PETER GIDDY.: TWO OCEANS MARATHON AND HALF MARATHON 2012

TEAM STEENKAMP -- ZARA; ARON; MIA; CHRISTIAN. THESE FOUR WILL RUN THE 300M DASH. ARON IS THE FASTEST AND HE CHARGES PAST ZARA IN THE FINAL 100M; THEN COMES ZARA AS SHE BECOMES TOTALLY EXHAUSTED WITH A HEART BEAT TO MATCH; NICKY BRINGS MIA IN WITH A LOYAL CHRISTIAN STAYING WITH HIS MOM.

TWO OCEANS MARATHON 2012
300 METER DASH
TWO OCEANS HALF MARATHON
Peter Giddy
Stefan Steenkamp
Andy Bolton
Graham Channon
Bob Stedman
Graham Nel
Tim Perks
Steenkamp Family 300 meter dash
Nicky Steenkamp
Cathy and Saul Silberstein (Cathy Pregnant with first child)
Gerald; Pat and Ronel Scheepers
Kobus Gerber
Aletta
Suzanne Gendall
Benita Barton

The weekend starts on Maundy Thursday 5th April 2012
Good Friday 6th April we drive from PE to CT
Easter Saturday we run the half marathon

HOLY WEEK
This week is Holy Week. It starts with Palm Sunday remembering the time when Jesus came to Jerusalem on a donkey and the crowds put palm branches onto the streets. We are not in church on Palm Sunday (1st April) as we are in George for Ally's Hockey tournament.

SPY WEDNESDAY
This may be the day when Judas conspired with the Pharisees to identify Jesus to them so that they could have him executed.

Then comes Maundy Thurdsay which celebrates the Last Supper and the time when Jesus gave his disciples the (Maundy) Command: "A new commandment I give to you: to love one another as I have loved you". Maundy Thursday is 40 days after Shrove Tuesday. Shrove Tuesday is often celebrated as the begining of Lent by eating of Pancakes which contain rich ingredients such as Egg and Butter. Lent starts on the Wednesday after Shrove Tuesday and lasts for 40 days to Midnight on Maundy Thursday. During Lent Christians may give up a luxury. This Lent; Ally gave up Fizzy Cold Drinks while I gave up Meat.

GOOD FRIDAY 6TH APRIL 2012
We have readied ourselves on Thursday evening and are able to leave at 03.30am. Ally makes herself comfortable in the back seat and Barbara and I drive through the early morning; stop at Plett; Mossel Bay; Riviersonderend where we fill up with Petrol, and then straight to UCT where we meet up with Nicky and her family for the Childrens Two Oceans running.

Nicky has not pre-entered the children and so there is a little delay while numbers are sorted out. We are the last to enter the running arena and so are first in line for the run. Nicky and I take the children to the start and run with the children. What fun we all have as Aron takes the lead; Zara charging along as fast as she can go, becoming quite distressed but not letting up on the speed at all. She finishes with a heart beat that would start a steam engine but is full of talk about her run. Christian runs with Nicky who takes care of Mia. They all receive medals and a cold drink after the event.

Stefan and I drive to the Good Hope Center where we register. I am shocked by the length of the queue. It takes us around an hour to stand in line and finally reach the front of the line and get our race numbers and goody bags. Stefan buys a few T-Shirts - I say hello to Nadia from the Addo run and greet Monde; Graham and Geoff from Achilles. I drop off a parcel at the New Balance stand and Stefan & I have a bite to eat before heading off to Cathy's house.

GERALD; BRUCE FORDYCE AND RONEL AT TWO OCEANS REGISTRATION 2012

At Cathy's house, there is the whole Cape Town family. Ally goes home with Nicky and sleeps over there this evening. I am really tired and able to have a bit of a sleep before supper of Chicken and Pasta that Cathy makes for us. Barabra and Cathy play scrabble and I am in bed early. The day was quite warm as we drove to Cape Town with the car guage registering up to 30Degrees but this evening the temp drops so it is quite chilly.

TWO OCEANS PINNING NUMBERS ONTO T-SHIRTS

NICKY STEENKAMP - WHO LAST YEAR COMPLETED THE 21KM IN THE REQUIRED TIME - NOW GIVES INSTRUCTIONS TO HER CHILDREN AS THEY READY FOR THE 300M DASH.

WE WERE LATE ENTRIES AND ARRIVED AT THE START LAST. WE CAME IN FROM THE FRONT AND SO HAD PRIME POSITIONS FOR A FAST RUN.

THERE IS A VIBRANT BUZZ AROUND THE FIELD AS THE FEW RUNNERS WHO DO THIS RUN ON A FRIDAY FOR RELIGIOUS REASONS FINISH THE EVENT. THE TRAIL RUNNERS ALSO COMPLETE THE EVENT AS THE YOUNGER GROUP SET THEMSELVES FOR THE BABY RUN OF 100M; THE TODDLERS DASH OF 300M AND THEN THERE IS THE FUN RUN OF 2.5KM WHERE YOU WILL NEED SHOES AND AT LEAST A MINIMUM OF TRAINING EVEN IF YOU WALK IT OUT.

STEFAN AND NICKY READY THEIR CHILDREN FOR THE TWO OCEANS 300M DASH. EACH OF THEM ARE AWARDED A MEDAL AND A COLD DRINK AFTER THE RUN.

ZARA LOST HER FRONT TOOTH AND NOW THE SECOND FRONT TOOTH IS LOOSE AND SO SHE IS ABLE TO GIVE A NANNY MC FEE SMILE WITH THE FRONT TOOTH OUTSIDE OF THE MOUTH.

Easter Saturday.
Stefan collects me from Cathy's house at 4.30am and we drive through to UCT. We leave from Saul and Cathy's house at around 4;20 and arrive at the University just after 5am. It is too late! There are long queue's of cars. We should have anticipated this after the experience of Friday afternoon where we also had to wait in a long queue for registration. We stuck to our plan and took the second turn and were fortunate to find an ideal parking spot.

We walked down to the start and were delighted to find that the entrance to the C seeding had a special entrance. Doing a qualifying 21km has real advantages when you have to line up with 16 000 runners at an event like this one. I was really hoping to find Pat Scheepers and so when we saw her we took the required pics. I now run with my waterproof sling bag where we kept Stefan's car keys and my phone. The phone is not to answer calls but to allow me to record special moments like this. Also lining up was Aletta who is training for Ironman in two weeks time and did not want to run the 56km.

PAT GOING FOR HER 10TH TWO OCEANS 21KM. STEFAN AND I DOING OUR 4TH.

Today was not only a special day for Pat doing her 10th but also Ronel doing her first 56km. Suzanne was also in Cape Town for her maiden voyage of 56km. Kobus would complete his 21km in 1;55 -- he is my hero as I really do not know how to do a good time at an event that has this many hills and is this crowded.

And Andy Bolton would today complete his 30th Two Oceans in a row. No break in the past 30 years. I am really amazed at how he has kept up the dedication to train sufficiently to have done this. I have found that my personal motivation is not at a level that is required to complete a Two Oceans 56km again.

ALETTA AND PAT; ALETTA TRAINING FOR IRONMAN IN TWO WEEKS TIME

The normal hype and announcements precede the start to Two Oceans 21km. And off we go. Ahead of us is a small portion of the whole field but we still have to work to stay in the group. Right after we start there is a right turn and then into a darkish area and then up to the main road that leads to the Fish Hoek area. This is a long hill and we are pushing hard to stay running. I am sweating and breathing heavily when we finally reach the top. It is a long top and only after a while do we start the down hill. Tim Perks passes us. People come rushing past us on the down. There is a long section of this road before we reach a turn to the left where we go over the bridge. It is now just starting to become light at 7km. We are around 40 minutes out. From here it is up and then a long switchback to the right. We see the runners coming at us. There are just so many!

I now am battling to stay with Stefan. I can feel that he wants to go ahead and urge him to do so. But he stays with me to the 10kay mark. I enquire of the time at 9km: 49mins and at 10 it is 1;04. Then Stefan leaves me on the Southern Cross drive hill. This hill is always going to be a long hill. Deceptive as the runner may think that he is near to the top. Not So! There is more to come.

TWO OCEANS DANCING GIRLS

CROWDS ON THE RUN AT TWO OCEANS 21KM. IT SEEMS LIKE A NEVER ENDING STREAM OF RUNNERS ALL HAVING A GREAT TIME DESPITE THE RAIN.

The crowd support is amazing. So many people who voluteer to hand out coke, water and poweraid. And so many supporters standing on the side of the road. We reach the top of Constantia and see the 13km mark and also the 48km marker board for the longer run. I am pleased to see that there is now full road closure for both sides of the road. There are just so many runners that it would be unreasonable to try to keep runners to the right of the road. It was about here that Nicky later told us that she had seen Stefan on TV.

I take a couple of pictures. Stefan has gone off and I am feeling a lot more at ease. I keep running and at no stage do I feel like a walk but I am enjoying taking pics of the band and the dancing girls. The rain starts to fall in earnest. As we go down hill at around the 15km mark it is pouring down. We have to run in water as the road surfaces drain of this mini flood. I put my head down and press on.

CALYPSO BAND ON THE TWO OCEANS ROUTE KEEPS THE VIBE DESPITE THE TORRENTIAL RAIN

ONLY 4KAYS TO GO. BUT IN DRIVING RAIN AS WE SLUSH THROUGH RUNNING WATER.

By now I am starting to enjoy the wetness. The sweat in my eyes has washed away and now I am almost drinking the water that falls down my face. I see that we have four kays to go. The spectators are all as wet as we are even though they try to keep dry under what shelter they can find. Then we turn up hill for the final three kays. I press on. The rain drives into our faces. Not too much talking. Maybe a bit of nervous chatter but we all know that we are not far from the finish and we do our best to keep going as hard as we are able.

Now we are over the hill and only one kay to go. There is a short climb and then we enter the field. This is a quagmire of mud and slushy wet grass. I know from yesterday's Toddler Dash that we have 300meters to go. And finally under the finish banner. For me it is 2;15. I grab a cold drink and find that Stefan is waiting for me. We turn around and walk over the bridge to the car park area. At this stage we have run for just over 2 hours. The 56km runners will be approaching the FIsh Hoek Turn.

TIM NOAKES AND STEFAN AFTER TWO OCEANS 21KM IN THE POURING RAIN

TIM NOAKES AND PETER AS WE WALK TO OUR CARS AFTER THE 21KM

As Stefam and I walk to the car we take a bit of a wrong turn and meet up with a man who looks familiar. I announce that I know him and he introduces himself: Tim Noakes. Tim has been in the news recently with a new type of diet including Meat which flies in the face of the previous popular idea that Carbohydrates are the best for runners before a long event like this.

Tim Noakes is a Professor of Medical Sports technology. He wrote the book: "The Lore of Running". Tim has researched medical sports and excercise at the sports institute at Cape Town university. He founded the Sports Research Institute with Morne du Plessis who was Springbok Rugby player. Tim is respected internationally for his work. He has completed 15 X 56km Two Oceans and has today completed his 3rd 21km. It was a realy surprise and pleasure to meet Tim and to chat to him as we walked to our cars.

Yesterday at Registration, Gerald and Ronel had a picture taken with Bruce Fordyce. Tim told us that Bruce has gotten back into shape and before todays race weighed just 55kg.

Stefan and I drove back to his house where I had a shower and dressed in some of his clothes as Barbara was still at Cathy's house. I then started to receive some of the results: Pat 2;26 for her tenth. Ronel 6;29 for her first 21; Kobus 1;55; Benita 5;30 and Andy would have been around the same time.

RONEL COMPLETES 56KM TWO OCEANS 6;29

SUZANNE FINISHES TWO OCEANS 2012 IN 5.50. HER FIRST TWO OCEANS. FINISHED WELL CLEARLY DUE TO THE MPRG TRAINING IN THE MORNINGS. WELL DONE SUZANNE.

PAT PERMANENT NUMBER COLLAGE

RONEL FIRST 56KM FINISH COLLAGE INCLUDING WET MUDDY FEET.

Quite a special day for many of the MPRG and the rest of the PE runners (Achilles and others)

TYGERBERG NATURE RESERVE EASTER WEEKEND 2012

Sunday morning.
Nicky takes us for a walk in the Tygerberg Nature reserve. It is a short walk to the picnic area and then a short hike to the top of the mountain. There are a variety of hikes that can be done on this mountain. From here we can see across the valleys to the Atlantic ocean; Bloubergstrand; To Milnerton where Cathy lives; the table mountain; Muizenberg and to the West we can see Paarl. There are any number of Radio masts on the mountain top as it is the highest point around. A pair of Canon guard the area.

CANON AT THE TOP OF THE TYGERBERG
In 1690 the Kanonkop warning post was set up by the East Indian Company. The reason for this being, in the words of Simon van der Stel: to call the members to arms as soon as possible, in cases of emergency, we decided to small guns at different spots to give them notice to rally around their standards.
One was placed on the Tygerberrg, on at the Schuur, another on the Stellenberg kloof and another on the Drakenstein”.
This canon was donated by:
Vice Admiral R C Simpson-Anderson
Of the South African Navy Base
Simonstown.
Plaque donated by Dowd Engravers.

As I walk up I see more Field mice than I have ever seen at one place; Glass Eyed Birds; Mistletoe -- a parasite plant that lives on the host bush - This is a paradise for local and indigenous plant.

The Picnic area is perfect for a Sunday outing. Today it is overcast and we can see the approaching rain coming from the south. We leave before it catches us.

FAMILY AT THE TYGERBERG PICNIC AREA

CHRSTIAN; ZARA; AARON AND MIA PLAY AT THE TYGERBERG PICNIC AREA UNDER THE PINE TREES. ZARA COLLECTS PINE NEEDLES TO MAKE A BIRDS NEST WHEN SHE GETS HOME.

Stefan has invited the whole family for lunch. The MPRG is having a picnic lunch at a wine farm where Andy will be presented with an award for his finishing of 30 voyages. It has been a tradition to present the MPRG runners with an award as they finish 10 or 20 Two Oceans. This is a first for a 30 voyage award.