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My first Two Oceans half marathon was absolutely nothing I expected.

I woke up at 4.00am this morning after a restless night.  When I did sleep, I dreamt that I overslept. 

I arrived early in Main Road Newlands – about 5 minutes drive away from my home and stood waiting with some 10 000 other runners. 

 Helen Zille said something, but fortunately I could neither see nor hear her…and then gun went off to start the race.

Being near the back, it took us about 2-3 minutes before we started running.  It felt great when the crowd surged forward.

And then we were running!

I felt good for the first 10km, although I knew I was behind the clock for anything other than a finish just before 3 hours.

The crowds and marshalls along the road were fantastic!  A huge thank you to everyone who shouted our names and spurred us on.  It definitely got me to the end.

When you do something so public, you realise how great this country and it’s people really are.

Anyway, we reached the infamous Southern Cross Drive at around 13km into the race. I walked that mostly uphill part of the race.

Eventually we heard 3km to go. That has to go down as the longest 3km in my very short running history.

This was the only part where I truly doubted I would finish… but that’s when the determination and strong will that sometimes gets me into trouble really kicked in.

There was no way I was not getting a medal. NO WAY!

So with just about 6 minutes to spare, I reached the finish line.

To my surprise I was not elated at all, but rather disappointed that I had not trained better. Which bodes well for next year.

Well done to the organisers and staff who put a world class Two Oceans together. I am truly impressed. Everything from the start was spot on. Entering on the website was easy, finding information was easy, registration was easy.

Congratulations to all my fellow runners, especially to those ultra marathoners – I can’t even imagine!  I have nothing but respect for those runners who took on Chapman’s Peak!

I certainly would not have been able to do the race without the advice of the Virtual Coach, David Spence and his training programme.

Right now I am in all sorts of pain in my feet and legs, but I will definitely be back next year!