If you have never been to Cape Town, South Africa know it is an absolutely beautiful, surprising, amazing, hard to leave world class city that feels safe and is so unique it can´t be compared to another.

This was my first trip to South Africa and Cape Town exceeded all the high expectations I had for it. I visited South Africa to run Cape Town Marathon! It was time to go after my 10th official marathon and I wanted it to be on a continent I had not yet run a marathon. I knew the time frame I wanted was October or November and I looked into several races but ultimately choose the Cape Town Marathon and I am so happy I did! Beginning in 2026 the Cape Town Marathon will take place in May!

Shockingly it is the marathon I became the most excited to run in years. I´ve been racing but years have gone by since I was actually excited to race so that realization was comforting to encounter again!

Yet even with the excitement I almost canceled the trip a few weeks out. Training started off rough, not in the sense of physically hard but more so with a complete lack of motivation to train for it. I was torn between a desire to go for a sub 3 hour marathon time yet not interested in training well for it. Luckily motivation came back nearly 2 months out but a tad late for any sub 3 attempts. Instead it became a let´s still try and we´ll just see where we can get pace wise.

Cape Town is a far away destination to get to (some 30 hours from Seattle! EEK!) so I left early with a stop in Europe for a bit to split up the flights. At least in Europe I could adjust to the same time zone before heading down. I also gave myself a few weeks in South Africa to explore before finally arriving to Cape Town. All this travel made training both, very fun because everywhere I got to run was new, but also challenging because I was constantly moving juggling running with varying check out times and site seeing (this part was not new). In addition, I never knew what terrain would be like until the day before, sometimes it would be ideal other times horrible for the training runs. All this while training hard was complicated but I managed it, had fun and did as best I could. As soon as I maybe got the hang of doing this in Europe I hit South Africa. Training greatly suffered here, now in addition to the before I now had the complex issue of where to run safely, locations at high altitude and where to run safely on roads that were in good conditions. Thankfully this was toward the end of training so the slower paces, rougher roads, altitude, etc, etc was not gonna affect the actual race much….hell…maybe two weeks in altitude would help (if only)!

CAPE TOWN MARATHON INTRO

The Cape Town Marathon has been going on since 2007. Though, South Africa itself is well known in the running community holding one of the oldest ultra marathons in the world, Comrades Marathon which takes place down here in early June, and then there is the beloved Park Run events (free weekly 5km race) which was created by a South African while living in the UK and believe me there are tons of them dotting the map all over South Africa…definitely worth attending here for sure!

Today the Cape Town Marathon is currently in pursuit of joining the 7 World Major Races like Boston, Berlin, Chicago, New York, London, Tokyo and the newest race Sydney (added November – 2024)! These races range in participation from low 50,000 to high 30,000 meanwhile Cape Town was at 21,000 runners this year! There was plenty of rage and excitement around that found at the expo and on race day!

What is unique about Cape Town Marathon is that it also offers a trail race the day before in addition to the usual 5k and 10k you often see around the other majors. It makes sense that the marathon includes a trail race with the sweeping beauty seen all around Cape Town…you really can not escape a good view here nor should you miss the trails! The actual marathon itself also delivers these views…from start to finish you are bombarded with perfectly distracting views. Possibly the only downside or tough part of running here is the wind. Since Cape Town is near the confluence of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans that meet way down at the bottom tip of Africa, winds are a normal occurrence and if you get a day like I did it can be an extra struggle to deal with when running a 26.2/42km marathon! Do keep that in mind for training!

EXPO

The expo where you got your bib number for race day was cool as they had you walk into the 2010 World Cup Stadium (now DHL Stadium), where the soccer and rugby teams play, in Green Point. Just outside the stadium is where race day starts (and ends)!

Similar to many expos, you enter, get your bib number, shirt and packet first. You´ll also get a permit in the form of a bib because for races in South Africa it´s required and it needs to be worn on the back of your shirt (you pay when you register). This is actually similar to most triathlon races except you don´t wear it, instead they simply check that you purchased it. For runners living in South Africa, they usually buy a yearly permit and it is ironed/sewn on to their race shirt so you will see plenty with this version.

The check-in process was very quick, zero lines on Friday (race is Sunday) even though there was a constant stream of people flowing into the stadium for all races. From there it was this snake like expo with lots of hype for the potential new Marathon Major addition. I must say this did get me excited as it will be Africa´s first Major should they succeed. They have one more phase to pass at next year´s race. If it is granted entry to join the Majors those who run in during Cape Town´s candidacy years will get an automatic entry to the actual World Marathon year (including myself) without dealing with lottery and ballot entry systems they will use just like the other races. About the candidate process and guaranteed entry.

In addition to the hype they had everyone´s name on the wall….interestingly enough it was separated out…not seen it like this before. If you had ran before they had your name alphabetically in addition to your best time listed, which is pretty cool! There was a spot for all the first time runners which is also fun. I thought I would find myself here…ha and was mad when I didn´t. I even asked for a pen to put my name on the wall….where I was informed there was another part just for internationals, again alphabetical and with your country. Once I found that I gave up on the anger at not being included on the first timer wall and got excited to see all the countries participating. By far Botswana and Zimbabwe dominated, runners were from everywhere but in general there were only a couple hundred of us in total. This was the best though, since we were so few, we were all invited to the hospitality tent after the race!

Lastly, the expo had the usual last minute purchases from brands. It was nice to see plenty of local sport related brands there as well! The three things that caught my eye the most: 1) there was a flower shop at the end to get your runner flowers, very cool…but I don´t think many purchased them, 2) in the refreshments area they had the local biltong to try (local dried meat) and many were purchasing and 3) they had a shoe cleaning stand which after traveling weeks in South Africa it was needed (ha in fact they rushed me into the stand to use as an example).

RACE DAY

Early in the morning I took an Uber to the startline from the Sea Point neighborhood. I was wearing a large hoodie and shorts with the rest of my race day gear underneath. The morning was 40F degrees, oddly warm though due to the humidity but with plenty of wind to give a chill. Arriving to the start my plan was to drop my bag, go to the toilet and jump in my chute before it closed.

Upon arriving the lines to drop bags were ridiculously long. I had the option to drop it at the hospitality tent but no clue where that was plus all staff I asked didn´t seemed to know either so I joined the line with everyone else. It was a mess! Many local run clubs offer bag drop for their members, so this is how some living in South Africa avoided this issue. The rest, like me were in this slow moving line with only a few trucks, each with several volunteers taking bags for multiple chutes…they should have had each chute with a separate truck or at least a different line!! People were getting antsy as chutes were starting to close. I was ok but 10 minutes out from my chute closing I got frustrated and jumped the line like a bunch of others were doing. This only gave me like 5 minutes for a pre race potty break….a habit of mine so it needed to be handled! Lines again were long but I kept walking, the closer to the starting line and chutes I got the shorter the line became so I jumped in there. Literally, with a minute to spare, I jumped in my chute finally able to relax and get excited for our chute to be called over to line up!

I was hyped, to one side was Table Mountain and the other side was a TV screen showing the official start of the race and directly in front of the chutes was the cool looking DHL Stadium. The hues on Table Mountain at this hour was phenomenal and the chutes were packed full of eager, nervous and over stimulated runners!

You could feel the energy in the crowd of each chute as they knew they would soon join the race on the streets of Cape Town as the elites sprinted off!

As we walked over to the start, people started jogging and a start gun went off. I was like oh, that was real quick…but then we slowed…ha it was the chute before us heading out…whew! Now, our turn. The crowd got silent; the calm before the storm, then the gun went off and we too were off! We rounded the stadium and slowly made our way to the main streets of Cape Town. For the first 1.5 miles I still donned my sweater…a blue one that I picked out at the market in the Grand Parade the day before which had the letters HUH in the middle of the upper chest area. I figured HUH made perfect sense given the circumstances…ha as it would be funny when I looked back at photos and though ¨Huh, why did I sign up for this?¨!

I dropped the blue HUH sweater near a curb just as I felt warm enough. I later heard many complain about this beginning part of the race being super windy and cold. I´d say ¨Well played!¨ With the sweater I barely felt the wind and I was definitely not cold! I decided to run in a thin hot pink tank as it would be getting hot later and feeling hot on a run early is not ideal!

Warmed up and ready I tried to keep the pace near 7 minute miles (4:30kmin).

At the start of training I thought to go for an under 3 hour marathon. This quickly subsided as motivation was buried deep down in Earth´s mantle. I wanted to go for it but I also wanted a coach. I didn´t try hard enough early on to find a coach and making a training plan alone for such a hefty goal I just knew I wouldn´t be able to keep myself accountable. I know I could personally train myself for this race time but accountability is something I truly get from a coach and it is what I desired. I kept tempting myself to go for it anyway but now a month into the training cycle I still wasn´t motivated. Finally sometime after that, around 7 weeks to go, I knew I wouldn´t have time to get after 3 hours but all of a sudden I got motivated. I think the timeline got shorter and I felt the pressure to actually train. I was finally motivated! I started adding interval training in, making a weekly plan and was excited for a long run! This timeline fits exactly into the week before my flight left to Europe…ha!

Keeping that in mind, my race day plan was not 3 hours, nor was it an exact time at all. The plan was simply to push, I knew I could hang around 7:15 but I could also push just fine at 6:45 when needed…what I didn´t have was training past 17 miles. No problem I still decided to just see how it felt to push.

I pushed for miles upon miles against the wind at this pace (around 7:00 min. mile pace). Even as we went onto the highway, with it whipping one leg into the other leg, I pushed. Here you couldn´t resist the in your face views of the high walled mountains directly in front of you and celebrating with those cheering off to the right.

Through many neighborhoods of the city we ran…far away…nearly all had a view of Table Mountain…some, way better than others! Half way through the race we made a turn that had us really head back to the main part of Cape Town. Around this point I also caught up to a pace group. Unlike other races, it seemed like pace groups here were a mob of runners and if you happened upon them around a hydration station on the course like I did then you went into turbo mode to get in front of them so you might actually grab a water in advance of the mass. I made the pass successfully but it might have been a bit too much of a push for my body. Wind was still coming strong at us as I eased back into my regular pace.

Shortly after this, still ahead of the big pace groups behind me, I didn´t feel great. I couldn´t pin point what it was, the stomach, breathing, speed??? What is going on? I thought maybe it was the stomach so I skipped a gel, maybe I was just full. NO…It felt like I couldn´t get enough of something. I decided to grab 2 waters at the next hydration station…maybe I was dehydrated? NOPE…Maybe Speed…I slowed down a few times but that didn´t really help, I still felt off. Next I thought, ¨WAS THIS THE WALL AT 16 miles?¨ That seemed early…NOT IT! Self talk ¨Damn, what could it be?¨ I decided to breath through my nose only…for those that have never tried this, try walking briskly up a small hill only using your nose…you will find out quickly that this is quite hard to do! Since I have not practiced this in forever nor at this speed…Forget It! (More about nasal breathing and techniques.)

I never really figured it out, even after visiting a doctor the next day. …All tests came back fine!

What I have deduced it to be was the wind. Race day had 38km/h (24mph) winds as the constant, not sure what gusts were but powerful the whole day when they hit. The brief moments when I used only my nose, I felt better. I just couldn´t keep it like that at that speed.

In the end I just slowed down…suffering, hanging in there trying to stay focused on the race.

In Claremont you could hear for a couple of miles what sounded like a train cheering us on! It stopped by the time I closer but a quick turn revealed a train and sure enough, the transit authority for CT Trains was cheering on runners and one of the metrorail trains was parked at the station cheering too ha ha! I loved this creative cheering so much! Later I enjoyed running through the Woodstock neighborhood…so much so…I tried to remember the names of places I saw as I ran by just so I could go back and check them out after. Woodstock was full of street art and what looked like some pretty hip places mixed into the fairly industrial looking area.

I didn´t even mind when we rolled right through the middle of Cape Town, past Town Hall with the Nelson Mandela statue waving at us, and entered a long hill at kilometer 31 (19 miles). I didn´t mind because it went through the tree lined Company Gardens which I think is so beautiful. Other runners did complain but I prefer cool views while running so this new addition to the marathon route was 5 star for me! I was going plenty slower than my start pace but maintained focus even until we got back to the stadium, jumped the curb (there was a ramp) and went under the traffic circle via the pedestrian passageway for the stadium.

When we passed the stadium…aka the finish line…focus waned hard…I had 4 miles left….Two miles to get to a block from where I was staying and then abruptly turn around for two more miles and head to the stadium to finish. This part went along the ocean and I looked forward to it thinking for sure it would be wonderful. I didn´t pay a bit of attention to it! It was null and void for me. Couldn´t tell you if it was pretty of not. Mentally passing the finish line area and also where I was staying was unfair. Even on training runs I avoid doing such a thing…why would anyone want to continue past their house???…UGG!

So there I was 2 miles from the finish trying to find a reason to dig deep. At any other race, I do it without a problem, I speed up those last couple of miles. At this race, it was not happening! I couldn´t find speed. I felt basically sick….yet I kept trying to push. I watch almost in slow motion as a girl sprints past me. All, motivation, lost…HA!

I round the final turn into the finish chute. I am done with Cape Town Marathon. Marathon #10. My first Marathon on the African continent. UFF I feel like shit!

Definitely the worst I have felt after a race. I decide to stretch, maybe I´ll feel better…legs are fine but I do it anyway…NO! Drink H20…NOPE! Slowly I make my way over to get my bag, seek shelter in a port-o-potty and change into non sweaty clothes. You wonder, ¨Will that help?¨…somewhat, as at least I am warmer because NOPE the wind has not stopped!! It´s cold even with the lovely sun and 70F degrees (20C)! I sit down again in the grass…I literally felt so crappy. Nothing is helping…only time helps. Maybe an hour later I finally wasn´t feeling awful.

By this time I have entered the hospitality tent. Now I have run several international races but never have I ever been invited the the hospitality tent simply for coming to run from abroad. I really hope they keep this, it was simply the best feature of the race! When you arrived, you checked in, got a bracelet, were given a nice and filling lunch box, access to drinks and had I not epically failed to leave my bag with them everything would be all in one spot…hell, they even had a shower!

It was super cool to mingle in the hospitality tent. Inside runners were from everywhere…many were chasing the World Majors spot…aka if the Cape Town Marathon is entered into World Majors this year all of us runners get automatic entry. I was one of the few who was not chasing this. Everyone I met seemed to have basically already done the 6 World Majors and were on their second round…it was a game now for them. I realize people do this but I for one am not. I simply picked Cape Town because I have not been and the race looked pretty cool and popular. Either way it was really cool to hear about all the marathons the runners in the hospitality tent had traveled to and ran in addition to the World Majors…I´d say quite the super humans in this tent area!

Before leaving the race venue I met up with a new friend I made while training in South Africa. In Johannesburg it is not safe to just run anywhere so I was very strategic in training there. I attended a Park Run (safe environment and highly recommend!) in Johannesburg and met several runners who were also doing the marathon. I even found a group to do a long run with the next day and I must say once you know where to run I loved running in Joburg! Any who, on race day I was able to meet up with one friend, Jackson, outside the tent to congratulate him before we each went our separate ways to rest. He, like everyone else I spoke to, said it was a real rough day on the course and I have to agree…especially for those finishing in the afternoon sun!

Lastly, before leaving, and something I highly recommend doing, is to head to the finish line where at this race they have a viewing platform for spectators to cheer on their runners as they make the final push through the finish arch! This isn´t something I have seen at any big race. Usually you can not get close to the finish line because this area is filled with seats for paying spectators or sponsors to view the race. I really hope they keep a spot like this if they become a World Major because watching your own family/friends or even strangers at this specific point is very inspirational and awesome to have available!

I could have walked back from the race but decided to use the bus. Shuttles were also available that picked up/dropped off people to various areas of Cape Town. You might also be able to get an Uber but I would not recommend it given the race blocks a good potion of the area´s roads and traffic is awful around here as runners constantly cross the road in droves. My Uber to the start said he was going home and avoiding the area until the next day so I doubt many work this day. Even the bus was very late but again I had nothing else to do but chill.

Once home I walked down to the ocean (a block from my airbnb) and jumped in the Saunders Beach natural pool for the perfect ice bath. It was definitely cold but also definitely the place to be, everyone else I saw get in the pool were marathoners too…ha everyone had the same idea for recovery! It was fun to meet people and hear how race day went for others while freezing our legs off! LOL

Do not miss:

• Staying near Green Point

• Visiting Sea Point area for a shake out run to Camps Bay (stunningly beautiful)

• Jumping in at Saunders Beach for an ice bath (or just watching sunset)

• Getting a myciti pass to take the safe cheap transit option here

• Taking a free walking tour of Cape Town (tip based)

• Meal out to celebrate

• A hike up at Table Mountain National Park and/or a sunset hike to Lions Head (Uber there, approx. 2 hour return hike, so sad I missed this!)

• If you are like me and wish to cycle, do rent a bike from Cape Town Cycle Hire (they drop it off at your hotel) and they are well maintained, quality bikes!

Register to run Cape Town Marathon!

Best place to stay for the race: Curiosity Hostel/Hotel or anything near Green Point

Best place for shake out runs: 1) Sea Point to Camps Bay, 2) Green Point around Sunset 3) The Marina 4) Not a shake out but run up Table Mountain or on it´s trail system!

Myciti bus pass: 35R to get card, charge at Spar, absa bank atms, sunset pharmacy, myciti office, etc – Tap on/off (point system) and ride, it´s safe, frequent and goes all around Cape Town!

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