The perfect day for my all-time favourite race!!!
Saturday dawned warm and cloudy, with overcast conditions predicted for the rest of the day, with a chance of light rain to cool us down. The most perfect weather any runner could ask for, especially when planning on being out on the road for most of the morning!!
Well done to all the Hillbillies who ran the Winelands Marathon or Half this past weekend - you all did fantastically well!!! I hope you had fun at the same time?
The route, while all along the main roads, is extremely scenic, running past many wine farms and strawberry fields just outside Stellenbosch. The Half Marathon has a dirt-road section from about half-way, before heading back into town along R44/Broadlands Boulevard. The Marathon is entirely on the tar.
I was overjoyed to be running the marathon again this year, having run the Half last year due to undertraining from injuries and flu earlier in the year. While I enjoyed the half marathon route, I felt a bit sad at not being able to run my favourite route... This year I was back and determined to have a good race: not necessarily a good time, but to enjoy myself and finish strong and comfortably.
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| Route Profile: Marathon |
At 5:25 I took a slow stroll to the starting line. There I spotted another friend who'd joined us for our Winelands Training run 3 weeks ago. 5:29 was a moment of silence for the Helderberg Harriers man and his son who were killed a couple of years ago - knocked over by a drunk driver while they were setting out signage for this race. 5:30 the gun went off and we started our long journey back to that same spot.
I felt strong and confident, but kept my pace in check (I've learnt the hard way that no matter how good you feel a the start of a marathon, you will need as much energy reserves as you can save up later on in the race - 42km is a LONG way to run!).
The race starts just off the R44 (Broadlands Boulevard) in Stellenbosch, heads a few hundred meters up R44 before turning off into Drop Street. Then its onto Adam Tas/R310, and here the fun starts! About 5km in, we ran past the Baden Powell/R310 turn-off - the way many people drove in that morning. Some runners around me were joking about heading down there for a shortcut (the road ends up further down that road a bit later). But no, the marshalls weren't feeling generous that morning and we kept on straight. Past Vlottenburg Road (which isn't even a named road on many GPS systems, but very much there) until we reached the base of a long hill, with another, longer, hill looming just ahead, but no runners in sight! Because this was Vlaeberg Road, where we left Adam Tas and headed deeper into the winelands (just past 11km point, almost 1/3 done)
Vlaeberg is a lovely, narrow little road, with gentle gradient, almost flat, and beautiful little dams and farms along the way. Very peaceful and quiet, and a much-needed break from the gentle but long climb along Adam Tas.
Vlaeberg emerges a little further down Baden Powell Drive/R310, just past the 15km mark (and a little over 1/3 through the race). About a mile along Baden Powell, we saw the little road-side cafe where we stopped for water and cooldrinks on our training run, but on race day there is no stopping. Traffic has been stopped for the current group of runners, and I dashed across the road with them to head down Annandale Road for the next 5-or-so km of ups and downs.
By this time I was feeling a little tired and my feet were starting to hurt (note to self: if you drop your water sachet in the middle of the road right in front of a water-table, do NOT stop and twist to pick it up to help the helpers' clean-up - my feet did not like me after that and it was barely half-way!!)
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| Route Map: Marathon |
Right onto Broadlands Boulevard/R44 at 22km, this was the big out-and-back section, heading a good ways towards Somerset West (which isn't all that far away it turns out!) By this point I was getting a little worried - my feet were sore and my knees were both grumbling just a little. Being on the road for going-on 5 hours, any little niggle can turn into a nasty injury. But I kept going, slow and steady. The half-way mark was behind me, only 20km left, I can do this!
I distracted myself from my own discomfort by watching the faster runners heading past in the opposite direction, having already reached the turn-around point and on their way to the finish line. I was keeping an eye out for some friends who should be coming into view soon. I soon spotted the bright pink Hout Bay shorts of my friend Candyce (she finished under 3h30, and was flying down the road looking extremely strong at that point!). A little ways behind Candyce I saw Paul with his unofficial sub-4h00 bus, and hot on his heels was Josh, looking strong and comfortable, and really motoring down the road!!! (Josh ran a PB of 4h10 - WELL DONE!!!!!)
Soon I spotted the slipway off to Beaulies Crescent, at around 28km, meaning that the turn-around point was just 500m ahead. Wow, so soon??? And I was actually feeling much better by now than I had 5km back. My feet still hurt, and my back was complaining too (bad posture, I made conscious effort to keep my back straight but still found myself slouching from time to time), but I knew that if I had made it this far (2/3 done!) I was going to finish the race without worrying about/chasing cut-off. Now I could relax and really enjoy the experience.
By this time I was so sick of energy gels (7km, 14km, 21km, next one due at 28km but I was feeling a little over-sugared) that I decided to just stick to Coke and water for the next few km. Just as I finished my Coke, I spotted an old friend (there supporting another friend). Then back onto the R44 and I started looking out for familiar faces in the crowds still heading for the slipway and turnaround.
Before I know it, I was cresting the 33km hill and watching the back-markers shuffling along in the opposite direction, still heading for the turn-around and worrying on their behalf about making cut-off. By this time I had realized that I was < 10km from the finish line, and making VERY good time - way better than I'd ever dared to expect for this day. I was not as fit as I'd been for my PB marathon at Outeniqua in April, and I was definitely not feeling as good either (my feet were VERY sore but I ignored them and kept moving). But 4h30 was in sight, if I could just keep moving. I knew there were still 2 BIG hills ahead, so 4h30 would but touch-and-go, requiring some speedy leg-work on the downs and flats to make up for time lost heading up the next 2 hills. Okay, so I might not run a PB on this race, I was realist enough to accept that, but I would definitely run a course-PB (previous best for Winelands Marathon was 2007: 4h43 - I'd beat that by a good 5 minutes at least, which was way more than I'd expected starting out at 5:30 that morning, so I was very happy!)
35km - the big hill looming just ahead. Walk-break due in 1km, but I didn't think I'd make it until that point up this hill, so run till just beyond that crash-barrier about 1/3 up the hill and then take a walk. Done. Walk 300m, time to run. 36km water table just ahead, and there are orange peels on the road - am I in time to get some oranges (my absolute all-time favourite mid-race snack is munching on a juicy orange wedge - it revives me instantly!) Yes!!! They have oranges!!!! I grabbed a wedge and downed it. One more for the road, and I felt a surge of new energy. Time to get moving!!!
Those oranges got me over the hill and up the next one, still grinning like an idiot and have a ball despite my sore feet and back. At 39km I started to flag again. I'd been sipping at a GU for the last 2km, but it was just too sweet and I ended up chucking the last half away at 39km marker board and grabbing a coke at the next table. A brief rain shower revived me again just at the top of the hill at 39km and I managed to get moving again, this time keeping a close eye on my time, pace and mileage - I wasn't going to make sub-4h30, I'd lost too much time up the last hill, but I was still on track for a PB, IF I could keep my pace under 6m30 for the next 2 1/2 km. No problem - its all flat from here. Go go go!!!
41km: there's a hill just ahead, I forget about it every year without fail. But no hill is going to stop me at this point - I'm doing 5m45 pace, feeling surprisingly strong, and I can hear Harold Berman welcoming the finishers in just ahead. CAN'T stop now!!!
41.5km: the hill is done, just a short little side-road ahead before I hit the field and there's the finish line!!! I've still got 5 minutes to beat my current PB, plenty of time!
42km: rounding the corner on the field, and I see a guy just ahead of me putting on a final burst of speed. Nice, a challenge! I somehow managed to speed up a little more and sprinted for the finish line, finishing just ahead of him, just as the timer hit 4h32m. Quick fumble with the timing chip on my wrist and bend over to touch the mat (very ouch, but it has to pass close over the timing mat to register my finish, and I wasn't in the mood to struggle with lacing it into my shoes that morning) and I was finished, with a new PB safely in the bag!!!!
What started out as a leisurely morning run ended up with a fantastic new marathon time - down from my surprise-PB of 4h35 in April, to an even bigger surprise-PB of 4h32! This was my last Winelands in a while, and I wanted to have good memories of my favourite race - I don't think I could've dared ask for a better memory of my last Winelands!!!
I have to say thank you to Helderberg Harriers for organising this fantastic event so successfully yet again. As always, the day went smoothly - marshals were well-positioned, water tables well-stocked, registration, start and finish well-designed and executed. Everything was so well organised that us runners could relax and enjoy our run, knowing we were in great hands. Thanks guys!!! I will definitely be making a plan to get back to SA at some point in the not-too-distant future to run this race again. Still my absolute all-time-favourite race of any distance!!!
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Dean Street Hillbillies
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