Marathon Training in the Mother City
Lovely long-legged “Carmelita” (as her coach affectionately refers to her) is a 3 hour 30 marathon runner from Zurich in Switzerland. She is currently training for the Zurich Marathon in April, which she is going to complete in 3 hours 19 (!!!), so she contacted us here at Run Cape Town to organise some training runs for her while she was on holiday in the Mother City …
Run number one took us out to the peaceful southern suburbs, where we enjoyed a 15km run along the coast from
Surfer’s Corner in Muizenberg out to Glencairn, then back following the hills above Clovelly and the scenic Boyes Drive. We ran past the colourful beach huts in St James, greeted the seals in the Kalk Bay Harbour & enjoyed loads of laughs, as well as a delicious coffee & pastry from Knead Bakery on the beach, after our run. A wonderful start to the week!
For run number two our running guide Sean was enlisted to show Carmen the historical side of our city, running in the footsteps of our Founder van Riebeeck and sharing our colourful, sometimes tragic & interesting history. Highlights included famous landmarks like the Castle of Good Hope, Company’s Gardens, the Bo-Kaap neighbourhood & Mouille Point Lighthouse, all seen from Sean’s light-hearted yet well-informed informed perspective 😉
Alana ran with Carmen on day 3, showing off our beautiful city from the elevated vantage point of Tafelberg Road, in the shadow of our majestic Table Mountain. The ladies started their run early, at 6:30am, and the sights must have been incredible as Carmen’s own words were simply: “one of the best running routes she’s ever been on” – two thumbs up for our running guide Alana and Cape Town gets another 10 out of 10!!
For Carmen’s final running tour in Cape Town we hit Chapman’s Peak, undoubtedly the most beautiful drive in South Africa, and a little taste of what Carmen can enjoy if she returns for the Old Mutual Two Oceans Ultra Marathon – “the world’s most beautiful race” one day … AND we were lucky enough to bump into John McInroy en route – the “I wear Red Socks on Friday” revolution has hit Carmen’s hometown in Switzerland, so it was great for her to meet the man behind it all! You can read more here: www.unogwajachallenge.com (We made sure Carmen was sent home with a few pairs of red socks to share the shoOops with her running friends back home!)
All in all we shared about 50km of our beautiful Cape Town with Carmen, on the run, during her stay in Cape Town … and it was rad. We had so much fun running with you Carmen, thank you for your endless enthusiasm & for choosing to explore Cape Town with us, on the run. We wish you all the best with your 3 hour 19 goal for the Zurich Marathon in April – we are 100% sure you’ll rock it!!
We hope to see you back in Cape Town soon 😉
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