The Two Oceans Half Marathon is now just over 10 years old, and is one of the most popular half's in the country. This year approximately 11 000 people took part, with about 6000 doing the 56km Ultra Marathon. I did the 21km for the third time, hoping that muscle memory and my cycling training would get me through. 

I have quite literally run only 5 times this year, all off road and once on the beach during the Totalsports Challenge. I don't even own road running shoes any more, so ran in my trail shoes. All my previous half marathons have been under 2 hours, so I headed off with the hope that I would be able to keep that record, at least. I live close enough to the start to be able to walk/jog there early in the morning (it would be more stressful to drive and try to find parking closer), and so I used that as my warm up, and to make sure my shoes were tied tight enough, and that my placement of Gu's, etc in my pockets wouldn't jingle too much.

I got to the Main Road early enough to make my way as far forward as I could, probably about a third of the way in the crowd. Wearing a full trail running outfit (as opposed to the little shorts and tops of the road runners) I felt totally comfortable and with a "whatever" attitude as I waited for Helen Zille to fire the start gun. Although there were also the pre-race nerves and excitement that is always created by a gathering of thousands of people. Off went the gun and the masses started to move forward, slowly spreading out to create the space to start running without elbowing people next to you. Faster runners took to the pavements to try and get ahead, while walkers stayed in the middle, 2-3 abreast, creating a bit of an obstacle. Slightly annoying, but I guess they have their place, too.

My first km took 7 minutes. I'd worked out I needed to run 5:30 to 6:00 minutes per kilometre in order to get my sub 2hr. I knew, however, that the first km is much slower as you need to get through the crowds first. Once the field has opened up you can start watching your pace closer. The second km was 5:30, then 5:15, and suddenly I was seeing some under 5mins! Feeling totally comfortable and at ease with my pace, posture, shoes, everything, I kept at it, watching each km tick past at times I was definitely not expecting.

Going downhill on Rhodes Drive I was careful not to damage my legs too much, so I saw a few people passing me, but for the rest of it I seemed to pass more people than were overtaking me. Not one to question or complain when things are going well, I pushed on at the same pace. By the time I passed my house I could feel my feet weren't too happy in the shoes meant for rocks, not road, as blisters made themselves known.

Going past Newlands Forest Station a chap near me remarked to his mate that If they pushed really hard just there they could possibly get in under 1hr45. "Not likely", I thought to myself, but I did realise that I would be able to achieve a sub 1hr50, a personal best over this distance. Cursing the last incline just before UCT, I picked up the pace just that bit extra to get through the last few hundred metres. The blisters made the lumpy grass feel like granite, but I was on the final stretch and could see the finish line. 1:48:57!

What a pleasure to achieve a PB in a race that traditionally is not a PB route. And with so little training, I do feel a bit guilty, but then apparently all that hike-a-biking at the Epic helped!

Not training doesn't do any good for the legs, though, as I struggled to walk for the rest of the long weekend. My blisters are probably not nearly as bad as I'm sure many of the Ultra Marathon runners developed. Hats off to those 6000-odd that did the big one. One day... Some day...