It was a dark and stormy night, and the prospects for dawn weren’t much better. I woke early to the sound of torrential rain on the window of my room at the B&B, and was glad I had remembered to bring my running-in-the-rain jacket. It looked like exceptionally miserable conditions for the Cape Argus Gun Run in Cape Town this morning. But God granted a miracle to the 5,000 people at the start line for one of South Africa’s most popular running events. By 8:00am, the clouds began to break, and by the start of the race at 9:30, only scattered clouds remained.

It’s called the “Gun Run” because the goal is to finish the half marathon distance (21.1 kilometers, or 13.1 miles) before the Noon Day Gun, a cannon fired from Signal Hill in Cape Town. The route starts near the Sea Point lighthouse, runs along the Atlantic coast for a bit, then around the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront (an upscale shopping center), then through the Central Business District, back to the lighthouse and the coast again, then into Green Point Stadium for the finish.

As I was walking to the start line, I got into a conversation with another runner who was clearly in much better shape than I. He had come in third in last year’s race, and was hopeful for another top ten finish. Part of his motivation was financial – there are cash prizes for the top ten finishers, with first place getting 50,000 South African Rand (about $6,000). With no hope of a top ten finish, my motivation was purely personal. I was pretty sure I would be able to beat the gun (two and a half hours), but I was hoping to beat 2:10, with an outside shot at under two hours if things went really well.

The start was very festive, with lots of runners, crowds of onlookers, and a little cannon that was surprisingly loud! I felt a little slow at the start, mostly because there were so many runners trying to fit into the course. My race plan was to walk for 90 seconds at the beginning of each km, beginning with the second. Because of the crowd, I didn’t even see the 1km marker, so I didn’t start the walk/run part until the third km. The crowd started to thin out after about 4k, and I settled into the pattern, with a pretty consistent time between 5:50 and 6:10 per km, which would get me to the finish at a little under 2:10. I started to slow down between 5km and 10km (I’m not sure why), but when I got to 10, I realized I was halfway through already and feeling pretty good. Re-energized, I started to knock off the km’s consistently at about 5:45. By the time I got to 15km, I was sure I would get under 2:10, and I knew I had no hope of getting under 2 hours, so I decide to aim for 2:05. I felt pretty good, so I decided to skip the walking part for every other km, and when I entered the stadium I had enough energy left to sprint to the finish. Total time: a very satisfying 2:02:18! This was probably the best I have ever managed my pace for an entire race, and the first time that I finished in less than twice the time of the winner. And since I finished before the Noon Day Gun, I was given a little medal to take home.

It was also quite festive in the stadium after the race, with loud music and crowds, and a performance by the students at the Zip Zap Kids circus school. They were actually pretty good. I hung around until noon, and some of the most inspiring runners were the very tired ones who came into the stadium knowing they were real close to the gun and somehow found the energy to get to the finish line before the gun went off.

All in all, a pretty good day.

Dave Barstow