JOHANNESBURG -  Kalmer qualified for the London Olympic Games marathon in a time of 2:29.59, the best  for any South African woman.

When she finished in 32nd place at the Olympics many of her fans were disappointed, but   looking at her finishing time, she was just 50 seconds behind her best.

“Under the circumstances, I did very well, but it was the crowd that was so amazing for me,” said Kalmer.

“It was raining and it was cold, but the support we got from the crowd was so great. Considering it was raining  they still stayed and supported us all the way.”

After halfway, Kalmer had to slow down due to an injury to her foot. Unlike her friend and training partner, Irvette van Blerk, who had injured her Achilles tendon five days before the race and had to pull out of the marathon, Kalmer’s injury only flared up in the second half of the race.

Kalmer believes the rain and cobblestones on the route could have caused Van Blerk to injure her ankle even more and the major reason why she had to bail.

“When my foot started to hurt, I had to slack off the pace, but at least it did not cause me to have to stop,” said Kalmer.

With the foot injury, Kalmer could not  use  her experience on the track – she specialised in 1 500m – and kick in the last 2km. Had her foot been injury-free, she may well have finished in the top 20.

Added to this,  Kalmer was not sure of the route markers along the three-lap, 14km course.

“In the rain I got confused with the route markers,” said Kalmer. I could have done much better than I did, but I am not complaining.

“It was a wonderful experience and I will continue to run marathons and work towards improving on my time.”

She has confirmed she will take part in next week’s Spar Women’s 10km race in Pretoria.

“I have only had two weeks rest since my marathon and I will have only a week of training before the race, so do not expect great things from me on Saturday in Pretoria,” warned the Olympian.