This year I decided to join Liz in the San Parks Honorary Rangers Charity batch, they really do look after their athletes. Unbelievably welcoming and we knew 2 of the volunteers which made it even more special. So great to catch up with Cathy Nash at registration. We each received a custom written message as below.
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Shoes
I took the shoes I did last years Comrades with, added some ShooGoo to the heal and did a 20 odd km and they felt fine so they became my 2026 Comrades shoes. The picture on the right from the night before the race. These shoes have done just under 1000km with no issues at all
Leading up to Comrades I had a few issues
- Knees still felt a bit sore from the 55km that i did
- Hamstrings felt a bit tight but nothing like last year
- My walking has been slower this year which made me concerned
- My shoes
As usual we stayed at Nikki in Hilton , she only got back from Moz on Friday so we had time to deliver our support package to Nigel in Howick and proceed to Comrades House to collect our race numbers, and our supporters pack from San Parks where we had a long chat with Cathy Nash who we both worked with 20 years ago.. This was followed by a great evening catching up with Ian and Sascha. Amazing how little kids become such awesome adults.
An early morning forest walk was followed by a trip to Karkloof Market for breakfast, then back to Nikki and a quick visit to finish are but that appeared off bounds which was a pity, having seen the weather forecast we decided to get donation blankets for the bus trip down then returned to Nikki to get ready.
I really struggle with the concept of setting an alarm for 1:30 AM, but I guess we do what we have to do.. We took a bag with to the start, arriving at Longmarket school we were sent in to a car park and straight out to the busses, missed the one leaving at 2:30 but no issue bus was full at about 3am so off we went. It is quite relaxing for me not to have to worry about the start and we got into our pens at about 4:30. The pen was quite full , we had brought packing material to sit on so bums were kept warm. I found the buildup to the start a bit slow, less singing but still a good build up. The actual feelings that erupt at the start are indescrible so you need to join us next year to experience it.
I quite enjoy watching Group 1 disappearing away into the dark, slowly we moved forward, I must say that the smaller batches are much better as there is way less pushing and shoving. Once we got to the front it was pretty much ready set go and off we were.
It was good to see Mavis Morris doing her 11th and Marinda Ludick back looking much happier this year doing her 32nd which is awesome, saw both in the first 300m of the race, a bit later I saw Margiet and walked with her for a bit as the climb to PMB started in all earnest.
I still follow Norrie Williamson's even effort principle because I believe essentially meaning that you use the same effort no matter the gradient, I find this resonates with me. One can use heart rate as an easy reference guide to keep your effort consistent you need to bring in some creep as with time your HR will creep higher. Looking back over my HR from the day, my highest HR was mostly the last 10 odd km before Drummond.
My goal was to try and average around 7:40 per km but pretty soon I realised that was not going to happen. I seemed to settle at around 8:00 per km which was fine as the first goal is always a medal , after that is assured you can worry about speed and time.
When Tobie Reyneke ran next to me going up Cowies he warned me not to lean so much forward. Seeing here during my brief time walking with Bronwyn it is obvious how I hunch my shoulders almost trying to pull myself forward, I think I did improve after this. Fields Hill was the last time I saw either Bronwyn who steamed ahead or Tobie who did his normal Tobie thing by helping Victor Boston who was struggling with nutrition.
I find it amazing how on the day of Comrades I just seem to get in a zone and keep moving, mostly I am just checking my pace and ensuring that I am still on schedule to finish. I really do find it strange that my total focus is just to keep moving and hardly ever really think of not making it, it is much more about ensuring that the finish is still safe.
I find the multiple group start seems to make it more congested for me. I found both the slower athletes from group 1 and the fastest from group 3 seemed to congest around me. Not too sure why but I really got the impression that the roads were more busy, but interestingly the busses seemed to be much less intrusive and had minimal effect on me.
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Amazingly I never felt my hamstring , at one stage I thought of maybe transferring my knee guard from my left knee to my right, but never did it. It was really good to get a Heineken 0 and an energy bar from Nigel as I entered Hillcrest. Just seeing a friendly face along the way builds confidence and the feeling of support that it brings with it is such an encouragement.
Going through the bottom of Botha's Hill I was very pleased when the 11:30 bus went past and because of it's size it forced the spectators off the road and giving us more space to get through. I saw Trevor and Lorriane at Alvestone , I see them there pretty much every year. Going down to Drummond is always a special time as it means we are nearly halfway.. Nchanga - Kypies absolute nememis - was a longish pull but seemed to pass by quite quickly, I settled on a nice pace and just kept keeping on.
Just after the SanParks water table at 60km I saw Liz , she was wandering over the road and was complaining about needing her beer, which was about 3km away. She really could have done with getting a drink and food at Alvestone - something to consider for next year. I got to Nigel took my beer and energy bar and was off again. I felt pretty comfortable and was very relaxed knowing that if nothing went wrong all should be ok.
Going down Little Polly's was interesting to see the new road being built, this continues all the way up Pollys as well , just the bridge to complete and this will potentially allow massive numbers next year. As I crested Polly Shortts it was amazing to see the sunset and Nikki and Sascha who had to come to support . This was really a special meet up and a sip of beer to keep me going. I now knew that if I averaged below 9 min/k I was safe and I never went over 9 in that section. As I came past Comrades House I heard the familiar sound of a bus and was so determined not to allow them to pass me . I felt like I was really flying in that last km as I led the bus down the final straight.
The final check for medal scan was efficient and going in to the green number club and getting a wrap and a drink was good. I then checked on my phone to see where Liz was and my phone's last update for her was Drummond. Nikki had said Liz was just behind me at Pollys and should make it, I was now confused. I messaged Nigel and Nikki as to her status, somehow I got no notifications of replies. I decided to go and check if Liz had collected her tog bag, I saw her bag but could not retrieve it as I had no recollection of what was inside.. Note top self take a photo next year of what we put inside. The finish area is a sealed off area, so I went back to the green number tent to see if Liz was there she was not. I then checked my phone and saw that she had finished at 12:04 so where was she... To check in medical you have to leave the finish area..... So I went back to tog bags, the bag was not there on the field ( If I was more awake I would have remembered the manager brought the bag to the fence to id he left it there) So now I went on a wild goose chase to Vitality. When I got there Liz called and said she was in Medical with cramps. I now needed the sticker for her tog bag. A nurse brought it out to me , got the tog bag and when i got back to medical I checked my phone and saw the messages from medical ..
To cut a long story short if Liz's finish had updated on the app or least the second last mat, by the time I noticed messages it was way to long. It is not really that safe walking around with your phone out all the time. I heard of a woman who lots her handbag etc. Check all your messages, if I had I probably would have seen Nikkis message. I asked if Liz went past her at 17:19 she replied yes so I knew she was close. I missed the next message to say she had finished. If I got that I would have met her in Green number... One does irrational things when tired. But it was good that we both took our phones as we could communicate eventually.
Overall for me a great day out , not so much for Liz but we have made a note of our mistakes and will rectify next year..
Next saga
We walked down to where the car was parked and liz needed a drink
I must have walked another 5 km after the race , I eventually left Liz at the garage in the middle yellow circle below having searched every car park in site only to later discover our car was parked in the blue circle. We eventually made it back to Nikki and are on the road to recovery.
I got a bad cold from Tuesday which affected our time at Thendele and now Liz has got it to but hopefully we can kick the gremlin into oblivion pretty soon.
