My Cape Town Marathon miracle – how a born asthmatic became a sub-three hour finisher

IT WAS fun. It was fast. And it was wonderful.

Of course it has left me walking gingerly as though I’ve got gout. But I am not complaining.

After all which social runner finishes his second marathon in under three hours without the scars for the effort?

Yes, you read it right. I completed the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon in a sub-three hours time. Two hours, 57 minutes and 45 seconds to be exact.

It was of course a long way, some 47 minutes later and 193 runners, after Asefa Negawa had retained his title.

But for a born asthmatic, the 2h57 is a time to be extremely proud of. I went to Cape Town with the sole purpose of achieving a sub three hours run.. The course is pretty flat and fast. I recently managed to crack the sub-90 mark in the half-marathon and everything pointed to a magnificent run.

At the gun I sped off like a stolen car and was soon going past two of my Fat Cats AC teammates who were also chasing a Sub 3 finish. Later on another clubmate, Bongani Bilankulu, saw me going past and advised me not to expend too much energy in the half lest I hit a wall later on.

Somewhere round the 15km mark I spotted one of the elite runners I had written about in the build-up, Eritrea’s Nigusse Seboka, limping on the side of the road going the opposite way. Was the race that hard or was he just having a bad day?

I flew through the halfway mark still feeling pretty strong.

One of the big talks at our club is that the 33km mark in a marathon is a do-or-die point. I had merely taken little sips and used the water sachets to rinse my mouth but at the 30km mark I took a good gulp to help me swallow my Omega 3 and Slow Mag tablets. A handful of raisins thereafter and I was re-energised and went past the 33km mark where clubmate Siyabonga was offering refreshments.

I knew I was on my way to something pretty good when I overtook my coach at the 35km mark and then also went past Mulalo, a top runner I admire and respect, thereafter.

The run from 37 to about 39 kilometres was pretty lonely and I even started wondering if I had not taken a wrong turn as I went for a stretch under some bridge literally by myself .

But then Bongani caught up with me just as I was at the little bridge and he told me we were a little over a kilometre from the finish line. I asked what time we were on and he said ‘2:51’ before adding ‘we’ve got our Sub-3 Bra Jakes.’

Emotions welled up inside of me and I slowed down to let it all sink in before pushing on harder towards the end.

And then I spotted my elated wife on the sidelines, her phone trained on me as she recorded my home run. I gave her the thumbs up and ran onto the blue carpet that I swear added seconds to my run, it was that heavy

But I crossed the line with time to spare before the announcer started the countdown. Bongani and I embraced in excitement..

After all this is not how it is supposed to be. You do not move from a D to an A seeding for the Comrades in one marathon like I did. And this asthmatic who was told he should not do sport back in his youth days is living proof of God’s miracles. He completed a marathon, and not just any marathon, but the Cape Town Marathon in under three hours.