Ironman South Africa 2013 – The spectator report

This post is dedicated to my wife Bianca (@beanker) who completed her first Ironman on 14th April. It is incredible to think that this time last year she was only just starting to recover from a fractured cuboid bone (in the foot).This time last year she had only just started cycling completing her first Argus Cycle tour (110km), could hardly swim let alone enjoy it and as mentioned had just started to run again. She stated at that Ironman South Africa last year that she would never again be a spectator at an Ironman. I don’t think however that she ever gave any serious thought to doing an Ironman particularly one the following year!

So Bianca this post is dedicated to you for all that you have achieved since starting on your journey to becoming an Ironman. I have felt no greater pride than watching you overcome your fears and find the confidence to believe in yourself and your ability to do great things. You have inspired me and I am sure many others that know you also. Congratulations again and before i start my recount one last thing.

BIANCA YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!

Nobody said it was easy – IronMan SA 2013 (Guest blog by Bianca Tait)

Boom, boom, boom, boom… it wasn’t the alarm clock, it was the loud, scary sound of a foghorn, and that’s how my morning started on April 14th. It was eerie in Nelson Mandela Bay and there was a lot of fog about as we walked down to the beach. I couldn’t see the sea. Maybe that was a good thing.

I made my way into the transition area for the final checks and things that athletes do on race day morning. I wasn’t really sure what to do. I felt my bike tyres. They were still hard, which was a relief, since I didn’t have a clue what to do if they weren’t.  I placed the finishing touches on my bike. My bottles and nutrition were in place, and I headed out of transition.

The Inaugural Deep South Run – 50km of trail running bliss

50kms of Trail Running bliss

Saturday 16^th March I took part in the first Deep South Trail Run also dubbed the Peak to Point run hosted byTrail Junkee. Trail Junkee’s Jackie Exton organised The Peak to Point run as a training run over a 46km course taking in the trails from the ‘Deep South’ or rather Beautiful South (as I call it) in the southern part of the Cape Peninsula. As the Deep South Run was given PUFfeR qualifying status it showed that it was going to be a challenging run with plenty of time on feet.

Century City Express 10km -Race Report

A great PB course

Saturday 2 March I ran my first Century City Express 10km race. I decided to run it in my club colours of Satori Athletics from @noordhoek and it was the first time since late 2011. I only heard about the race the night before from @staceyrehbock as I was tweeting for advice on which road race I could do as a final seeding race for the Two Oceans Half Marathon. I was seeded E by default as I hadn’t done any qualifying races. I did my first Two Oceans Half in 2012 and was not keen on trying to race from the back. Thankfully the Century City Express provided for on the day entries and I thought “fantastic lets race” and get that seeding sorted out. 

Trail Junkee and the Tempo Tuesday Run

Tempo Tuesday Trail Run

It was another beautiful day in Cape Town today with no wind, clear skies and the warm african sun to savour. I was keen to go and run some trails at Silvermine and had heard about a Tempo Tuesday run that had recently been started by Trail Junkee. So what is Trail Junkee all about well in the words of experienced trail runner Jackie Exton “Our goal at TrailJunkee is to enable ABSOLUTELY ANYBODY to experience the joy and sheer exhilaration of being on TRAIL!!”. They even have some great longer distance trail runs for those wanting to do a qualifier for PUFfeR or to just experience the many great trails the Cape Peninsula have to offer. That’s another blog post so before I digress………

Silvermine XL Trail Run – Race Report

Beautiful morning for a trail run!

So yesterday Saturday 9^th February I took part in my first trail race since the Old Fishermans Trail Challenge in June last year. As some of you may know from a previous post I had a disastrous Ironman 70.3 in January and was in need of putting that experience behind me quickly and a confidence booster.  That day came sooner than expected yesterday.

The Silvermine XL Trail Run was listed as a 34km distance that was a standalone event from the Cape Summer Trail Series organised by @wildrunner. The route was designed to take in many of the excellent single tracks and scenic peaks that we have on the southern part of the Cape Peninsula and the southern and northern sections of the Silvermine Nature reserve.

Ultra Running dreams

going up?

So Saturday I did another preparation run for the Silvermine XL Trail Run as part of the Cape summer trail series that I am taking part in on 9 February.

I have been looking forward to the run for some time as its a longer distance trail race (36km) taking in the trails that I run on most weekends. It will no doubt be a challenging course and will test my steadily improving trail fitness.

So whilst on my run puffing up another climb my mind started wandering. I started thinking about other trails I want to run, races I’d like to take part in and when I would eventually achieve my ultimate goal in trail running. The 100 miler.