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 Well that was fun....

We normally spend a night or two with Nikki before Comrades and we saw no reason  to change a winning formula. We also know that one must stay at the same place the night before and the night after especially if you have no seconds staying with you..

The drive down was reasonably uneventful , had our coffee milkshake a the Coffee Patch while topping up with biltong and dry wors at the Outspan. The road past Little Switzerland is struggling a bit with subsidence, so we took it easy.   In to registration and great to be the first the queue.. Everything very efficient, although the bus tickets system was left open to abuse as no controls were in place for pre-paid tickets. Collected our wildlands goodie bag and off to drink wine with Nikki. Great meal and catchup was followed the next day by an out and back contour around Hilton which felt a bit like Inchanga. 

    

Nikki then offered to take us on the midlands meander, where we discovered this, which got me thinking a bit

followed by a visit to Swissland cheese where Fran gave us a sumptuous tasting which we wolfed down with a bit of wine. Lying casually on the grass watching the goats go by. I can recommend a chill here.  Then back to Hilton for more energy loading..

It was great to sleep both nights without alarms and just to relax.. But now we needed to get into gear and do the route. I have pretty much always driven the route the day before,  It really helps me focus, Liz also appreciated it this time.. We liased with Nigel who provided Heineken 0 at Cato Ridge and Hillcrest, so that all of us  were in tune, we also popped in for a coffee milkshake at the Brown Cat Cafe. 

Then completed our   route check at Moses Mobida where we  sorted out meeting points and logistics for the next day. We had planned to eat early but neither felt hungary and we also were going to buy broccoli and humus for  later but some how we did not. We ended up checked in and ready to roll, from the 24th floor..

We walked along the promenade from the Marine Parade to the Casino to get a feel for our post race walk, and ended up snacking on nuts biltong and halva, while preparing our race clothes. Having seen others posting photos of copious quantities of gels etc I posted this, yes i did drink the Devils peak Hero.       

We had a whisky to calm the palate, and kept up with social media as the vibe started building. One negative of staying at the finish is getting to the start , for which we have used the pre race bus service for the last few years. With the PMB road works the busses started at 2:30 am..Eish we had a 10 minute walk to the bus pickup.. or so we thought.  No real takeaway breakfast , just a grab and go so we did and then left the spoils in the bakkie.

There were a number of us walking to the bus, and as usual a bit of banter was forthcoming. We were not totally sure where the buses left from and suddenly we saw them, Lots of people embarking , spotted a few friends but were told to go to the back of the queue.. As we went around the corner we realised we had come up the wrong road and the queue went way back... Liz managed to get us in and we chatted with a few novices. One youngsters first marathon was 3:33, he had no idea how he would do over 90km...Into the bus and as Liz said boy but this takes forever to get to PMB..

At least this time we dropped off just behind H batch so we could go up one of the cordoned off side roads, and get up to the tog bags at C batch. We did the charity batch thing again as it benefits wildlands allows us to feel more part of the start. We took blankets with this time so rolled one up to sit on the pavement put the other over our shoulders. As usual it was very festive with most amazing vibe, until the cock crowed. 

I had my plan to get going as close to 7:30 as I could and to just keep going, knowing that sub 7:59 would give me my green number,   

It was good to start with a bit more light as there was really only 1 dark area just before Comrades house I think. As usual I had many greeting me  along the way,  Tony Green who walked my fist ever 42 with me but he now runs , Adrienette said Hi, John Thole   ( from Edunova/ Skyrun) jogged with me for a bit... Bill Slater (Oz) who I have never met introduced himself by saying " I used to climb with Liz", we are still unsure how he recognised me!! Gradually I settled into my rhythm and tried to focus on even effort , I checked my  HR and it kpet pretty consistently at 144 which confirmed my even effort was working.

Amazing the down run goes wickedly down Polly Shortts then you climb Little Pollys and seem to keep on climbing till the highest point at about 20km.  I sort of split the distance up in my mind, my thinking was to complete 15km within every 2 hours. if I could do 1:50 for every 15km then I knew that was 11 Hrs. I never expected to achieve this but 1:50 was my goal to get some time in the bag.  I know all serious coaches talk about negative splits and  yes for top athletes that may work but for us back of the packers I think it is a no no.  If i can get 30 mins ahead of 2 hrs by halfway that leaves me 6 hrs to complete the race..  Coming in to Camperdown an 11 hour bus caught me and as is their norm they wait until they have completely surrounded ne before stopping for a walk break. I extricated  myself and made sure that I sped away from them, the next time they caught me they stopped as they got to me , which I appreciated., I got quite a few positive  comments from most of the bus drivers , official and social.    

Going along the route I saw the cellphone tower at Cato Ridge (30km) and knew that I would get a Heineken 0 there, plus feedback on Liz, with the roadworks this was really the first place we got a lot of spectators. I had a slightly irritating sock which I also fixed while Nigel took the cap off. It was really interesting  walking along drinking a beer.. At about 31km was the first cut off and I was almost 40 minutes to the good which was my plan. At 47km a lady passed me and said only 53km to your green number, that is the distance I did when I cut short the Midrand 60 because  of my sore toes.. I made sure to forget that as quickly as I could.

I really missed having Kypie next to me as he was for the last 4 Comrades, just to have someone to bounce ideas and thoughts off, but I guess it just made me focus more on my race  From early on my left upper ITB had felt tight/ tender, it never really changed throughout the day , it was just there as a niggle. From 30 to 44 is almost numbing as there are long uphills plus the up and down of Inchanga before getting to Drummond - the mythical halfway, where I saw Caitlin but not Ronel who were seconding David van Dyk.. But as numbing as this section is the next section all the way up to the top of Botha's hill is insane torture. It is almost 8km of climbing, I know its tough so I just dropped my arms , knowing that I am undertrained on long long days out, and tried to relax. Trying to keep my even effort without over doing it. I saw Trevor and Lorraine half way up and it si absolutely amazing the boost it gives when familiar people encourage you. It is great having strangers shouting your name but friends area bigger boost. |I always miss the final little hill at the top where some lady was telling us to pump our arms and  race to the top, I muttered something.....

From the top of Botha's one feels it is down hill but there are still uphills, and a Heineken0 to look forward to. Bavaria were the Comrades beer sponsors and  provided us with Beer and IPA  in 150ml cans, the first time I saw a can was on the top of Botha's but I was on the other side of the road and I do not go backwards on Comrades... Suddenly all water tables had cans and I started tucking in, swopping between water energade and beer. I heard someone say something to me but could not quite catch it and this Hillcrest Villagers runner told me "They said you are frigging awesome!" That got me pumped as I strolled along.

Nigel was at his spot at Hillcrest, got my beer and the update that I was more consistent than Liz, who was slowing a bit. Walking along I had many comments about me drinking beer. I found it very encouraging especially as now we were into a heavy spectator area. Then I saw Tienie on the side of the road, we are great friends and it was great to walk down to the RWFL  gazebo where Petro was waiting. 

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 Then the boring highway section before going through Gillits where it was great to see Cousin Eric and Ingrid lounging on the side of the road... Now that was a booster as Eric asked if I was walking the whole way....  . Next was the FNB mile where the stand up comedian said "Here us the first of our walkers...  they have to walk at 12min/km!!", guess he needs an education. for me to walk and complete an event I need to walk at the same speed as someone who is running.. Runners often ask me how fast I am walking and realistically the answer is "the same as you are running....," 

I took it really easy down Fields Hill  where for the first time ever I had stomach issues, maybe  the combination of dates, dried ginger , energy bars and dry wors was not perfect. I guess nothing is but I decided not to stop and gradually the cramps subsided. I found that if I pushed  too hard on the ups thst my calves tightened so I walked just below a compromising speed.  Through Pinetown and its cut off , still 40 mins ahead which was my goal, slowly up  Cowies hill, at the top was a medical emergency which did not look good but medics were there..

Say Jacques who said Tobie had not come past which was a worry... or was he taking it easy.. Antionette had stormed past me, boy is she fit!! Passing Bennie Roux at 18km to go I realised that I was getting close now... just get down the freeway to teh last cutoff at Sherwood, I passed Brad Brown along the way , as I was frequently grabbing IPA's wherever I could. Up past the last cutoff , my customary greeting with Stephen Conway, and up the murderous off ramp for the final  freeway section with the first 12 hour bus breathing down my neck.

That last section is soul destroying, with memories of 2018 when Kypie & I had Anzel in tow.. Past Kingsmead to Moses Mobida. I had tears in my eyes entering the stadium, then crossing the line and funneling through to the Green Number room where.. 

 

this appeared .. I had my photo taken with Blanche Moila. I quickly checked  Liz was not there, grabbed a sandwich and a drink and headed off top Team Vitality. I got a massive hug form Antionette who said Tobie had just come in so that was a massive relief.  I could not find Liz at TV and so set off to the tog bag area, where she arrived with a media round her neck and looking great.    We went back to TV for a meal , leaving there at  18:30 to walk back to our hotel, I saw Stephen climbing over the bridge having completed his 21st... still too scared to walk it. 

I managed to add a bit of distance to our journey but we got back to the hotel.. 

Job done.

We have both need a bit sore, Liz has  bit of a cold./flu  but by today Saturday the 3 Sept we are pretty much recovered..

Thanks for coming along on the journey ..

Keep walking Johnny