So I’ve been psyching myself up this week for the ‘big one’, the mother of all training runs that happens every year and makes me want to vomit at the thought of it, yes its ‘Nek to Nek’ time.

Its a 46km training run which follows the course of The Two Oceans Marathon and supposedly is good practice, or a good way to kill yourself depending on which way you look at it.

So today, over the course of the five hours it took me to finish, the temperature rose violently from about 20˚ at 6am to at least 33˚ at 11am when yours truly was ready to quit 2km from where the car was parked. Surprisingly after last week’s hideous 25km training run experience I was feeling pretty good running up Chapman’s Peak and down into Hout Bay, but then the sun got me – I went so red that the others thought I was seriously sunburnt (I knew I wasn’t because I’d slapped on the block at 5am). It had got to the stage where I was dreading running in the sun between patches of shade as the heat was so strong.

As Gregg coaxed me up with the typical ‘just another km, just another 5 minutes’ type pep talk that I give to novices, the twisting turns of Constantia Nek proved too much and I just gave up and walked. The knowledge that I was the last and the most crap of the group didn’t help. As we arrived at the car park, it was obvious the others had been there a while and were now lounging under a tree. Turned out that of the 25 that started at 6am, 14 bailed and called their wives and girlfriends for a pick up. Ha! felt a bit better after that.

Running notes
Route: Constantia Nek down through Ladies Mile to Main Road, Muizenburg, Kalk Bay, Fishhoek, Sun Valley, Chapman’s Peak, Hout Bay and up to Constantia Nek
Time started: 6:10am
Total time: 5:20
Total distance: 46km
Weather conditions: Scorchio
Temperature: 33˚
Runner’s condition: Slightly nauseous at the end from all the coke I bought at the petrol stations along the route.