May 18th- May 24th

 "You can't be that kid at the top of the waterslide overthinking it. You have to go down the chute." Tina Fey

Monday:

--  Headed to the airport at 8am this morning for a long travel day, the longest travel I have done yet, heading to Cape Town.  It will take about 26 hours total to get there including the layovers getting me there on Tuesday afternoon Cape Town time.  

Did make it a point to walk as much as possible before my flight left DIA and during my layover.  I tracked over 7 miles today doing laps of the airports.  

Tuesday:  

-- Finished book 15 of the year on the flight over to South Africa.  Smile or You're Doing it Wrong.  Try to support people I know but not sure I would buy this book again, entertaining but just not my cup of tea.

Landed in Cape Town at 3pm Cape Town time with very little sleep.  I just don't sleep much on planes.  Not much to report besides checking into the hotel, shake out jog, dinner then try to sleep.  That was about the extent of my first afternoon/evening here.  Of course slept like shit.

5PM: 3.25 miles averaging 8:20pace.  Shakeout jog after getting to the hotel in Cape Town. So wiped from the 24 plus hours of travel. Slow due to being wiped and having to use Google maps the whole time so I don't get lost. LOL...

Wednesday:

Morning through 3pm:  Today might have been one of the coolest days I have ever had when traveling somewhere.  I booked a half day tour of the Cape Town peninsula with stops at Boulder Beach where the penguins are which was my #1 thing I wanted to do here.  I was not disappointed.  I am just going to let all the photos and videos below kind of tell the story.

4PM: 8.2 miles averaging 7:30pace.  Easy hour on the boardwalk along the Waterfront after getting back from the tour. Run felt okay but sleep is hard to come by with this time change, not adjusting well, worried I will sleep through the race start on Sunday, lol.... hopefully I start to adjust better in the next day or two. Also always get really constipated and bloated, usually passes 24 hours after I arrive some where but has not yet. Of course this is my first time traveling like this for a race so there is that as well.  Of course since this was my first real run here I took a lot of photos.

Thursday:  

2 PM:  8 miles averaging 6:50pace.  Slept in today and took my time getting moving today.  Had nothing planned except for my run.  This was sort of an adjustment day for me, at least I hoped it would be.  Short workout day on the boardwalk along the Waterfront. Felt pretty good overall and got a lot of looks from people when I was moving at the quicker pace. Workout was:

20 min warm up
2x30 sec fast/30 sec easy
15 min at marathon effort
10-15 min easy

The marathon effort was below 6min pace.

Friday:

-- Spent the morning doing a half day bus tour of the city that ended with a stop at the race expo to check in and get our bib.  A lot of the tour was cancelled due to the rain but did get to see some cool stuff. 

 

2 PM:  15mins on the elliptical while waiting for a treadmill at the hotel to open then 3.2 miles averaging 7min pace on the treadmill.  Easy shake out on the treadmill since it was raining outside. Felt good and upped the speed the last few mins. Back locked up as I was walking back to the hotel room, WTF??!!

--  This evening we had the Age Group Championship Welcoming Celebration that they put on for us 1800 age group athletes that came to run.  Such a cool event they did for us.

Saturday: 

11 AM:  4.5 miles averaging 7:40pace.  Tried to sleep in this morning and overall made it a chill day before the race tomorrow.  Super chill shake out jog along the Waterfront again today. Did throw in some strides just over halfway through the run. Strides felt good today.

Sunday:  Cape Town Marathon!!!  26.3 miles w/ 800ft of vert averaging 6:22pace or 2:48:01 total time.  Went super well until it didn't. I gave it a shot. Honestly did not know how my body would respond with travel like this, first time doing this. Went through the half at just over 1:17 then shit hit the wall a few miles later. Bathroom issues started around mile 16.5 for 3 stops in the last 10 miles plus the right IT band and glute sort of cramped and shut down around mile 20. Basically just jogged the last 10 miles in to get it done. Guess being constipated and only sleeping 3-4 hours a night is not good for the week leading into a marathon. LOL.... I will be back to try the marathon overseas again in the future, I kind of want to figure out how to make it work for me with the long travel. My CIM time in December should get me into the Age Group Championships again in 2027 due to the timing of CIM.  In 2027 it will be in Tokyo.

Total Weekly Numbers

"I have not failed.  I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." - Thomas Edison

Did not have the race that I trained for and that I know I can do but still would not trade this trip for anything.  It was a trip of a lifetime for me.  I learned a lot about traveling internationally to race, some do's and don'ts that I need to keep in mind if I ever try to do this again which I am sure I will at some point.  If you ever get the chance to run the Cape Town Marathon or any of the trail races they put on the day before the marathon jump on it.  This is one of the neatest countries out there.  Time for 1 week of recovery, getting back on the right time zone at home then 5-6 weeks to get ready for Hardrock 100.  The grind never stops.