Category: Racing

Comrades 2010 was a highlight for many and a disappointment for others. Whether you won a silver medal or finished a second before the 12-hour cut off, one thing bound all of us on the 89.2km long road to Durban… and that was the incredible and unique experience of finishing one of the most gruelling ultra races in the world.

Claudia Cockcroft
Race Time: 11:45:11

Most of the older Irene runners are familiar with my medical history, but here is a brief recap. On 16 June 2007 I was training to run my sixth Comrades Marathon, but eventually decided not to run as I was not feeling well. This was not in my nature and few people really understood why I did not run. I found myself ten days later in hospital, suffering with an aneurysm in my brain and a stroke as a result of a tear in my internal carotid artery.

The period between July 2007 and February 2009 was pure hell. I was told by specialists that I would never run again and that the rupturing of the aneurism could be fatal if I lifted anything heavy (including my three-year-old son). In November 2008 a specialist told me I would never work or run again and that I had to accept it as I had a ‘good innings”.

From all the medication my liver was approximately seven times larger than what it should have been. I lost my short term memory and had problems with fine motor skills.

In February 2008 I made a few decisions. I decided to stop all medication. I started walking (against medical advice) and also found a neurosurgeon who felt that there was hope. I started a rehabilitation programme at the High Performance Centre (HPC) in Pretoria and my medication was changed.

In July 2009 I finished the Knysna Forest Half Marathon! It was my first road race in two years. This was achieved after five training sessions at the HPC (600m
running and 4km cycling per session). I also did a 7km walk and a 10km trial run as part of my training.

The Knysna Forest Half Marathon gave me some hope. I decided to join the Tuesday time trials at the club. I frequently woke up the day after the time trial suffering from terrible headaches. This scared me as the headaches would only subside late on Thursday evening. It also gave me doubts about my ability to run races on the Saturday morning.

In October 2009 my husband, Newton, decided that we were entering for Comrades. I knew that there was a possibility that I would at least get the Comrades T-shirt at the expo, but also only if I qualified. We ran during our holiday in December; I ran a 10km race and Newton did a few others whilst I
sat out. In January I kept going to time trials and managed to run two races.

Often at the time trials I battled with a severe pain in my liver and continuous headaches. I managed to log 49,96km for the month of January. In February I battled even more. At the time trials I kept walking and running a bit. I went to the Deloitte’s race and I was wearing my running gear, but was too scared to run the race! I logged a total of 25,2km in February. In March I managed to run the time trials and also ran 10km at the Sunrise Monster.

Then my husband announced that he wanted to run the Elands Valley Marathon. I arranged accommodation and could not picture myself on the side of the road in the car with the kids. I arranged a child minder and told Newton that I was going to run! He was very concerned. I promised him that I would stop if I did not feel well. The race organization was not the best but I managed to qualify for Comrades.

I logged 78km in March. April, the month known as the most important month in your Comrades preparation, was getting closer now. The Loskop Ultra Marathon was around the corner; 50km sounded very far and I was not sure I could do it. But it turned out April was a much better training month! I told myself at Loskop that I would run it slowly and see how my body reacted. I managed the distance, not without tired muscles and sore feet, but I made it before the cut-off. Newton were in Cape Town for work the following week and I decided to drive to George on the Friday and meet him there to run the Outeniqua Marathon the next day. I wanted to see if I could qualify again as this race has a difficulty rating of 4. It would also give me a lot more confidence if I did well.

I managed to finish the race well in time and logged 152km for the month of April.
In May I managed to run a further 80km. I suddenly got an abscess in my tooth. I missed out on another Saturday race due to it and had to visit the dentist three times. I had the abscess drained.

On the Wednesday before Comrades my 6-year-old son ended up with a stomach virus. I got the same virus and was ill on Saturday, the day before the big race!

I was two hours early in my H seeding block, ready for the start of the 2010 Comrades. I was not sure what the day was going to be like. I remembered the words of Don Oliver, saying one should break the race up in chewable chunks. I could not visualize a distance of 89,2km. I lost Newton within the first kilometer of the race as I had to pull off as nature called. Back on the road it was freezing cold but slowly I managed to work myself back into the race. I fell behind as per my pacing chart and later decided to abandon it.

All went well, but at Cato Ridge my muscles started aching. I took a painkiller. It was the wrong decision, because of the condition of my liver. I battled for the next 30km. At one stage I sat on a rock at the side of the road. Gerard Van den Raad came speed walking by and told me to move ahead. I was wondering how I am going to explain to people at work why I did not finish the race. I started a new job in May and the people at work did not know my history. I walked passed a few water points and I forgot to take in fluids. I stopped taking energy gels and sweets.

The thought of having to enter for my sixth Comrades a third time crossed my mind. Then Belinda Skinner and her sister walked passed me. Belinda advised me to move forward. She actually made me realise I had to get going! On the down hills I passed Belinda and on the up hills she passed me. After the Nedbank Mile I was really tired. I had a good five minutes break and then felt rested enough to carry on. My muscles were really aching, but I knew that the Irene support station was close by and that Nadia would be able to assist with my sore muscles.

As Nadia finished rubbing my legs I took a tablet, but then got nauseous. A kind Irene lady gave me a rehydration drink and Jack offered to walk with me to the top of Cowies Hill. I asked him to hold my hand as I was scared to fall. He made sure I had Cream Soda to drink and left me at the downhill saying that he knows that I am a strong downhill runner. I felt much better and ran all the down hills. When the last cut-off at the 7km to go mark was near, I heard the announcer say that 7 minutes was left before the final cut-off. I could not clearly visualize how far it was but I knew it was downhill. I decided to run. I ran past Belinda and decided that I was definitely not going to miss the cut-off. My Garmin watch indicated a best pace of 3:51 and it could only have been there.

Then I was forced to walk again, perhaps because I went so fast down
the hill! I sat on the barrier at the side of the road and remembered the MMS that we received in our goody bags. I rubbed it into my calf muscles and was off again. I saw a little girl eating a bright red ice lolly and told her it looked really good. About 500m later I saw the ice-cream man and bought my own. I met up with my uncle who is turning 75 this year. He was a bit weak, I held his arm and walked with him for 100m and left him with some words of encouragement. I had only a few kilometers to go. I ran down the hill and saw my cousin who was walking. I ran past him and told him that I saw his dad.

I saw the pacing bus of Vlam Pieterse in front of me. I managed to squeeze past. I was happy now, I felt better and I could run again with a smile. I knew I was going to make it. Before the race I thought I was going to cry if I managed to get to the stadium, but I was so happy that I just smiled from ear to ear when I entered the stadium. Today it is hard to believe that I made it.

My uncle also finished his first Comrades. My sister was also running but did not know that I was running! I could not tell her as she would have been too worried and it could have spoilt her race. She only found out later the evening!

Thank you to everyone who supported me; Sonia, Marina, Wynand, Johnny, Martie, Tracey de Waal, Jeannie, Oom Gerard, Tannie Bertha and Belinda Skinner. I cannot mention everyone. A special thanks to Newton, who never gave up on me. He always nagged that I should go for a second doctor’s opinion. It was most probably his concern over me that cost him his race in the end. Newton also made a special effort to run with me in the evenings in April and May. I definitely could not have made it without him.

Thanks to our doctor at Intercare Medical Centre that believed that I could run Comrades again and also encouraged me to go to the best in the medical field. Thanks for the contribution that the Hi Performance Centre made in my recovery and the thousands of Sudoko puzzles published in newspapers and books to exercise my brain! To recover from a stroke is a tough and lonely race, but to be able to run the Comrades once more is truly awesome.

Comrades 2010 was a highlight for many and a disappointment for others. Whether you won a silver medal or finished a second before the 12-hour cut off, one thing bound all of us on the 89.2km long road to Durban… and that was the incredible and unique experience of finishing one of the most gruelling ultra races in the world. Modern Athlete readers share their Comrades 2010 experience.

Werner Bremer
Race Time: 6:56:56

When I think about Comrades 2010, my feelings alternate between dread and elation. Dread when I think about the preparation and the whole trip to Durban and elation because I ran way better than I ever expected. My goal was to finish between 7:00 and 7:10, but as close to 7:00 as possible. I eventually finished in 6:56:56!

On Friday I arrived in Johannesburg from Nuremberg, Germany without my luggage, after almost not flying out the previous night (from Paris) because of a technical fault with the one engine on the A380. Not a problem though, as I had my shoes, ID chip, heart rate monitor and watch, ski-pants and running socks with me in my backpack on the plane (thanks to my wife!) I still had to run around to get some energy gels and plasters before the race, but eventually I had everything and could calm down and get rested for the race itself. (I still don’t have my bag…)

This was my first downhill run and I was quite apprehensive after everybody told me it is worse than going uphill, especially the last 30 km. Well, now I can say give me the down run any day and I will be happy! I prefer it!

My training got off to a shaky start. I started ‘training’ (sort of) in middle November 2009 after not having run for two years. I initially ran 4-8km a couple of times a week. At the beginning of March I started with a proper silver medal training program. One piece of advice though: make sure you have been running more than just 15-25 km a week when you start with a program that expects you to immediately run a minimum of 75 km in the first week!

As we had our coldest winter in 50 years, 90% of my training was done at temperatures ranging from -3 to -20 degrees Celsius. Twice I had to rest for 2-3 days to give my lungs some time to stop hurting after doing 22-27 km at around 10 degrees. The cold made it even more important to warm up properly and especially stretch before starting the runs. As I overlooked this second part in the beginning, I ended up with a lot of torn muscles during my training which could have been avoided.

I ran my qualifying marathon on 14 March in Kandell, Germany at a temperature of 2 degrees C. Because of the lack of stretching I developed micro tears in my calf muscle at 36 km. I hobbled to the end to finish in just under 3 hours, after being well on my way to a personal best. Because of (preventable) injuries I lost around 4 weeks of training overall during the 14 week training program.

Comrades day itself was a dream! My sister organized a place in Pietermaritzburg for us on the Saturday, and although we slept on the floor on very thin foam mattresses, I was well rested at the start of the race. On entering the starting block I met and greeted Dirk Cloete and two other Irene runners. As the gun went off I was with the pack like a hound after a fox. After 15km I got rid of the plastic bag I was wearing, something I will never use again as it made me sweat a lot and then the cold air made me freeze. My pace was way too fast and I had to force myself to go slower every time I looked at my splits and heart rate.

Next time I will just ignore the splits and run my pace according to how I feel! Trying to slow down my pace actually also had the effect of tiring me out, as I had to concentrate harder on keeping a slower pace which did not feel comfortable.

At 30km into the race my gluteus muscle suddenly started hurting. This caused me to overcompensate and then my knee started hurting as well. Whenever I got to an uphill I had to start walking as the pain was just unbearable. Over the whole distance I probably walked half of all the uphills, which meant I lost a lot of time. Luckily for me I could make up some of the time on the down hills, clocking around 4min/km! I even stopped once to have the muscle massaged and later tried to massage it myself while running and walking.

In spite of all this, I had a great time! I never felt really tired and never felt fed-up with the race or wanted it to be over (like in previous races).

I even had time to ‘dance’ to the music of the supporters. The kids really enjoyed it when I slapped their hands. Seeing their smiles when you slap their hands or take something from them really made it worth the while to ‘lose’ the couple of seconds in doing it!

The supporters were also great, especially all the Irene supporters! More than once it forced me to start running again on an uphill, even if it was only for a couple of hundred meters, just to show appreciation.

Another thing that influenced my race a bit was the lack of nutrition. I was going to get my energy drinks from a specific producer. The only problem was that I did not once see their tables and never got the drinks! They were there, but not very visible.

Luckily I took five sachets of energy gels with me, but this ran out 28km before the end. I then had to rely on bananas and potatoes (I generally hate eating during a race) and the Energade drinks to supply me with the needed energy for the last stretch. Luckily it was enough, though I did feel I needed something extra over the last 3km.

Before I flew to Durban I told myself that this will be my last Comrades ever, remembering the previous races. After having such a great race this year I know I will do it again, and know that without the injuries before and during the race I can go at least 15 minutes faster.

I learnt a lot and here is some advice:
• Always have the essentials for the race with you if you are travelling with an airline; shoes, ID chip, clothes, watch and so on.
• Make sure you have been running more than 1-2 months before starting a serious training program.
• If you pick up an injury while training, depending on the type of injury, remember you can still train at a slower pace up to the point just before it really hurts.
• Don’t rely on others for your energy gelds needed during the race. If you do, make sure you have a back-up plan.
• It is better to get a good night’s sleep in the town where the race starts, than to get little sleep and having to get up at 3am in the morning and stress whether you will make it to the start on time!

Thank you to all the supporters at Irene Running Club, especially Marina and Wynand (all the admin stuff), Bertha van den Raad (for taking my bag to the finish) and my family, Karin and Paul Prinsloo (for getting my ASA numbers and running clothes to me in Durban) and Francis Venter (for a place to sleep!)

Comrades 2010 was a highlight for many and a disappointment for others. Whether you won a silver medal or finished a second before the 12-hour cut off, one thing bound all of us on the 89.2km long road to Durban… and that was the incredible and unique experience of finishing one of the most gruelling ultra races in the world. Six runners share their race day experiences with Modern Athlete.

Peter Van de Walle, ArcelorMittal AC
Race Time: 7:58:51

About three years ago, my wife and I decided to move temporarily from Belgium to South Africa. But only at the end of April 2008, we arrived in Vanderbijlpark on a two-year work contract. After a few months, I decided to join the ArcelorMittal AC and there it all started…

During the group runs, I heard all those stories about amazing marathons and ultra marathons. In all stories, there seemed to
be only ONE race that counted: the Comrades Marathon! I could not understand that a human being could be that crazy to run
89km. And there was no way that I was going to ever start in that race! My ambition was to run my second marathon before
I turned 40 (I ran one marathon in Belgium when I was 35).
But craziness turns out to be contagious. Before the end of
the year, my running partners convinced me to enter the
Two Oceans Marathon.

And on 30 May 2010, after completing ten marathons and five ultra marathons in South Africa, I lined up at the start of the Comrades. I must admit that it was with mixed feelings. On one hand, I was very motivated to tackle this ultimate human race, but on the other hand I was scared because of all the war stories I heard. “Don’t start too fast or you will pay at the end”; “Your legs will hurt, and probably you will get cramps, but never bail.”

When the gun went off I realized what an amazing experience this was going to be. I started slow, keeping in mind all the good advice. I was quite disappointed when after only 30km my legs started hurting. I could not imagine running another 60km with pain. But I went with the flow and after 60km I still didn’t walk a single metre. However, I made that up in the last 29km. I was really counting down the kilometres and on every uphill, I did a fair bit of walking. In the last 3km, I joined a small group and managed to keep on running. In just under eight hours, I crossed the finish line.

I thought my legs were hurting, but only on Monday and Tuesday, I felt what it means to run the Comrades.
Every step felt like a mile and the stairs were real torture. Only now after two weeks, I fully realize what the Comrades is all about. It is a race against yourself, exploring your limits, investing five months to get that medal. My respect is enormous for those who finished ten, 20 or more Comrades. It requires discipline to go through this process year after year. When finishing my Comrades, my decision was clear: this was my first and my last. However, next year it is an up run and you can only claim the Comrades when you have done an up and a down run. Is craziness really contagious!?

A warm ‘thank you’ to all ArcelorMittal athletes who supported me on the road in the past two years!
Visit our website and read more Comrades experiences from Werner Bremer, Claudia Cockcroft, Zelda Black and other amazing readers as they define themselves!

 

Comrades 2010 was a highlight for many and a disappointment for others. Whether you won a silver medal or finished a second before the 12-hour cut off, one thing bound all of us on the 89.2km long road to Durban… and that was the incredible and unique experience of finishing one of the most gruelling ultra races in the world. Six runners share their race day experiences with Modern Athlete.

MARISA OOSTHUIZEN, IRENE ROAD
RUNNING CLUB
Race Time: 10:35

Just to get to Comrades 2010 was a nightmare. Every year I promise myself that I am going to train differently. Little did I know that 2010 was a year where I was going to be forced to train differently.

In February I started training with Rinaldi Botes, a novice. At the Vaal Marathon I ran 4:13. I thought I had it all under control. A week before Om die Dam I had the same problem as in 2007, a stress fracture! After a lot of tears and prayers I went to the gym, armed with some swimming gear. I started with 30 minutes on the Orbitrek and 30 minutes in the pool. At lunch time I was back for another hour in
the pool.

My goal was to be fit enough to run Loskop 50km. I gradually built up to more hours in the pool. One thing about this training was that it made me mentally strong and built endurance.

I eventually finished Loskop in 5:30. I changed my swimming routine; I put running shoes on and ran in the pool! This helped so much that two weeks before Comrades I was on the road for four hours without any problems. My heart rate at rest was 38 beats per minute and I lost 6kg!

I started Comrades on a positive note. I tried to stay with friends, Pierre, Marisia Koch and Billy up to halfway. A big thank you to you guys. I felt good all the way and recited the following: “His name is Great. He will never leave me.” I got to the finish line in 10:35.

A big thank you to my
husband, Danie!

Comrades 2010 was a highlight for many and a disappointment for others. Whether you won a silver medal or finished a second before the 12-hour cut off, one thing bound all of us on the 89.2km long road to Durban… and that was the incredible and unique experience of finishing one of the most gruelling ultra races in the world. Six runners share their race day experiences with Modern Athlete.

Keith Reynolds, Irene ROAD Running Club
Race Time: 8:13

All preparations for 2010 went well; I clocked exactly 1 700km from January to Comrades and was running better times than
I had in the past ten years.

On the morning, I met up as planned with the ‘Silver Bus’ hopefuls. From the beginning I was on cruise control. I was amazed to see how easily we got up the hills. At one stage we were even running below 4:20min/km pace.

By the time we got to Drummond (close to schedule at 3:39), Dirk cautioned us to pull back on the climb out of Drummond. With 36km to go I had a personal time check – I was eight minutes ahead of where I was when I ran my best time in 1989.

At 65km I took a short walk (exactly 50 paces) to stretch out a bit and reward myself for having run further without stopping, compared to previous years.

Then all of a sudden, I felt I was going slower and slower.
I got incredibly dizzy and despite still running downhill the pace dropped to well over 6min/km. I walked and ran over the next 2km at over 7min/km. Tony (Benoni Northerns) came past and gave me an energy bar, but the damage had already been done as I had made the mistake of running only on supplements and not the normal food intake I would have had in previous years.

I battled my way through Pinetown knowing that the great Irene supporters were only a few kilometres away. I got to the tent and was fed a combination of sandwiches and whatever else was available. After a few minutes I felt less dizzy and proceeded on my way up Cowies Hill.

I had crossed over the timing mat at Cowies in 5:59:20 – still
in silver time but I realized it was just not going to happen.
The hardest part of the remaining 18km was trying to keep going, knowing that all the effort I had put into preparation, had still not paid off.

Wendy Fitzmaurice (Westville) passed me on Berea Road and made the comment we all know so well – it doesn’t matter who you are or what you plan before the race, the race will level all and make you humble.

All was not at a loss this year. Following the race while in Mooi River we came across a charity shop. For some strange reason, my wife Vanessa mentioned to the owner that we had just come up from the race. The woman got quite excited and led us to an elderly woman who was knitting squares. It turns out the elderly woman was none other than Elizabeth (Betty) Cavanagh – the first official female winner of Comrades in 1975! We had a
great chat and also discovered that Betty had ‘given’ her permanent number (462) to her daughter who completed her third run this year.

Now it’s time to sit down and work out what went wrong this year and fix it so I can pick up the pieces and plan again for a ‘better’ next year.

Comrades 2010 was a highlight for many and a disappointment for others. Whether you won a silver medal or finished a second before the 12-hour cut off, one thing bound all of us on the 89.2km long road to Durban… and that was the incredible and unique experience of finishing one of the most gruelling ultra races in the world. Six runners share their race day experiences with Modern Athlete.

Kari Longman, Celtic Harriers Athletic Club
Race Time: 9:45

This last week has passed in a bit of a dreamy whirlwind for me and I keep on having to remind myself that I am officially a Comrades finisher!  

I think my main inspiration for running Comrades is probably my wonderful dad. As a little girl, my dad was always quite a big man and not particularly sporty. One day in early 1980 something motivated him to go for an 11km run. I thought it was just the most incredible thing that someone could run
that far.

At some point near the end of 1982 my dad started running in earnest. A mere six months later he ran his first Comrades.
Vividly etched in my memory is me as a young girl of 12 at the finish of Comrades, walking around all on my own and then somehow making my way over the barriers and running through the finish line with my dad. He went on to do another five Comrades after which his knees were so messed up he had to stop running and took up cycling instead!

For many years after that it was a dream of mine to perhaps also run Comrades one day. I was always the most avid supporter, knew the names of all the gold medallists each year and just loved the fact that on a down run the runners would run past our house, take a pee against our very long hedge and even sometimes throw out their old running tops on the pavement. 

In fact, I once picked up a long-sleeved RAC t-shirt discarded outside our house and wore it as my winter PJ top for years afterwards. I did quite a bit of distance running when I was still at school. I liked the feeling, and I liked to make my dad happy.

Then I became an adult and gave up on the distance running thing for a very long time. In fact, I only got back into it again in 2005, after my daughter, Julia was born!  

Then suddenly there was something about the ‘5 000 novices’ cut-off that attracted me to Comrades 2010. So I entered less than an hour before the 5 000 tally was reached.

And so the long slog began. Working full-time and having three kids (one still just a baby), I had to rely on my little 5.5km and 6.4km runs during the week, with one or two longer runs on most weekends. My darling husband, Alistair, and occasionally our wonderful nanny, Jane, meant that I could get these longer runs in at least, because without them I would have probably been destined to have a terrible experience!

I found myself at the start of the Comrades at 4:45am on Sunday, 30 May. Beside me was Joe Tyrrell, a kind and wonderful man whom I met a few months ago and who so generously offered to be my “running shadow”. It was such a chills down the spine experience to hear the recording of Max Trimborn’s ‘cock crow’, Chariots of Fire and the anthem just before the race started. I felt incredibly emotional thinking about the
reality of finally finding myself as an official starter of this legendary race.

The race itself feels slightly blurry to me now, although interspersed with beautiful and treasured little memories.
These are some of the things I remember:
 
The strange feeling of running past PMB Girls’ High, where
I spent five years of my life.
  
The slightly mysterious, ‘disconnected’ feeling of running in the dark with thousands of anonymous bodies, waiting for the sun to rise.
 
Discovering Joe’s delightful penchant for striking up a remarkably meaningful conversation with any international runner we passed.
 
The unbelievably heady pong of Rainbow Chicken Farms (which left me thinking I’d be giving KFC a miss for perhaps the next decade).  
 
The profound joy and heart-rending experience of passing the beautiful, smiling, lovely children from Enthembeni School and holding their hands as I passed.
 
The feeling of great tiredness my legs already felt at 25km, with me wondering how it would be possible to still run another 64km.  
 
The fabulous feeling of passing the halfway point at Drummond and the deafening sound of beeps as hundreds of ‘chipped’ feet passed over the timing mats and supporters cheered like nobody’s business. 
 
The mixed emotions of passing the 33km to go point (since this officially marked the point from which every step further
I took was the furthest I’d ever run before).
 
The sadness and trepidation with which I parted with ‘my shadow’ at 60km. 
  
The strange feeling of not being able to work out what it was I wanted to eat (knowing it was nothing sweet and nothing savoury) and then realising all I wanted was an enormous glug of beer (which I never got!).
 The pleasure of letting my legs loose on Fields Hill.
  
The unexpected feeling of a second wind shortly after Cowies Hill and calculating that a sub-10 was perhaps within reach.  
 
The desperate need to walk stretches, despite my closeness to the finish.
  
My burst of energy and a final 200m sprint around the stadium, with ‘Islands in the Stream’ playing the whole way.
 
And then a sort of muted joy-cum-sadness after finishing in 9:45, with no-one with whom to celebrate for quite a while!

Did I have a good experience?
Oh, absolutely (as with child-birth, all the really difficult bits sort of fade away and are forgotten about!).
I don’t think I could have wished for a better first experience.

Will I be doing it again next year? I’m not too sure. I am daunted by the prospect of doing all that training again. But I think Al and I are cooking up a little dream of perhaps doing it together, which would be an extra kind of special.

Am I proud of myself? Yes! I discovered afterwards that between the first timing mat
(at 27km) and the finish, I passed 2 600 people. That works out to 42 people per kilometre, or one person every 25 metres, which feels like something I’m unlikely to ever do again and makes me very happy! 

But I am also so humbled by the far more remarkable, nearly legendary achievements of many other people.
I know and realise that the number of people one passes has very little to do with success!

Comrades has taught me many things: that if one works hard to prepare for something, it’s not nearly as bad as one might initially imagine; that I should be so thankful for being healthy and strong; that Alistair loves me and I am incredibly lucky to have him by my side; that there are not many things in life which are quite as much of a leveler as long-distance running is; that it really does help to remember that one just has to put one foot in front of the other and eventually one will
get there and finally… that Cream Soda is so much better than Coke (and doesn’t make one burp
nearly as much!).

Comrades 2010 was a highlight for many and a disappointment for others. Whether you won a silver medal or finished a second before the 12-hour cut off, one thing bound all of us on the 89.2km long road to Durban… and that was the incredible and unique experience of finishing one of the most gruelling ultra races in the world. Six runners share their race day experiences with Modern Athlete.

CATHIE VAN ROOYEN,
DISCOVERY ATHLETIC CLUB
Race Time: Did Not Finish

On Sunday I became another Comrades statistic, that of ‘bailer’. So now I have three Comrades varieties to my experience; too slow for the cut off time, medallist and now also bailer.
 
Let me rewind a little. The weekend was a strange one.
Crazy and calm. After arriving at the airport we spent a long time travelling to the expo where we were faced with long queues and lots of grimaces.

We settled in our bed and breakfast just as it turned rather cold and very windy. Feet up, we listened and hoped that the wind would not affect our run.
 
Finally after a long Saturday night of staring at the clock, Comrades 2010 arrived. We followed the even longer than usual line of red car lights weaving their way to Pietermaritzburg.

We all moved quickly into our seeding areas. We had the furthest to walk as I was in the very last group. The gun went off and the clock started. It took us over eight minutes to get to the start line. I silently thought that the front guys were already 2km away by that time.

The large field of runners meant a lot of crowds and I found myself really concentrating on people in front of and behind me. My friend, Marlene, ran comfortably and we got into our rhythm fairly easily.

After around two hours of running, I felt a pain in my hip.
I was surprised by this and tried a few remedies, which helped for a while.

We were running well and had good times over the first half of the race, but I wasn’t enjoying it much. This perturbed
me, as I knew that the second half would get worse. However we kept moving.

Eventually after my pain worsened, I firmly told Marlene that I would not ruin her chances of a medal. She tried everything to get me positive, but I was stuck. Eventually I told her to go ahead, and she listened without argument. She must have seen my look in my eyes!

I knew my head was looking for things to make me stop!
My hip was achingly sore, and it had shifted down to my
knee and shin. This meant that walking was painful and
I was compensating with my other leg.

I realised that I was having one of ‘those’ days that people spoke about. I was powerless to do anything. I almost ignored the outreached hands from smiling kids. This is what I was running for, but cute dogs, schoolboys cheering, none of that made any difference. I thought long and hard about the consequences of what I was contemplating.

Eventually my body said, ‘Enough!’ So around 27km to go, I sat down and waited for a bailer bus. Many people said, “You can still make it,” but I realised later that I chase joy, not medals, and in this race which I absolutely love, I was feeling NO joy.

I did not want to turn Comrades into a race I would hate, and get really injured chasing time with my slow pained walk. I am old enough to realise the medal doesn’t mean as much to me as my happiness, but I had to be sure I would have no regrets.

After a tortured half hour of chilly waiting, an empty bus came along to escort me to comfort and a ‘Did Not Finish.’

Back at the sunny stadium I waited for my sister who I had spotted on the road from the bus, and was pleased to see that she was running so well. I walked about and strangely my hip pain remarkably improved.

So now it’s back to the drawing board. I am going to regroup and get myself ready for 2011. Hopefully the crowd will be smaller, I will be better prepared, and this year will be my only ‘one of those days’!

Congrats to all the finishers, and to all the
non-finishers. I hope you have no regrets and know that you made the best decision that you could at the time.

Comrades 2010 was a highlight for many and a disappointment for others. Whether you won a silver medal or finished a second before the 12-hour cut off, one thing bound all of us on the 89.2km long road to Durban… and that was the incredible and unique experience of finishing one of the most gruelling ultra races in the world. Six runners share their race day experiences with Modern Athlete.

GREG BARNES, IRENE ROAD RUNNING CLUB
Race Time: 6:10

I had set myself a goal to finish as close to six hours as possible. The day did not get off to a good start. We left for Pietermaritzburg at 3:20 in the morning, only to find many Durban city streets closed. We eventually followed a bus full of Comrades runners and got on the highway at 4:30.

Luckily we could speed down the highway at a record pace, only to find a wall of cars at the toll gate. We crept in behind a truck and were thankfully through in two minutes. The highway was crawling at 100km/hour, so we decided to take the New England turnoff.

My friend, Neville and I decided to abandon our car with 3km to go, enduring lots of comments from fellow runners about how good we looked. A nice girl offered us a ride which we accepted. We progressed a bit only to come to a complete standstill again.

We jumped out again and sped towards the start. I got into the A block and off we went, adrenaline pumping through my veins! Everything was on track and I made my goal times at each point perfectly, right behind the two leading Russian ladies.

I went through Drummond in 2:59. I overtook the twins and it felt great! With the sound of the helicopter following the leading ladies as my guide, I tried to stay ahead of them. I was doing well up to Cowies Hill and at about 9km to go my wheels started coming off. Dehydration! My eyes became blurry and I could hardly see the road.
I started walking at 45th Cutting.
The spectators tried everything just to get me going again. Someone gave me two water sachets. If it wasn’t for him
I might not have recovered to finish.

From 45th Cutting to the finish line was one blur; it felt as if
I had a curtain over my eyes. I made a decision that the twins would not overtake me and that kept me going right to the end.

The encouragement from the Irene supporters was great and that gave me the extra strength to get to the finish. After two bottles of water my eyesight became normal again and
with a sigh of relief I drank my
chocolate milkshake.

  Comrades 2011 – Let the games begin!