This is the second time I’ve had the pleasure of entertaining myself by running up some of the biggest hills in Cape Town for fun. As I hauled myself out of bed at 4:45am I couldn’t wait to pound up 500m of mountain, luckily the South Easter wasn’t pumping because otherwise this little jog would have been hideous. To be honest I’m not a fan of half marathons. Why? Because you don’t need to train, have a race plan, pacing or tactics because all you have to do is roll out of bed and run as hard and fast as possible for two hours. I don’t have much time for ‘fun runners’ with their temporary licenses, sticking their elbows out and tendency to stop dead in front of you – there you go, I’ve said it. I suppose I’m a bit of a snob because I’d always rather run a marathon with ‘proper’ runners that know the etiquette and are consistently stupid on Sunday mornings.

Race notes
Route: Start Camps Bay High School, up The Glen to Kloof Nek, turn right onto Tafelberg Road, turn back to Kloof Nek, Climb Signal Hill and try not to fall as you fly back down to the school
Height climbed: 500m
Time started: 06:00
Total time: 2:05:42
Total distance: 21.1km
Average pace: 5:55 min/km
Weather conditions: Sunny with slight wind
Temperature: 27˚
Runner’s condition: Stiff