Preparation for this has been different, initially I expected to qualify at my first marathon, Johnson Crane but that was not to be. I can only really run Downhill and even though I had done a number of 20km training runs, they were probably a bit slow. 32 to 40 was a lot of uphill and I realised qualification was not happening.. I ended on pretty much 5 hrs.. Next up was Edenvale marathon which we did last and my brain remembered it being pretty much down hill from 14 to 21 and therefore 33 to 40. Not sure but I then did worse.
So off to NMC fast one where it was a lot of down hill some uphill and a wicked last 2km. Both Liz and I decided there would be no Comrades if we did not qualify here, we both had reasonable races and I plan to go back and try to walk a PB there next year.
Our normal 1XXkm over Easter was changed as we did the Runzone 48 which was good to do a longer walking race at pretty much 7:30 per km Both felt good and we recovered well.. This was followed by the Midrand 60km ( which profile pretty much matches the first 60km of Comrades) meaning we had done a 42 or long every month.. Something I learned on C22 was that Long runs are import ( even if I walk them)
So we arrived at Nikki in Hilton the Thursday evening before Comrades in a positive frame, positive is good complacent is not ..We slept earlyish and did not set alarms. When we woke we did the same 7km we did last year. I sort of wanted to do a faster walk than last year but thought I was close to 7/km last only to discover when I got back that I had in fact done 7:30/km last year , so my 7:10/km was way faster not bad on that route with about 200m elevation gain! My last km in 6:14 including some uphill. Yes I felt ready..
Later we went to register, first time as a green number, felt pretty good , walked round the museum also for the first time -not really a museum person . Afterwards we did some calorie buying and got some blankets.. Back to Nikki for another great meal and socialising, but early night and no alarm. Two nights of 9 plus hours sleep were pretty much essential..Liz and Niki are friends from varsity and needed a long catch up but we did need to make room for another couple who were staying over as we set off for Durbs.. We learned a few years ago that if you are a couple who both race without support you need to stay the night before and after in the same place. You can use a bus for transport and I really do not fancy catching a bus after the race, so we always stay near the end. This time was Garden Court South Beach- thanks to Discovery Miles. We are not fans of restaurant food, remembering our seconds food poisoning from a few years ago makes me nervous as well, so we stopped at Hillcrest Woolies and bought an assortment of snacks., Broccoli and Humus, spicy chicken, chesses etc. We still went to the end as one needs to do, so much better to have a real idea of everything than to believe a drawing...
Arriving at the hotel at about 5pm was ideal as there was less idle time and we could have our miniature whisky and dinner , sort out our clothes .. great having a spare bed. One cannot really sleep the night before as setting the alarm at 00:45 means not much sleep. Previously with Kypie we caught the bus and it was due for a full overhaul so needed first gear on all hills plus they got lost in Durban with road closures so we had to run a bout 2km to the start as the bus got stuck in traffic.. Last year we joined the anti clockwise queue at ICC from the wrong direction... This year we were prepared.
It was an early start , we wanted to leave the room before 1:30 and we did. Popped in at breakfast and got a muffin and couple of Croissants and set off for the ICC. We probably should have gone along the beach front to Marine Parade but we instead did the night club route, got a few comments and were asked for one of our blankets.. We out ran him and caught up with some other runners, which deterred him.. walked to the front of the queue and on the bus.. Was a slowish bus but we were at the start by 3:30. We stayed out of the wind just outside of business class( E batch - @THERUNNINGMANN) and waited till it started filling up then went in waited with our blankets as the numbers went up. E batch is full of legends, well slower ones anyway the fasters ones would get better seedings. My whole reason for 1 more Comrades was to start in E batch , with people sporting 47 , 48, 42 , 34 , 32,24 etc wow this was awesome. Spoke to Mr 100 miler - Tobie Reyneke, we were joined by a group from Midrand striders. The one real downer, less singing at the start, the sound system was supplied by Eskom so we missed large chunks but the feeling at the start of Comrades is not reproducible. It makes the 1530km of training worthwhile. One really needs to experience the camaraderie, the emotions, the fear , the expectation..
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The image below tells us an enormous amount about Comrades. At about 20km you get the highest point (817m) of the race, whereas at 58km you get back down to the 650m elevation you started at. The bottom of Polly's and Little Polly's is about 15m below the start. Drummond is just above the start.
The start is quite fast till the climb up to Polly's be it on the old route or the new one it is not that bad. Then climbing up to the highest point is just frustrating as one encounters peaks and then sees a higher peak, not even sure where the point is as Road works have removed the sign..
I really felt way better at the start than I thing I have ever felt.. I had a number of plans as per my usual prepration.
Plan A - Get a medal
Plan B - Get a Down Race PB my old PB was 11:40:09
Plan C - Get a Sub 11:30
Plan D - Get a Comrades Race PB ie beat 11:27:35
Plan E - Get a Sub 11 hour
I was pretty confident of a Plan B and about 3km in chatting to Belinda Skinner I said hoping for Sub 11 but need a perfect race, she said if you don't believe then you have no chance!... That early in the race one needs to be conservative and so I was. I walked good pace using Norrie's even effort as a guide and just kept one foot in front of the other.
I noticed the camber ( truck rutting as well) going down Polly Shortts more than ever before, but felt pretty good. I really felt that the km boards came quicker than any year previously. I felt in a zone, the roadworks did not affect me at all. I now feel that the route is what it is , my not enjoying a hill or circumstance or detour does not affect the fact that it must be done so just do it.
Round about 30km I noticed my knee was getting sore, this is the reason I wear knee straps, the strap tends to massage the insertion point of the Sartorius as it joins on to the Tibia. I have a belief that it is my tired pronation that causes this pain, this being the reason I use Stability shoes n longer distances. I have used Ascis Kayano and Brooks Adrenaline in the past and with these shoes and a precautionary strap or two I have been fine.
This year I tried Saucony Guides, and having done a 48km and a 60km in them I felt confident in the shoe, so I can only believe that the road camber must have also had an effect this year. It is a difficult pain to describe , it is not really a sharp intense pain but you know its there.. I had various theories about uphill and the downhill causing but it pretty much never went away. It must be the slowest I have ever walked down Inchanga, thinking at least when I go up it should be easier but it was not..
I thought of stopping (maybe for a few seconds) but I had Nigel Asprey to give me a cold Heineken 0 in Hillcrest , having already had one at Cato Ridge. The hardest section on the down is from Drummond to Kearsney College, I normally aim for 1 hr and was exactly on schedule. The climb from Assegaai rd to the highpoint in Hillcrest is a bit of a wakeup call, and by the time I got to Nigel I guess my knees felt ok. He told me Liz tried to buy a plot but the tar won so I was a bit worried about he bleeding as she is on warfarin.. I love the "He's drinking a beer remark". as I walked down the route,probably the same people as last year!.
Just before Winston park I met Eric my cousin who also told me about Liz, it seemed like she would be ok. From Drummond to Winston Park was my slowest section of the race. Even though the descent from here is big , as a walker the momentum gained from downhill is minimal as ones foot tends to extend out then drop backwards as the ground leg stays behind. Runners get the benefit of being airborne.. This section was a long grind but it was getting closer to Durban.
Something I missed this year was Bavaria Brau 0 IPA and Beer , the Apple this year was more like an apple juice and was way too sweet. I liked the IP a sit was different flavour and a pallet cleanser. I did take some Manhattan Sour drops as they are also a different flavour. Along the way I ate some Cashew nuts, BlackCat Peanut butter bar, droe wors , along with some USN Salt tablets. I never really felt like cramping was going to be an issue.
Faisel a friend was meant to be at the top of Fields Hill, he appeared way to early in my reckoning but I guess just before the top is quote vague. He was very eager to please and the benefit of seeing a friendly face is most welcome!. At the top of Fields I overtook an 11:30 bus, met up with Julian Karp and we chatted down the hill, then I overtook another 11:30 bus and just at the bottom I overtook a third one. I knew they would over take me again, but I need to do my own race. Going through Pinetown and up Cowies was really enjoyable, albeit with a bit of knee pain, but it was not debilitating. The section of the high way to Sherwood is not my favorite but you can almost smell the sea. As the busses retook their place in front of me I just kept going and really enjoyed the finish back at Kingsmead.
Something I cannot get my head around is how Comrades can actually measure the route and and say 87.701 km half of which is 43.8505 km. Drummond is measured as 44.37 officially. Therefore halfway is 519.5 before Drummond but CMSA put it about 100m past Drummond. The controversy of the Sherwood cutoff where it changed from 50 min to 60 mins but the distance changed from about 9km to about 6km.. Sorry CMSA someone must be help accountable for this, to be cutoff at 11:02 and have the Comrades App predict a 11:58 finish.
On crossing the finish line it was so congested, I got to the Green Number Tent , all food was done but I collected my corrected Green Card ( sorry Green Number card). I set off to find Team Vitality but after going round and round I eventually found my way through the masses.. Took a look around, bit could not see Liz so headed to the tog bags and or Medical, poor TV lady said I must get food.. When I got back to medical from the tog bags Liz appeared. I was so grateful that she was ok. We went back to TV, watched some TV of the finish and decided to go back to the hotel.
Amazing how we felt, both chuffed with our results, and easily able to get back to the hotel and start our recovery. We finished off our snacks and started the marathon of updating friends and family on social media.. The camaraderie around this race is super special.
Liz had her obligatory dip and we met up with a fellow midrand runner who runs on our route every morning.. We walked along the beach to Ushaka, shared a hake and chips at John Dory's , bought some Spices and then set off to Eric and Ingrid for a catchup. Had an awesome evening catching up.
Today I still "needed" 300 points for my Vitality exercise goal, and did a good 10km, I can still feel my Sartorious, on both legs so it's not an injury just overuse, probably the result of my running too much earlier in the year just to qualify so that Rowyn James could call me a jogger, and imply that runners in the last hour are no longer relevant.. Eish I really feel its time for big changes on the organising committee of Comrades... To have your 2 safety officers resign just before the event says it all. Follow the TheRunnigMann on Facebook for more on this Comrades Cut off
Keep going one foot in front of the other
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