What an event. The Gun Run 2013 is definitely a gem on the running race calendar. Its well organised, with plenty of volunteers and lots of support from the public. This year the marshals adopted a marshal theme which kept things entertaining en route.
The Gun Run has something for everyone. 5km, 10km and 21.1km Half Marathon.
Every year they seem to up their game and this years event was no exception with great side events at the finish and plenty of vendors catering to runners and spectators.
So from a personal perspective. Both Wesley and I were intent on running personal best times on this route. We of course expected the start to be congested and probably walked the first 200m and slow ran the next kilometre.
There was quite a hold up from the start till we got off Bay Road and the promenade and onto Beach Road (3km mark) . I had to re-asses and thought my PB shot was out the window because of backed up runners in the first 5km of the race. Once we hit the Waterfront and Dock Road gaps starting to open and we could start to stretch our legs.
The course is pretty much flat so a fast time is achievable. For some reason “The Hill” which starts at the corner of Clarens and Kloof Road and goes up for about 2kms, felt a lot easier than last year. I think what made the difference for me is I had a record of my previous Gun Run on Endomondo which I studied and I realised the hill was only 2.5kms long.
Once the hill was over and done with it was time to charge and make up the lost time. As I came off the top of the hill I realised that I was well within my target time as long as I kept my pace.
I was definitely feeling the pace and was tempted to slow up or even grab a bit of sugar at the last water station. But with 3kms to go I decided to run past the water station.
That's when the Rocky theme song started to play in my head (I watched Rocky 1 and 2 for inspiration the day before). I blasted to the finish and smashed my PB half-marathon time by 5mins and my bettering my Gun Run time by 12 minutes
Its exactly a year ago now since we’ve adopted a real food lifestyle. You can call it what you want, Low Carb High Fat, Paleo but we like the simple philosophy of Vinnie Tortorich. No Sugar, No Grains. So for people think that athletes need heavy amounts of carbs and sugary gels, for ourselves anyway, we’ve proved that this is not the case.
Thanks to the folks at Curds & Whey our post race snack was organic Greek yoghurt with almonds and honey. Its great having a real food option at one of these events.
All in all, this years event did the 21st anniversary of the race justice. Well done to all the competitors, organisers, marshals and volunteers. Thanks for a great event!
