I may be a runner but I'm also a girly girl

I love clothes, I love shopping for clothes and I love matching items of clothes.  Just because I run, doesn't mean that this doesn't also play a part in my sport! One of my favourite things to shop for is new running clothes.  Matching shorts and tops...even my socks match my outfit most of the time...as does my hat, sports bag and of course hair elastics and clip.  I realise I don't look my best when I'm out running, what with all the sweating and the panting, but there's no reason not to try and look half decent! When it comes to my running shoes, I have to think very carefully! Firstly you're spending a fair amount of money on something that you're going to wear every day for at least the next six months.  I spend more time in my running shoes than I do any other pair of shoes.  So it goes without saying that I want them to look good! Of course this is fairly limited as your foot and running style determines the make and model of shoe you buy, but once that's been decided, I don't think it's too much to ask to get the best looking shoe you can.  Now, not all runners are concerned with this, but to me, its pretty important! So when I went shopping for new running shoes last year and was offered a pair of very dull looking red and white shoes, I politely declined and decided I would look elsewhere.  Firstly, they were ugly and secondly they wouldn't have matched with any of my running gear!  The salesman rolled his eyes when I requested a different colour and rudely told me they came only in this hideous style.  Being as stubborn as I am I was not going to buy these and asked him to check the back before I left, for any old stock (my old ones were blue and even that was better than the ones on offer!).  When he came back with a box of pink shoes my eyes lit up and I think I even clapped my hands a little.  This man was not impressed! He clearly didn't take me seriously and rudely told me I can't always get what I want...what a bad salesman! 800km later and I once again needed new shoes.  I began the search again a few months ago for a stylish pair of running shoes.  I had seen someone at my club wearing my make and model of shoes in purple and decided those would be my next pair.  Only problem was, I couldn't find them anywhere! Lucky for me my running man went all the way to Cape Town and came back with the shoes I wanted.  I now have a fab pair of purple running shoes.  So maybe the salesman was right, maybe I won't always get what I want...but I've been pretty lucky thus far!

When your long runs become your short runs

I once saw someone's facebook status that said "You know you're a runner when what used to be your long runs, now become your short runs." I really enjoyed that when I saw it and have just recently realised how true it is! Six months ago, I had just finished training for the 32km Tough One and was ready to take on this scary distance for only the second time ever. I was incredibly nervous and had put in a fair amount of training to complete the race. I looked forward to it and prepared for it for weeks, even months until race day finally arrived.  I had race strategies, time and pace plans and a clear goal in mind.  The race was tough to say the least, but with all that planning and preparation, I managed to achieve my goal.  Yesterday, there was another such 32km race.  However, with a few more marathons and an Ultra under my belt, I hardly gave this race a second thought.  My main aim for the race was to get in another good training run with the ultimate goal in mind.  I was not at all concerned with speed or pace...except maybe being careful of not going too fast or too hard...what with a 60km coming up in less than a week! I had no race strategies in place and the thought of 32km didn't seem anywhere near as scary as it did 6 months ago.  The race passed by fairly quickly and I thoroughly enjoyed every step.  With a few km's to go I looked down at my watch, I realised that I was going to end up with a similar time to the previous 32km that I worked so hard for.  Only this time, it happened a lot more easily! It's funny how your perception of what is far or what is hard changes in a few months of intense training.  I hope that one day, I will look at 60km as somewhat of a 'non event.'  For now however, it's 4 days until my last Ultra training run before Comrades and in my books 60km is still ridiculously far and I am pretty nervous!

Into the Ultras

Its already been a week since I ran my first Ultra Marathon.  Two Oceans 56km is going to be a tough one to beat in terms of great running memories! The start was cold but thankfully not wet.  Rain was predicted and I had to accept that at some point during this run, I was going to be rained on.  Luckily however, we started dry.  Its one thing to run in the rain (which I'm not particularly keen on to begin with) but to wait at the start while its bucketing down, is another! After what seemed like an eternity of waiting in Newlands, the canon was finally shot and the race began.  I started with my good friend and running partner, but we had not vowed to stay together for the duration of the race, both agreeing that we were going to run our own race and see what happens.  The first 10km went by fairly quickly and most of our chatter was about whether or not we were running at the appropriate pace to reach our goal.  At about the 10km mark, the rain started.  As expected, I got wet and cold...what was not expected however, was that 46km later, it would STILL be raining! But the talk of the rain and the giggling about it (once we had accepted that the rain was here to stay) got us to the half marathon mark in a bit of a blur! By now we were both feeling good and had settled into a nice rhythm and we started chatting about things other than the running and the weather we were running in.  As a result, the first big hill at Chapman's Peak was a bit of a non event for us both! We were a lot more comfortable than we ever could have hoped for and as we neared the marathon mark and the bottom of Constantia Nek (the second and worst major hill of the race), we had pretty much decided it would be silly not to finish this epic race together! We both had supporters waiting for us in Hout Bay and by pure luck, they happened to be standing right next to each other.  We had a welcome break and a chat to our families, before starting the last stretch to the finish line.  Because we had run a fairly conservative race up until that point, we were able to run up the whole 4km of steep up hill that is Constantia Nek.  As we started the descent, the next 8km or so were spent discussing how we couldn't believe we ran the entire thing and how close we now were to completing our first Ultra marathon.  We had more supporters waiting near the finish and that's what got us through those last few km's.  With about 3km to go, the rain started getting worse and we prepared ourselves for a muddy finish that would ruin our fabulous pink and purple running shoes.  We turned onto the field at UCT, all smiles and screams, despite the slippery mud that would usually make me pretty grumpy! At the end of 56km, I almost couldn't believe how amazing I felt and how comfortable the whole race seemed! Despite the weather, Two Oceans 2012 will definitely go down as one of my favourite races ever!