Stats: Thursday, 15 April 2010, 06:00

Winter has finally arrived, it seems. Today dawned cool and promising of rain. It actually was drizzling lightly when I arrived in Newlands this morning, but I was dressed for running, and would run even if the others decided to stay warm and dry. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Linelle, Errard and Rob already waiting for me, cold and ready to run.

As with Thursday tradition, today was a shorter run that Tuesday, although Rob and Linelle seemed quite ready to tackle the next hill, and the next, and the next... Linelle is running very strong lately - you'll do your sub-2h00 Half Marathon easily, I'm sure. You may even surprise yourself by running a much better time that you imagined!!

This morning was just over 10km of running. We stuck to our 'old favourite' route up Glastonbury, turning around at the top of the hill for a relaxing cruise back down. We saw 2 guys running at us from the opposite direction this morning, and when they turned down our route just ahead of us, our competitive streaks showed big-time, and we gave chase! The guys seemed to be taking it easy while managing a very nice pace, but we still managed to close the gap quite nicely before they turned off to take a shortcut along the trail next to Stone Church... We continued along our merry way back towards the M3, and beyond, the ultimate goal on everyones mind (I'm sure) being a hot shower and hot mug of coffee (or tea, or soup, or hot chocolate even!)

As is becoming custom, the pace picked up when Westerford came into sight, and we pushed the last few hundred meters to finish strong but thoroughly spent! Another fantastic run with the Dean Street Hillbillies!!! Thanks guys, that run made my day!!

I will see you guys on Tuesday again, bright and early, 6:00 a.m.

Just a little side-note before I get to the stats: next week I will be tapering for a big race that weekend, so I'll be going slow and short, but the rest of the Hillbillies don't have to stick to my taper - go ahead and do a nice hillbilly run on Tuesday, I'll stick to around 8-9km, and Wed/Thu I'll do a slow 5. Of course you're welcome to join me, but don't let me hold you back from doing the regular routes next week. For the following 2 weeks I'll be out of town on holiday, so you guys will just have to keep in touch with each other regarding runs/routes/times. I will be back on Tuesday 11 May!!! I will miss running with you guys for the 2 weeks that I'm away, but I do plan to get in a few training runs while I'm out of town. I'll try to remember to take some photos!

And without any further ado, here are this morning's stats!

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Stats: Tuesday, 13 April 2010, 06:00

Now this was a run to remember!! A record turn-out as well as a very scenic route, and the most amazing views from the top of Kirstenbosch!!! Wow!!!

We had a couple of Hillbillies meeting each other for the first time today. 7 people ran this morning, quite a feat! Allen, Brett, Claire, Dy, Linelle, Rob and I set off from Dean Street this morning. A little cold but all keen for a good run, and looking forward to the promised detour through Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.

We started easy up Dean Street and along Newlands Avenue. Over the M3 and up Boshoff. Allen, Linelle and Rob sped up Kirstenbosch Drive, waiting for the rest of us at the water point at the top. We all set off together up the infamous Glastonbury Drive - a tough hill, so well done to everyone for conquering it!! We were rewarded with some beautiful views from this high vantage point, with the sun just starting to rise.

We set off again for the last climb up to Kirstenbosch Top (Rycroft) Gate, stopping for water at the entrance. Then we went into Kirstenbosch and started the most scenic km of the run - a small climb before a lovely descent, looking over our shoulders at the view over the Cape Flats and towards Town. This morning we saw a blanket of mist covering much of the lower-lying regions, with just the tops of the 'Salt and Pepper Pots' buildings sticking out. How I wished for my camera!!!

But the run must go on, so off we went down the main path towards the entrance by the Tea Garden, through the deserted parking lot, and back towards the M63. From here it was pretty much downhill. The gradient, not the experience!!! We were all nicely warmed up by now, with some interesting conversations flowing. 

We had a bit of a wait to cross the M3 - morning peak 'hour' was well under way (don't ask me why its still called peak HOUR, peak traffic lasts a good 3 hours in the mornings, and probably about the same in the afternoons, especially now with all the roadworks going on...) But we made it across and headed back into the suburbs, leaving traffic behind once again. 

Almost home, we had a nice flat stretch of road ahead, admiring the beautiful houses in the area. Then suddenly we were on Mains Street, with Great Westerford in sight. Rob picked up the pace, encouraging Linelle to push the last few hundred meters too. The rest of us joined in and finished our run at a flat-out pace. Tired but all smiling!!

Thanks to everyone for the great company once again! We'll miss Dy, who's going overseas for a while, but she's back in July. Brett is just back from his own trip, but is heading off again soon. Josh is looking forward to getting back on the road after a long time-out - just a couple more weeks and he'll be back!! I'm going on leave soon, but just for 2 weeks, then I'm back (I'll still be here until the end of next week, then away for the following 2 weeks). The rest are [semi-] regulars and will hopefully be seeing a lot of each other in the coming weeks :)

Without further delay, here are today's stats:

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Stats: Thursday, 8 April 2010, 06:00

This morning we had a lovely big group, including 2 new Hillbillies. It's always wonderful to see new faces, welcome Claire and Dy!!! We hope to see you become regulars! We run every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 6:00, starting in front of Great Westerford, where we started today.

In addition to Claire and Dy, we also saw the return of Errard, looking strong after running Two Oceans Ultra Marathon this past weekend, managing a good time and comfortable run. Rob also managed to drag himself out of bed on this cold morning to join us. Of course Linelle was there too, she's becoming a regular!! And of course I was there as usual :)

We started out at a conversational pace up Dean Street and along Newlands Avenue. Crossed the M3 with minimal traffic issues. Up Boshoff, down Rose and up Kirstenbosch Road to our regular water stop at Stone Church. A quick break to catch our breath, and we were once again heading up hill along Winchester (with that short but nasty little hill at the end), up good old Glastonbury, and another brief break at the top. Here we tried to decide on what to do next - turn around and head back (for a 10km), left to Kirstenbosch (11-12km), left and back to the M3, or across and up to the intersection. We decided to do a little more hill-work, and off we went up the next hill, which was a little gentler than Glastonbury thank goodness!!

Another decision - turn around or go over and tackle Monterey's famous hill?? Today Rob was the crazy one who wanted to tackle all the hills. Not that I was complaining - I rather enjoy my hillwork lately!!

We survived the killer hill, aka Monterey Road. Then for a well-deserved downhill cruise. One more little hill brought us back to the intersection, and more downhill back to the top of Glastonbury, down some more to Stone Church, and a brief water break. Then down down down along Riverside all the way to the M3. We were lucky today to cross the M3 fairly quickly. From here it was pretty much flat all the way back - along Aster, through the joggers path, left at the circle on Kildare, and straight back to Great Westerford.

We managed just shy of 13km in around 1h30. Not bad for such a hilly route!! Not bad at all!!

Thank you to everyone who ran this morning - the vibe was fantastic, with everyone chirpy and cheery all the way. Another great run!!!

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Stats: Tuesday, 6 April 2010, 06:00

Tuesday morning was very much a recovery run after this weekend's Two Oceans (race report coming soon, so watch this space!!). It was just me and Linelle, and we opted for a short, flat route, just to get the legs moving again after a bit of a break following a fantastic Two Oceans Half Marathon.

We started out with the only hill of the day: Dean Street! Followed by a recovery along Newlands Avenue and down the M3, before weaving through Claremont, past Cavendish, and stopping for water at the Engen on Main Road.

Then it was over the road and past Newlands Cricket grounds, up Campground/Landsdowne/Liesbeek (the road of many names, I never know where one names ends and the next begins...) We had some water at the Shell, contemplated running around the Common, but then decided to take it easy and head back.

A nice relaxing 8.5km in total, with great conversation all the way.

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Stats: Thursday, 1 April 2010, 06:00

Once again it was 3 Hillbillies hitting the roads of Newlands and Bishopscourt - Linelle, Rob and myself. We'd planned on having an easy pre-Two Oceans warm up run, no more than 10km, preferably flat. But we all know that the only flat routes this side of the world are also the ones with heavy morning traffic (and exhaust fumes!), so we headed back up into Bishopscourt instead. But to take the edge off the hills, we cut Glastonbury short by heading down Lichfield Road (which brings back memories from when the Hillbillies was first 'founded', as yet unnamed but eager as ever to hit the road).

We followed the regular route back, but in the last km, going down Mains Street, I had a surge of energy and decided to push myself a little to the end. Suddenly Rob was cruising up behind me, and the race was on! First I was in the lead, then Rob overtook me at Dean, but we reached the finish pretty much tie (though I think Rob was going easy on me, while I was flat-out sprinting!). Linelle must have been right on our heels because she arrived a couple of seconds later. All 3 of us good and tired, but feeling great! Best way to start the last day of the week! Especially when there's a lovely long weekend looming!!

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Stats: Tuesday, 30 March 2010, 06:00

Tuesday morning saw the return of Allen to the Hillbillies. Along with Linelle and myself.

We headed up Dean Street at a conversational pace, along Newlands Avenue and over the M3. We did our regular route along Boshoff, water at Stone Church and up Glastonbury. After a short pause to get our breath back, we decided to head right, to Kirstenbosch Top Gate. We had some more water at Kirstenbosch (surely the sweetest, freshest water you're likely to find!), then went into the Gardens for a scenic run along the foot paths, all the way down to the secondary lower entrance. There Linelle saw some bootcamp buddies just finishing up their morning routines.

From there it was easy downhill all the way back. A great run with great company as always. Thanks guys!

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Race Report: Kleinmond Half Marathon

This past weekend there were 2 races to choose from: Kleinmond Half on Saturday - a bit of a drive out of town, but a very scenic area, or the UCT Memorial 10K on Sunday. I decided to try out the Kleinmond race, as I'd never done it before. And the views along the way made it worth the drive (even counting the bad weather!) I haven't done the UCT Memorial either, but I run in this area regularly with all the Hillbillies. Claremont, Rondebosch, Rhodes Mem...

So off I went to Kleinmond at half-past-stupid on Saturday morning (or still Friday night for some!) Got there in plenty of time, even had a brief snooze in my car waiting for the start to get a little closer. The start was delayed a few minutes by the traffic officials - a slight morning rush hour decided to happen just then and we had to wait for the cars to clear out before heading down the main road through town...

A surpring lot of this race was off-road. We even had a section along the beach, although this was not on the beach sand itself like the neighbouring Bettys Bay Half (December)- we ran along the paved foot path. It was a scenic route, but I'm beginning to wonder if this part of the world has any 'road' races! One big advantage of running all the way out here is that the fields are very small - most people opt for the races closer to home. I think that estimating 250 runners for Saturday would be pretty optimistic!

Most of the rest of the race was run around this area, along the dirt road. Lots of up at first, followed by a fairly steep descent. It was also round about here that the kay markers started going crazy - now we see 17km (and my Garmin says 9.5!), then we see nothing for a while but find a couple of refreshment stations. Now suddenly here's 11km, then 10! We're going backwards? Wrong turn somewhere? Thankfully it wasn't just me - EVERYONE took the same wrong route, I guess one of the marshals was a little confused...? But we eventually found our way back to the town roads (18km according to the race signs, 14.5 according to Garmin - with confirmation from another runner that he had the same values recorded). When we finished we were congratulated on finishing 17.7km - not bad for a Saturday morning, sometimes warm and sunny, sometimes cold and raining!! And we got a beautiful sea-shell shaped medal (try saying that fast 10x!!)

All in all a very enjoyable race, well worth the long drive and early morning.

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