After four years of running and racing in South Africa, you’d think that by now, I’d know how things worked. Well, I still have a lot to learn.
Last Sunday, I ran the 30km Bay to Bay race. The route was 15km out and back along the coast.
It started off with an innocent e-mail informing us about the race logistics. I noted two things:
- This race was going to be a “carry-your-own water event”.
- Podium contenders should ask to be in Batch 1. The batches would start every 4 minutes and the finish time will be adjusted accordingly.
No problem. I will run with my hydration vest. As for the podium contender thing – I’m not an elite runner, so I can start in any batch.
When I picked up my bib, I saw that I was assigned to Group 5. I also saw that there was no chip on the bib. I assumed that they must have very strict controls to make sure that everyone starts in the right batch.
We arrived at the start at 5am and I immediately noticed that I was the only person with a hydration vest. I decided to ditch the vest and gave the two bottles filled with electrolytes to Kai. He had his bike with him and would ride along the course. If I needed anything, he could pass it to me on the way.
Next, I went to find my Corral 5. It was empty. I moved up to the next one, which was Corral 3 (Corral 4 didn’t seem to exist). This one was jam-packed with runners with Group 5 bibs. Really?!
What to do? There seemed to be no controls at all, so, feeling somewhat guilty, I joined Corral 3.
In the background, we heard the first group starting on the dot at 5.30am.
Finally, at 5.44am it was our turn.
The weather was perfect. It was a lovely cool morning and the course along the sea was beautiful.
After a few kilometres, I felt that I could use some electrolytes and looked out for Kai on his bike. He was nowhere to be seen. Where on earth was he?
Still, there were water stations every 5km, which was perfect. As we got closer to the turnaround point, we passed the runners from Group 1 on their way back. We waved and cheered as we passed them. After a while, I spotted Lynn in the Group 1 crowd.
Lynn and I are Running Twins. We’re in the same running club, in the same age group and run similar paces.
If Lynn started in Group 1, I should have been there, too. It slowly dawned on me what that e-mail meant. Only runners in Group 1 will get a podium – everyone else was just an “also-ran”.
Uh-oh.
Dismay all around. First, I felt upset. Then I felt angry. Angry with myself. With this race. With the world. And where was Kai with my electrolytes?! He had one job!
I got around the halfway mark at kilometre 15, still furious. At kilometre 17, I finally saw Kai. He was waiting patiently on his bike with the bottles.
I thought I would scream at him, but to my own surprise, I suddenly felt calm. Kai handed me a bottle, and while I continued to run, he rode beside me. He had spent the last hour frantically riding up and down the course looking for me. We were both having a difficult day!
Now, with Kai at my side, I started to feel better. I couldn’t change what had happened, so I had better focus on enjoying this beautiful run. I relaxed the pace and took in a breath of fresh sea air. That’s better!
I got through the finish line at 2:27 and finished 3rd in my age group. Lynn placed 2nd with 2:26.
And no, I didn’t make the podium. Another woman got it with a time of 2:30.
But by now, I was (nearly) fine with that. Lesson learned!
- Do you have a Running Twin?
- Have you ever started in a wrong corral?
I’m joining Runs with Pugs and The Running Teacher’s link-up, Tuesday Topics. I’m also joining Runner’s Roundup with Mile By Mile, Coach Debbie Runs, Confessions of a Mother Runner and Runs with Pugs.
Guten Morgen, liebe Catrina, wieder ein neues Abenteuer mit Herausforderungen der besonderen Art!
Erst einmal: die Kulisse ist so schön, da wäre ich auch mal gerne gelaufen, das Einzige, was mich immer wundert, ist der so frühe Start, da hätte ich schon meine Probleme !! Wann stehst du dann auf, wann fahrt ihr von zu Hause weg ??
Gut, dass Kai dann irgendwann auftaucht, ich kenne da Gefühl, tut einfach nur gut, nicht nur wegen des Wassers – oder ??
Eigentlich hättet ihr beide, Lynn und du, auch gemeinsam Hand in Hand einlaufen können, das wäre aus meiner Sicht sehr kollegial, wegen einer Minute !! Hättest du es getan? Ich könnte mir das mit einer bekannten Läuferin gut vorstellen, vielleicht auch sogar mit einer sympathischen fremden Läuferin !
P.S. Solche Gruppenläufe kenne ich nur von Marathons, ansonsten erlebte ich den Start immer nur mit einer Gruppe, egal, wie viele Läufer es waren !
Gut gemacht, liebe Catrina, und auf zum nächsten Abenteuer, das mit Sicherheit schon lockt – oder ???
Liebe Grüße von ganz oben
Guten morgen, liebe Margitta!
Die Kulisse war fantastisch, insbesondere am Sonntagmorgen, wenn die Sonne noch nicht auf ist. Das Meer, die Nebelschwaden und dahinter die Bergkette (“12 Apostel”) sehen zusammen wunderschön aus.
Der Start war in Camps Bay, nur ein paar Minuten von uns. Wir sind um 4 Uhr aufgestanden und um 4.50h losgefahren. Kai sagt immer, der Lauf fängt schon am Abend vorher an!
Ich dachte schon, ich würde Kai auf dem Velo überhaupt nicht mehr sehen! Ich war sehr froh, als ich ihn dann am Strassenrand stehen sah. Und ja, nicht nur wegen den Elektrolyten! 😉
Lynn ist eine ganz nette Läuferin (ich hätte eigentlich ein Bild von ihr mit reinnehmen sollen). Normalerweise bin ich einen kleinen Tick schneller als sie, aber als ich realisierte, dass es völlig egal ist, habe ich auf dem Rückweg das Tempo etwas gedrosselt. Hand in Hand übers Ziel habe ich schon mal mit einer Läuferin gemacht, aber noch nicht mit Lynn!
Wellenstarts mit manueller Zeitmessung müssen gut kontrolliert werden – leider war das hier nicht der Fall. Schade!
Genau – am Samstag steht ein 10k Lauf an. Mal sehen, ob sich das Intervalltraining gelohnt hat!
Liebe Grüsse von ganz unten!
I totally, totally understand your feelings – I would have been super-disappointed as well at the situation and poor management of the event! I applaud you for making the most of a bad situation and completed the race successfully. And the title of this post says it all – this was a _training_ session on the road to a bigger event, not the end-goal itself. 😉
Oh, the start of the run was such a mess!
In addition to all the chaos, while we were taking the selfie at the start, Kai left his bike at a lamp post to take a selfie. In that split second, a guy saw the opportunity to steal Kai’s bike. Fortunately, we caught him just in time. At least we were lucky about that, haha!
Thank you, Riitta! That’s exactly what I thought – it’s just a training run on the way to London!
Have a lovely week and enjoy the longer daylight!
Oh how frustrating that must have been! But what a mess. Still, you ran a good race and you should use that knowledge to carry you through much more meaningful races–like London! You handled it much better than I would have. Nice job!
I’m sure you would have handled it just as well, Wendy! Or maybe you would have done even better and requested to be in batch 1 as I should have, ha!
Yes, you are right, at least these kind of experiences help to build mental toughness. I’m looking forward to London – and I’m sure they will make a better job with the race organisation!
Oh man, what a race experience! It didn’t go as smoothly as one would like, but you still made the best of it. So no one was in Corral 4 after all?
Such a mess, Zenaida! Nope, in the end, there were only two starts – that Corral 4 never materialized and Corral 5 remained empty. Timing chips would have solved the problem but they would also raise the price for races.
Wow. What else could go wrong? lol.
I’m often in a too fast corral because my short race pace is fast.
No on the running twin. Unfortunately my friends are faster or slower.
No injuries will make forget all the negatives.
Congrats on your finish even without the podium
Exactly! I was actually quite surprised that my time was correctly listed in the results! At least that worked well.
It’s difficult to find a running twin – Lynn is the only one I ever met!
You will be out of the woods very soon, Darlene. I know it’s hard to be patient. But at least you “chose” a good time of the year to be injured.
Thank you!
Liebe Catrina,
oh nein, was für ein Rennen! Aber du hast da die richtige Einstellung. Shit happens, und wenn man es nicht sofort ungeschehen machen kann, muss man es abhaken. Fertig. Deine Zeit ist super, herzliche Glückwünsche! Du bist auf dem Podium unserer Herzen! UND ein wichtiger Baustein auf dem Weg an die Themse ist erledigt!
Ich wäre wahrscheinlich auch so reingefallen wie du. Seltsames Handling der Startfeldeinteilung.
Die Trinkweste hätte ich dennoch anbehalten (außer es wäre zu heiß gewesen). Was man dabei hat, das hat man sicher. Und Kai hat es sicher gut gemeint und sein bestes getan. Manchmal soll es nicht sein an solchen Tagen… Nächstes Jahr würde ich da wieder hin, in Block EINS!
Lustig mit deiner running twin. So jemand habe ich nicht, es kommt ja auch immer auf die jeweilige Form an.
Und im falschen Startblock bin ich noch nicht losgelaufen bzw. es wäre mir nicht bewusst.
Liebe Grüße
Elke
Ach, das hast du jetzt aber ganz herzig gesagt, liebe Elke! Danke dir!
Genau, es sind ist ein Schritt näher nach London und ein gutes mentales Training. In einem Wettkampf kann vieles schief gehen, besonders in einem grossen Marathon-Event!
Ich glaube, dieser Lauf ist zu gross für das OK geworden. Irgendwann merkten sie, dass sie zuviele Läufer haben und haben dann mehrere Startfelder gemacht ohne entsprechende Kontrollen. Ein zusätzliches Problem war der, dass einige Läufer nicht mal bis zum Drehpunkt gelaufen sind. Sie sind einfach früher umgedreht – es kommt ja keiner dahinter. So habe ich einige Leute zwei Mal überholt. Mit Timing Chips und strategisch platzierten Matten würde das nicht passieren.
Stimmt – die Trinkweste anzubehalten wäre nicht die dümmste Idee gewesen. Nächstes Jahr starte ich ganz bestimmt in Block 1 und gebe Vollgas! 🙂
Liebe Grüsse aus dem sonnigen Cape Town!
Ihr habt da Renn-Konstrukte, das ist wirklich schräg 🙂 “Bring dein Wasser mit” aber es gibts VPs; wenn du ins Ranking willst, dann versteh erstmal wie wir das Ranking bauen; du hast einen bestimmten Startblock, aber achwas mach doch was du willst. 🙂
Immerhin, die Distanz hat ja gestimmt, da ist Hoffnung beim Veranstalter.
Was solls, dann war es eben ein guter Trainingslauf mit vielen anderen Leuten, immerhin hat Kai dich noch gefunden.
Auf zum nächsten Abenteuer, aber vorher das Briefing sehr sehr genau anschauen!
Schön zusammen gefasst, lieber Oliver!
Es ist so schade, weil dieser Lauf hat echt Kultstatus hier in Cape Town, ähnlich wie der Two Oceans. Die Strecke ist einmalig schön. Wenn sie nur Timing Chips einführen würden, dann würde das mit den Startblocks viel besser laufen.
Genau, einfach unter “schönem Trainingslauf” abhaken.
Jetzt am Samstag steht wieder ein 10k Lauf an – du kannst sicher sein, dass ich da im 1. Block starte!
That does sound like a very frustrating day for you. I hope you left feeling like you ran a good race and had a good time similar to where you would have run with your friend. I have started in the wrong corral bc I was stuck in a bathroom line. It did not end up making a difference for me though!
Yes, fortunately I did leave the race feeling that I ran according to my current training level. I guess next time I will just have to make sure that I start in block 1!
Oh, you are very lucky! I guess it was an event with timing chips – that does make it less stressful if you’re in the wrong corral.
Liebe Catrina,
Hä??? Ich glaube, ich habe es trotz deiner Erklärungen noch immer nicht verstanden, aber das macht ja nichts, ich muss ja nicht in Südafrika starten, aber irgendwie ist das schon verwirrend.
Ach herrjeh, ich kann mir deine Verwirrung oder den Frust gut vorstellen! Wie toll, dass du dann plötzlich die Ruhe in dir entdeckt und mit Kai gemeinsam den Tag noch so gut beenden konntest. Hut ab dafür und Applaus für deinen Treppchenplatz! Den hast du trotzdem, auch wenn du nicht gewertete wurdest. 😀
Haha, es ist schon recht kompliziert: dieser Lauf startete in Wellen, aber ohne Kontrollen und ohne Chips für die Zeitmessung.
Folglich bekommen nur die schnellen Läufer im ersten Startblock einen Podiumsplatz, auch wenn andere, die später starten, schneller sind.
Was ich nicht erwähnt hatte, aber ein zusätzliches Problem war: manche Läufer sind nicht mal bis zum Wendepunkt gelaufen – die drehten einfach früher um. Ohne Chips und Matten kann man das nicht kontrollieren.
Aber trotzdem war es ein schöner Lauf und ein gutes Training für London!
Jetzt habe ich noch eine Rechnung offen für diesen Bay to Bay Lauf – nächstes Jahr im ersten Block!
That all sounds really frustrating! I like it when directions are clear and you know what to expect. I’m glad you could turn around your mood during the race and enjoy most of it. Hopefully you can do this one another time now that you know more about it!
Yes, exactly! Well, at least I know exactly which batch I’m going to sign up for next year!
I’m secretly hoping that they will introduce timing chips by then – it would make everything so much easier, also for the organisers.
Have a good week, Lisa!
Liebe Catrina,
danke für diesen Bericht, der so offen ‘andere Läuferwelten’ aufzeigt und deine Gedanken und Gefühle davor und währenddessen aufzeigt.
Wie Oliver es ausdrückt, ihr habt vielleicht Laufeventkonstrukte, tse! Aber als ich las, “Podium contenders should ask to be in Batch 1.”, dachte ich gleich, dann wird sich Catrina in 1 gemeldet haben. Dann kam, dass du es nicht gemacht hast, da dachte ich, Catrina wird es schon richtig gemacht haben, sie kann ja besser Englisch als ich. Dass ich da richtig gelegen hätte, ist wohl reiner Zufall … und du hast ne Menge gelernt!!!
Sieh es so, alleine wärst du den langen Kanten nicht so schnell gelaufen! Von daher war es ne super Tempo-Einheit in Vorbereitung für London! … und die Trinkweste hätte ich, so wie Elke, aufbehalten, aber ich bin Rucksack tragen gewohnt! Aber auch das ist gut gegangen. Auch Kai hat ja ‘einiges durchgestanden’. – Ich hab mal während eines Firmen-Teamlaufs über die volle Distanz (5,6 km) meine Frau, die mitlief, nicht finden können! 😥
Deine beiden Fragen kann ich mit nein beantworten.
Einen Lauf-Buddy hab ich leider nicht. Hat sich nie ergeben. Im falschen Startblock war ich zum Glück nie, sofern meine Erinnerung nicht was ausblendet! 😆
Bleib dran und gesund und viel Spaß und Erfolg, wenn du jetzt am WE angreifst! 😉
Liebe Grüße Manfred
Lieber Manfred
Zwischendurch stellte ich mir das Ganze in Deutschland oder die Schweiz vor. Was für ein Aufschrei das gegeben hätte! Ich musste echt schmunzeln – die Läufer hier sind so etwas von stoisch und zäh. Sie reklamieren nicht – dies hat aber auch den Nachteil, dass sich die Situation nur sehr langsam verbessert – wenn überhaupt.
Siehst du! Da lagst du intuitiv richtig! Das nächste Mal, wenn ich ein Mail mit komischen Hinweisen bekomme, werde ich dich fragen. Man merkt halt, dass du schon Tausende von Wettkämpfen in deinem Leben gemacht hast!
Genau! Es war ein sehr guter Trainingslauf. Es ist eigentlich genau so gelaufen wie ich es im Vorfeld geplant hatte. Es hatte 400HM und am Schluss noch eine kurze, aber mühsame Steigung. Genau richtig, um die Beine im müden Zustand etwas zu testen.
Die Trinkweste trage ich nicht so gerne, aber du und Elke haben Recht: erstens hätte ich was zu trinken gehabt und zweitens schadet es nicht, in einem Trainingslauf etwas mehr Gewicht zu tragen.
Ui, wo war sie denn am Schluss, deine Frau? Vor oder hinter dir?
Ein Laufbuddy, der einen ähnlichen Pace läuft, ist höchst selten. Für mich ist es das erste Mal, das ich einen Laufzwilling gefunden habe!
Danke! Meine Garmin sagt eine Zeit zwischen 42 und 43 Minuten voraus… man hat mir gesagt, die Strecke sei flach, ich hoffe, dass das stimmt!
Liebe Grüsse aus dem sonnigen Cape Town!
Think of it this way. It’s nice to still have things to learn. 🙂 I’m sorry you didn’t get to receive your well-deserved award but (glass half full) you had a lovely time on a lovely course with other lovely people. Good job.
I like your attitude, Debbie! Yes, you are absolutely right. It was a lovely day to be out there running. And hey, there’s always another time, right?!
I am so sorry, Catrina. What a frustrating race (and BAD communication all around). I am glad you were able to kinda shrug it off and enjoy the run and scenery though. What a beautiful course!
The race route is fantastic! It’s one of my favourites here in Cape Town – I always say the Cape Town marathon should go along this route (right now it goes through a very boring industrial-type of area).
I’m looking forward to next year, when I will start in block 1! 🙂
Oof, this does sound like a tough lesson to learn! ALSO… it looks like it was hot. I would have kept the hydration vest! Water every 5k wouldn’t be enough for me. Anyway- it looks like a beautiful race and it sounds like you had a good time in spite of everything!
Funny enough, it wasn’t very hot, but it was quite humid (it was a foggy morning, too). Still, I should have kept the hydration vest so that I could drink whenever I wanted to. It was a great long run opportunity and a good mental exercise, too!
Oh how stupid about the also ran thing. You beat Zola Budd by two minutes and now you beat the 2:30 podium winner by 3 minutes so your 2024 Trophy Case is filling up quickly.
Haha, Birchie, that’s a good way of looking at it. I have a 10k race on Saturday and I’m already quite nervous about it. Let’s see if all the (dreaded) interval training was worth it!
Oh my goodness! How frustrating! I am so sorry that happened, but I can totally see how you made the error!
I don’t really have a running twin, but it would be nice if I did. And I’ve never started in the wrong corral. The races I run with corrals don’t trust us to self-seed lol.
It won’t happen to me again, Jenn! Next year I’ll be right up front in that first block!
Running Twins are so rare! I hope I get to do some more races with Lynn. Your race organisers are right: self-seeding usually goes quite wrong… and if I may say so, it’s usually the male runners who overestimate themselves…
If I understand correctly, you did not podium because you did not start in the first wave? A time is a time! Hmm? I guess I don’t understand the thinking! 🤔
Well that was rude of someone trying to steal the bicycle? 🚲What happened with that? I am pretty sure I would have the police on them quite quickly. Did that thief just walk away? I dislike thieves very much. Lost several bicycles to them!
Well like you said, it was just a training run. All ended well. 😅
I ran a 30km twice in the winter. It is a strange distance for sure. 🌞
Congrats again on running that!🏃♀️💨
You understand that correctly, Yves! I guess their logic was that because they had no control over who starts where, there is a huge potential for cheating. To eliminate that, they only award a podium to the first wave where no cheating (skipping to another corral) was possible.
Can you imagine? Kai turned around and there was a guy on HIS bike! When Kai approached him, he quickly got off and said that he was just “taking it away to a safer place to protect it”. Ha! That’s the problem here in Cape Town, you can’t leave anything unlocked or unattended, it will be gone in seconds.
The other day, Kai left a pair of running shoes outside the apartment (we live in a gated community). Our neighbours had workers coming in for repairs. Yep, by the end of the day the shoes were gone. I hope at least that they were the right size! 🙂
Thanks, Yves! Yes, a very strange distance – but great for marathon training!
If cheating is possible, it would happen no matter how they try to guard against it. The way they guard against it is with timing pads & chips over the course of the entire race with a verification of pace over the entire race. Those camera people are not there just to sell you photos. They are there as part of the security. That is why you must wear the bib visibly in the front.
Looks like in this race it was easily possible to cheat if one wanted! Hope the race was not too expensive!😅💦
You could have run it for free from the sounds of it. I am sure they appreciate the funds to help pay for something though?😅
Absolutely right! There were also runners turning before they reached the official turning point. No timing mats, no chips: people will cheat.
This race was perhaps around CAD 12.-, so very cheap. However, I’d rather pay more and have a properly chip-timed race with all the controls in place. I checked the race for Saturday: fortunately, it is chip-timed. Yay!
Yes, you could! I hope that at least the race marshals along the route got a free breakfast!
Last fall, you will remember I ran that half Marathon. Well walked it mostly due to injury. Well I did wear my running vest & I was happy I did because for some weird reason there was no water left at the water stations. Never seen that ever! I was stunned by how that race celebrating 20 years was so I’ll prepared.
Anyhow, I was the camel giving water to other runners as I had lots of water & they had none. So bringing your vest along was not such a bad idea.
🤚
You said it a bring your own water race, but there was water every 5km? Did I get that wrong?🤔
I remember that race! Your first in-person event since 2019. My goodness, running out of water is the worst thing that can happen to a race organisation. It was quite a warm day, too!
Ha, you see, you should have a blog after all because I never knew that you were the camel for other runners. Good that you had some extra to share.
Yep… I don’t get it either. Turns out, Coke was even one of the race sponsors and you could have Coke at some of the aid stations!
Hah So getting Coke was possible but not water? Not sure I would want Coke when running. What a sticky mess & bad after taste that would be. 😱
The Coke was in addition to water. I agree – I would only drink Coke if I had an upset stomach. Way too sticky!
You may not have officially made the podium, but based on your time, you still placed 3rd in your age group. Congrats!
For my very first marathon, I started in the wrong corral. While waiting for the howitzer to fire at the Marine Corps Marathon I discovered the runners around me were hoping to finish in the 5-hour time frame (my goal was a 3:45 BQ time). Yikes! I spent the first 5-10 miles often stepping up on the curb to pass slower runners. Perhaps starting out slower was what enabled me to hit my goal! I never made that mistake again!
Haha, thanks, Debbie!
Oh no! I bet you must have freaked out when you noticed that! It’s funny how sometimes adversity can work to your benefit: it’s very possible that the slow start helped you to BQ. Nicely done!
Btw, Boston is also a race that I am eyeing… it would be AMAZING to run that course one day!
Sorry for the frustrating race. However you have run a beautiful race at a fast pace and enjoying the landscape. Moreover this was a good training (long distance run) for the London marathon.
Of course, shame of me, in the past I have started in the wrong corral but …. with faster runners. One day, in Rome, with a friend of mine we started among the top runners!
You are right, Stefano! There were many nice things about this race, one of them that it was an excellent training run! Running along the coast was so beautiful.
Haha, starting with the elite must have helped you to run a faster race! I think that’s fine if you’re not standing in the way of faster runners.
Ugh, so sorry, but glad you were able to relax and enjoy the scenery!
Most races I’ve done with corrals were pretty strict, although there are always those that break the rules — but I’ve never done a race where someone in the back couldn’t get an award!
Why did you ditch your vest? Did you think it wasn’t allowed? I will never run without my own drink.
It became quite an enjoyable run once I let go of all the stress!
Ridiculous, right? They should have had tight controls over those corrals. Funny enough, I did a race yesterday where we had bibs with timing chips. So it would be possible!
I ditched my vest because I hate carrying stuff. In hindsight, I should have kept it – it would have been something less to stress about!
Well done on, what looks like, an incredibly beautiful run. Pity about the ‘race’ side of it, but c’est la vie. You went out and did it, here’s to a great run next weekend.
You are right, Birdie!
Last Saturday I did a 10k and it was perfectly organised. With timing chips and all! 😀
Even though you never got the podium, you still finished 3rd in your age group, Catrina. Amazing accomplishment. I have only run one race that had corrals eight or none years ago at the Toronto Marathon. If I remember right, it was colours for each corral instead of group numbers.
Having different colours for each corral makes so much sense! That way, it’s easy to tell if everyone is in the right corral.
Thanks, Carl! Apart from the chaotic organisation, it was a lovely race on a beautiful course! I hope to do it again next year, but then I’ll start in the first batch, ha!
I hope you are doing well and that the jet-lag wasn’t too bad!
Thank you, Catrina. You are very kind. I am doing well, thank you.