My first full day there, when I went to the
race expo, the wind was so bad that motorcycles were being blown over in the parking
lots, trash cans were flying down the streets and people were literally leaning
into the wind to walk. That night, at
the hotel, the wind was howling all night and I couldn’t sleep anyway because
of jet lag. I finally went to sleep
around 6:00 am and when I woke up it was nearly 10:00. I hustled down to eat breakfast before they
closed but the day was absolutely beautiful outside.
After breakfast, I put on shorts and flip flops and
headed down to the waterfront district.
The ferries out to the Robbin Island Ferry were sold out all day due to
Easter weekend so I bought a ticket for the open-air double-decker buses and
did a coastal tour. I had been to the
Cape of Good Hope before but had forgotten just how beautiful the coast is down
here.
It was a “hop on, hop off” arrangement and I planned
to get off and catch a connection at the wine country stop. As we worked our way out of Cape Town, we
passed the infamous District Six where the apartheid government relocated
thousands of blacks then never used land.
It just stands there today—bulldozed and desolate.
The bus also passed the Cape Town city hospital where, in
the 1960s, Dr. Christian Bernard and the South African medical staff performed
the first successful heart transplant—several years before Houston even tried
it.
The tour then wound through the countryside with
beautiful scenery and unusual views and plant life. These trees supposedly
pre-date the dinosaurs.
We wound along the famous South African wine country
but the wineries and wine tasting was closed because it was Good Friday. We worked our way along the coast back into
Cape Town. The weather and the views
were just absolutely great.
We passed the Stadium built for the World Cup—it was
under construction when I was here last time.
On Saturday, it was rainy when I got up but I walked
down to the waterfront anyway and watched the seals work their way through the
locks and out to sea—they could care less about the rain. The sun came out and for a while it was
beautiful again. I ate lunch at a
Portuguese café and tried one of the red wines they had described on the tour
the day before. The waiter saw my race
chip on my shoe and brought me another free glass of wine.
I walked down to the old part of the waterfront and
found a pub/brewery and it was trying to start raining again. Since there wasn’t anything else to do, I had
a couple of beers there. It’s called
Mitchell’s Microbrewery today but the building actually dates back to the 1700s
when it sold grog to the Dutch, Portuguese and British sailors in port
here. I’ll bet those rock walls could
tell some stories…..
It was starting to rain harder so I went back to the
hotel and looked around the old prison grounds and took a nap. Ate supper at the hotel later and went to bed
early for the race on Sunday.
I only slept about three hours and just lay there
awake until 4:00 when I got up and got dressed.
It was raining again and the wind had picked up when we caught the bus
to the starting point. It was frankly
miserable in the dark. People were
standing under trees trying to get out of the rain which was now coming down in
sheets. The wind picked up again blowing
the trees and shaking water on everyone.
I honestly didn’t want to do this but at 6:00 I lined up in the rain and
took off when they shot off the cannon.
Cold weather does wonders for my running and I maintained a nice pace
for about fifteen minutes until we hit the “monster hill” and I wasn’t the only
one walking up it. At the peak, there
was a long, long downhill slope, maybe two miles or more, and I tried making up
as much time as I could but didn’t want to completely blow my legs out for the
rest of the race.
The rain stopped and the wind died down but the sky
stayed overcast which was overall good running conditions. I was aware of the
strict cut-off at 9:20 and when I finished at 9:19 they had a rope ready to
block off the finish line. I finished
with less than a minute, officially qualified, and got my medal so this was a
successful race and a successful trip.
Australia is the only remaining continent and then I
will qualify for the Seven Continents Club.
Caught a bus back to the hotel, soaked my legs in the tub, ate a light
lunch at the hotel and had a couple of celebratory beers and took a nap.
Sunday morning was one of those overcast and “not too
bad” days and I walked around the waterfront one last time, ate lunch at an
outdoor restaurant and caught the shuttle to the airport.
Mission accomplished.
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