off. Heading out there was a nasty little head-wind to contend with, but sadly, as it always seems to happen, after we'd turned around the wind died off. We had a few gusts of tail-wind, but nothing close to what we'd had heading out. Usually I'm not a fan of windy running conditions, but any breeze was most welcome here to cool off a little! Surprisingly, even though I'd forgotten to take my sunblock with (I was way to fast asleep that early in the morning to think of little things like that!) I didn't get sunburnt. I've managed to regain my sock-and-shorts tan though!!

Near the start/finish, there were a couple of these motivational signs - I finally thought to snap a pic of the last one, just before the 19km mark (and last water table, seen just ahead at the top of the biggest hill in the race, at the entrance to the Brandvlei secure area. Kind of like they do at the Two Oceans. Mostly I think these are for the amusement of the runners, to help them take their minds off the heat, and the pain in their legs!

Finally, after 2h21 on the road, the finish line was in sight!! Always a welcome sight, no matter how enjoyable the race/route. It offers the promise of an ice-cold glass of coke, a good stretch, and some clean water to wash your face!

Apparently this is a new route, run for the very first time this year. Previous events were point-to-point, where you boarded a bus, got dropped off at the Worcester Prison, and were told to 'run along back to Brandvlei'. Hence the name 'Prison to Prison'. This year was an out-and-back route, so I guess it was more like 'Prison-and-back-to-Prison'

All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable race! Worth the long drive and early morning.

Here are the usual stats:

Route Profile

Route Map