Colgate 15km Race Report

Sunday morning I was up at 04:00 again to get ready for my second race of the weekend, the Colgate 15km at the Boksburg Athletics Stadium. This was a great race and I had a good run.

I pre-entered for this race so I could relax a lot more before the start. I arrived early as this is one of the bigger races and traffic can be a real problem. The field was big…about 5000 runners. A lot of these were running the 32km (20 mile) race. This was the last long run before Comrades and the mood at the start was great. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera with me and I went to the race alone. 

In spite of the large field the start went well. The route went along some really wide roads for the first few kilometers and this helped a lot. It was only at about 6km that we turned into a smaller street and things got crowded a bit.

I felt very good the whole way. I did take it very easy and just wanted to get the time on my legs. I was happy as I hardly felt the 25km of the previous day in my legs. I wanted to run about 01:45 so my pace was slow and relaxed. Unlike the day before I ran the whole race on my own. Between the 5000 runners finding friends can be a bit difficult. I spotted a few, but never got to run with anyone specific.

The route was quite easy with no serious hills or downhills. There were times where I had to slow down because the road was congested and at the 7km water point it looked like a water point in one of the big races like Comrades or Two Oceans with runners everywhere.

My legs felt a little tired for the first time at 11km, but I’ve run many races from this stadium before and knew it was easy running to the finish. Just after the 12km water point I could see the stadium below us and my spirit really lifted as I ran the last 3km feeling good and relaxed. My legs were feeling good again and everything was great.

The finish on the tartan track is always nice and makes me feel like a real athlete (dreams). I finished in 01:42:11 and collected my medal and one of the best goody bags around. Medal, t-shirt, shower gel, soap, toothpaste, toothbrush and even some fabric softener…great value! I’ll definitely be back!

I’m very happy with my two races for the weekend. Although slow, I wasn’t very tired and my legs are fine. I can do my normal training in the week ahead. This morning, Tuesday, I ran 9km and felt 100%.

This was my last road race for a while as most road races in South Africa have been cancelled or postponed because of the soccer world cup from 11 June to 11 July. For me this means trails and this Saturday I’m running the Runner’s World Wildlife Challenge (±12km) at Groenkloof, Pretoria.

Happy Running!