Crazy Store Table Mountain Race 2009 close

In less than a week it will all be over. Until 5:50pm today I still was not 100% sure I was entered in properly. Weeks of running on Table Mountain on Saturdays. Now the hard parts of each leg seem very familiar now. I remember when running down Kasteelspoort seemed to take forever and then running on the pipe track was impossible.

Last week I managed to damage myself less than 400m from the end landing on some hardcore pine roots exposed by erosion. I made sure when I ran there yesterday I stuck to the right hand side of the path on the pipe track the whole way. The scabs and bruising is healing nicely. It did make me more careful when running yesterday.
Although I am less fit than last year I feel more confident than last year I definitely have done more training on the route. Anything can happen on the day either way it will be great fun it has been so far.

Last year was very hot with no wind but this is Cape Town and weather on Table Mountain is even more unpredictable. Yesterday we started running later in the morning and it is amazing how different just a few extra degrees can change things.

My race goals are simple to have an official finish time, not be caught sitting on a rock on TV and finish before the battery in my Garmin 305 gives out.

1009 km only 600 to go (1000 miles = 1609 km)

This year’s running so far has been harder than last year. I only ran 1001 km last year and no I have passed that before the end of August. August saw me running the least in one month since I started running. All of a sudden 1609 km (1000 miles) seems so far away, 4.84 km a day keeps mounting up. Last night I thought I was ready to start again but alas once again on week too soon. Added to the stress is a relay I am doing in September and a race I really want to do in October (that I have already paid for). I stand by my belief that no one ever goes to physio for just one session. People have noticed I am running with a sore leg and they ask me what’s wrong but I don’t want to be “The guy is that is always injured/complaining about niggles”.

Right now I am doing a lot of soul searching and asking myself if I enjoy “being a runner” or the act of running.