DE CAPE TOWN RACES

Toto, this can't be Swaziland, anymore!
We left the confines of Swaziland and after two days of travel, we found ourselves not only in civilization, but in the midst of fellow Americans--for the start of the International Friendship Run on Good Friday, and the Old Mutual Two Oceans (half) Marathon on Easter Saturday.
In short, it was a wonderful vacation!



A view of Mouille Point about one-fourth into the Friendship Run which was a flat, fun run.
Seventy-six nations were represented, 196 Americans were registered--most, apparently working in Africa.






The International Friendship Run was along the coast of Granger Bay, then turned in here at Green Point Lighthouse (1842) and Mo is streaking toward the Cape Town Stadium.






This is not the start gun but Debbie admiring some sculpture near the waterfront. After the race we enjoyed a festive, international ambiance in very pleasant weather.







Am I hallucinating? Now this is First World! You better believe we dropped a few rand here--real ice cream.









This looks like a good place for lunch. The race finished at Victoria and Alfred Waterfront after circling one of the World Cup soccer stadia and a walkway along Table Bay. Notice Table Mountain in the background with no cloud cover.





Seafood for lunch after a good race--under an umbrella with a good South African wine.
(Apartheid is a thing of the past in 'the rainbow nation', but notice the faces around us and you'll see it exists de facto.)





Table Mountain above Victoria and Alfred Bay. For our first two days (our racing days) there was never a cloud in the sky.
The red guy on the right is made of Coca Cola packing boxes--compare his size to the people in front of him.





We're a long way from home, but only 6131 km from the South Pole.










The Vineyard Inn in Newlands where we stayed for our races. The style is Dutch Colonial and had beautiful grounds and we had a beautiful, modern room, and delicious meals. Newlands is on the back- or east-side of Table Mountain and very pretty. Over five million people are in the metropolitan area which surrounds Table Mountain and is made up of many suburbs.



Po nearing the finish line with 14,200 others. After running "The World's Most Beautiful Marathon", we finished in the stadium of the University of Cape Town. I was seventh in my class of 54. My time would have been faster if the race had been less dense--I was hemmed in by 14,000 other runners trying to funnel through narrow streets--in the dark for the first hour.



Enjoying the rewards of the finish after the race. Table Mountain still has no clouds, but we have other things to do.
End of race days. From here, we change hotels to be nearer downtown and other attractions.
I took a total of nearly 300 pictures so I'm sampling in two posts.
...to be continued.