Two Oceans

Over Easter weekend, I ran the Two Oceans Half Marathon. It is advertised as the most beautiful race on Earth, and I 100% agree! The race started at 6:00am in Newlands and went along the Main Rd in Claremont. After about 5 miles, the sun started coming up and we were running in a residential area with a beautiful view of the mountains. That is, it was beautiful until I realized that I would be running up the nearest one! As soon as we were out of Claremont, the road was winding up the mountain and was lined with these huge, beautiful evergreens. I had contemplated running with my camera, and this was one section of the race that I wish that I had. The incline was pretty steep and lasted about 2 miles, but it was nowhere near as terrible as I thought it would be. Plus, the rest of the race was downhill so I was really able to pick up the pace (although my joints regretted it later)!

The energy in the race was amazing. There were African drummers along the route as well as a few DJs and cheerleading squads. There was also tons of support from the crowds and the 14,000 other runners who were doing the half marathon. International runners have different bib colours, and a lot of other international runners introduced themselves during the run. I met a few people from Brazil as well as Namibia and Zimbabwe.

After the race, my knees started to cramp up and I ended up limping around town for the rest of the day. I was absolutely amazed when I saw the ultra marathon runners, who had run 56k, or about 33.6 miles, strolling around town without looking tired at all! This was also the first year in about 30 years that a South African won the ultra marathon, so there was a lot of patriotism from the South Africans that day.

Before the race, we got supporter signes made at the expo..this one says 'Nobody made you do this Amanda' and the other one says 'Run like someone is chasing you'.

Elite runner finishing the ultra marathon.