30km 702 Walk the Talk

OH MY WORD!! So I thought, ah, it'll be fine, I ran 15km last weekend, what can a measly 30km walk do to me?! WRONG!! It was tough, the last 10km, as predicted by one of the guys at the club, was really hard.

I had organised park and ride tickets, which I had hoped would get us close to the start/finish. They, unfortunately weren't included in the race pack, and because I got someone else to fetch the packs, on Saturday, there was no time to query it. So we drove to the venue and parked where the parking attendant said was as close as we could get, which was like 3kms walk from the start!

In an attempt to keep down the weight of the backpack I was carrying (for snacks :P ) I left my beanie behind, which made me quite miserable for the first 3/4km while I warmed up. It's unbelievable how hilly Johannesburg is. One thinks that Cape Town has all the mountains, but theres the Flats inbetween! It seemed like we were always on an incline, either up or down.

All was good for most of the way and when the 15km walkers peeled off there was a very mild desire to go with them, but everything was still working fine, so we continued. I remember going passed the 21 in 3,5hrs, which had us pegged on 10min/km. It's not bad, but it does mean that there is no way I could walk a half marathon. Some running will definitely be needed.

After that I was desperately counting the kms down, my feet were burning and the tops of my quads were aching. The only thing that gave some relief was actually to run a little! Which we did down some of the downhills and sometimes on the few flats that there were.

Then once you have finally got to the finish line... in just under 5hrs...you have to walk back to the car!!! Through a throng of 40/50 thousand people!! I collapsed for a few minutes on the grass after the finish for a few minutes, but decided if the body cools down it will me much more difficult to get back to the car. It was a LONG way.

Anyway all said and done, I enjoyed it mostly. Lessons learned - more than 20km worth of walking is nuts! - from last week and this week, many more 15km+ runs must be completed before I attempt a 21, even if my heart can cope with it, my body (muscles and joints) still needs to get used to the longer distances.

I got home had a wonderful shower, climbed into bed for a well deserved nap. Then again went to bed at 9pm and slept through till 6, gotta love it! Only thing is the sore muscles and tendons this morning, i think this afternoon's run will end up being a 2km stretch session.