13th July 08

Date: 12th & 13th July 08
Location: Knysna, South Africa
Weather: Windy and rain overnight, clear blue skies but cold. 16°c
Status: Ready for the next one!

Talk about a windy night!! Camping right on the beach is awesome if you want to wake up with a stunning view but if the weather’s not in your favour then you bear the brunt of it, last night was a prime example of this the wind gradually picked up over the night until it was howling, the rain came down almost horizontally and the Colonel rocked accordingly!

I’m writing this to you on the Sunday night feeling shattered after another successfully completed marathon and the fifth of the challenges out of the way. I still suffered with some of the hangover from the Comrades, my heel and one toe were sore from the halfway point and my knees felt tired for the last few kms of the race but I’m just overjoyed to be through another testing part of the expedition.

The forest course itself was a whole load more challenging than I initially thought it would be and I’d hoped before I set off to try and set a personal best…the first 5kms destroyed this idea as it was all uphill without any respite! It’s not advisable on any level to try and take on another marathon so soon after a challenge quite as large as the Comrades and my time of 4hrs 45mins reflected this…my slowest ever for a standard marathon, still its job done and another challenge ticked off the list!

Sorry there’s no photos of this race on the site at all, I stupidly forgot to charge my camera up the night before and even though there was a tickle of power left thought it silly to carry the extra weight for the sake of a couple of photos!

In the evening we had the Heinekin closing party at the finish site which was superb fun, live bands, DJ’s and cheap beer to celebrate the weekend.

Made our way back to Buffalo Bay for the Sunday night and went to bed feeling very sore….tomorrow’s walking and driving will not be fun!

End of day location: Buffalo Bay, Knysna,South Africa
Distance covered: 42kms + 20kms drive