Welcome to my Comrades fundraising page.

Since arriving in Cape Town i've been doing a bit of running to loose that City of London paunch. After a few half marathons last year I set myself the target of the 56km two oceans ultra marathon.  Whilst training for that,  in a moment of madness and always susceptible to the “come on if you think your hard enough baiting”, I signed up to run the Comrades ultra marathon.

http://www.comrades.com/

Arguably the worlds greatest ultra marathon, athletes come from all over the world to test whether they have the physical and mental strength to conquer the approx 89 kilometres (56 miles, more than 2 marathons) between the cities of Pietermaritzburg and Durban.

Comrades, requires a great deal of commitment and I have now been training seriously for seven months averaging between 50 and 70km a week. The Two Oceans is now in the bag (completed in 5hrs 40 mins) with plenty of grimacing towards the end. Comrades, however, is another story and 33km more.

However, much training one does, the message from all those that have gone before is that it’s “going to hurt”. I've set myself the target of completing it in 11 hours so you can see it's clearly well outside my comfort zone. I encourage you to do go beyond your comfort zone by dipping into your pockets for the Red Cross Childrens Hospital here in Cape Town.

Comrades is something of a institution here in South Africa, it began in 1921 with 34 runners this year 19.617 entries have been received. The direction alternating each year between Pietermaritzburg and Durban, the so called up & down runs. So if 89km isn't enough this year we will be running from the costal city of Durban UP "The Big Five" hills on our long journey. 

The big day is the 29th May when the Mad Dogs and an Englishman will be out in the mid day sun.

Dig deep - set me a target - it's going to hurt anyhow.

Steve

 

Post Race Analysis

 

Plenty of prep the night before, laid out the supplements, drinks, tablets, anti chaffing lube, etc etc. All too soon the alarm went 3.30am – today is Comrades, it’s finally here.

 

We got dropped off at 4.30am so we could visit the loos and get into our seeding pens prior to the gun going off at 5.30am. I managed to empty my stomach all over the payment – pre race nerves perhaps anyhow I was in the pen early looking to get that extra 5 meters closer to the start line – it all helps when you’ve got 87km to go. Someone forgot to tell the crowd the seeding pens were open till 5.15am and the crowds surged forward so those of us seeded in F found ourselves closer to C and presumably the late arrivals filled in behind. As we approached the gun we had Chariots of Fire nice and cheesy, the National Anthem sun by the Pop Idol finalists and Shosholoza a song born out of the mines – it means “go forward” which seemed apt. After that the cockerel crows and the gun goes. Not a lot then happens as there are so many people,.  I crossed the line 3 mins later along with everyone else waving at the TV cameras.

 

Due to the cool temperature everyone had donned extra T-shirts and bin liners and as we got going folk ripped these off and threw them aside so you had to watch out not to trip. This was fine until we got onto the freeway at around 2km out and the highway lights suddenly failed and all went out. Even at this point the bridges were full of supporters and by now the field was stretching out ahead and behind us. At 3km my Achilles began twitching I just thought Oh no, ignored it and it went away. From about 2km out we began to climb and I tried to keep the pace slow and not get carried away. I cruised past the 80km to go marker board thinking you don’t see them often. The gradient was gentle to start with but built slowly the first big hill Cowies came around 14km it’s 2km long but this didn’t seem too bad and before long we were cruising along on the relative flat again. At 22km we came to the first real test Fields Hill its 3.5km long, steep and keeps going. I decided to adopt the run/walk strategy here. I was still feeling up for it here heading into Gillets, I was supposed to be keeping an eye out for some supporters on the road side here but the area seemed to go on much longer than I expected with loads of supporters cooking up their breakfast on the roadside so plenty of bacon fumes around, never did see my supporters. We were still climbing here heading towards Winston Park and Hillcrest and as I turned a sharp right by a petrol station at around 32km gone and the first cut off point for the stragglers I remember thinking I gone. This was a real concern with 56km still to go as my longest race prior to this was 56km only 5 weeks earlier - hardly an old timer at these ultras. My legs were suddenly very heavy and I was now facing Bothas Hill a very steep 2km incline again I did my best but coming down the long decent the other side I began to fade up until now I’d managed to keep within toughing distance of the 10 hour mark on my pacing chart but I was drifting 5 then 7 mins off pace and mentally battling. Fortunately along the way I’d come across a club member (Celtic Harriers) , we had been running together for a while with his wife but she then peeled off on stronger legs and we plodded away. Thankfully he gave me some encouragement and we took on some food and some electrolyte tablets this seemed to steady us both and we carried on adopting the race/walk strategy. Close to half way we collected a rose to leave at Authurs Seat an impression in the rock on the roadside where the first winner used to rest. This gesture is meant to bring runners luck – nothing lost I thought. Just before this spot is the Comrades commemorative wall full of plaques bearing runners names. We then descended and crossed the half way point in 5hrs 5 mins. We had slowed quite a bit I had hoped to get here around 4 hrs 40mins. The general rule is double your half way time and add an hour for your finishing time so we were looking at 11 hours. 

 

As you begin the second half another hill greats you but we were feeling slightly better. We seemed to pass a fair few folk here and powered past the water station. The large 3.7km long N’changa hill is here but we sort of missed it, there were so many hills we lost sight of where they started and finished I thought we were running Drummond but I think we were on the first part of N’changa. We carried on cruising along waiting for the big hill which we though was around 55/60kms we asked a seasoned runner when it was coming and he told us we had just run it. This made us feel so much better and as we crested the hill expecting to see another monster instead we saw the Harrison Flats a long section of undulating road we picked up pace back to 6.5 ins a km and were feeling good about things. After drifting off the pace we felt assured of a good sub 11 hour race. My running buddy turned to someone and said we’ve made it, it’s our first and we are very happy – got to be the commentators curse with 22km still to go. Shortly afterwards I felt my knee twinging and knew it was likely to be ITB (runners knee) that means you’ve got 2 or 3 km at best before your done for. Sure enough 3 km down the road I couldn’t run anymore. I sent Alistair on his way and he managed to get in 10 hr 40mins. I meanwhile could still walk which was quite a good result for this injury and I began my speed walking. I timed my self at 10mins a km and with 19 to go I figured I needed just over 3 hours to get home we had been going 8hrs 20ins or so, so I reckoned on around 11hrs 30mins – do-able if I kept going and nothing more severe happened. I tried to run but two steps later I knew it was not going to happen and trying to do so might mean I couldn’t walk at pace, my only chance of making the cut off.  So up and down I went marching along but this was having a much greater impact on the soles on my feet than running and wasn’t long before my feet were aching after 10km I knew I had some nasty blisters and with 5 or so to go I was sure these were open sores. Nevertheless, I powered up little and big “Polly Shorts” the last big hill. Cresting this hill to loads of supporters we then began the run into the finish down a gentle incline. My 10mins a km was largely correct and I could ease up slightly. The mid-day sun was long gone and the sun was beginning to get low in the sky – super time and another excuse to Braai (BBQ) so more fumes by the roadside. At 3km to go my two friends (Mother and Daughter , the mothers 66 yrs old) over took me and with 2km to go the barriers were out and we began to funnel down into the finish area then with 1km to go my work colleague came past me, which was quitea relief as I would of hated her to have missed the cutoff.. Then as we entered the final 400m with the crods banging on the advertising boards and screaming I was passed by 4 people dressed as cows, my shame was complete. I crossed the line in 11 hours and 47 mins. They say you’re the only one that cares about your time but I was felt a little disappointed. By now the sun was going down and it was getting cold, with medal and cup-a-soup in hand I went in search of my lift home. Easier said than done even with a phone, battling in crowds when your legs no longer want to support your weights is not the easiest thing and a nice comfortable sofa was no where to be seen, Eventually we all found each other only to get stuck in traffic getting out of the stadium. Then onto the highway and a two hour traffic jam as everyone retraces their steps in motorised fashion – not ideal but not too surprising either.  We got back to our lodgings around 8.30pm, it had indeed been a long day. Steak and veg was my reward but two mouthfuls and mildly hypothermic I had to lie on the couch, a hot shower and bed was what I needed.

 

Thoughts now turn to the down race, complete the up and down in consecutive years and you get a back to back medal and besides “Comrades” still feels like unfinished business. Despite been a little disappointed with my time, one thing that couldn’t be bettered was the support along the roadside, everyone tells you about it and how it makes this race special but nothing can prepare you for 12 hours of shouting, gesticulating and generosity of the locals – Well Done KZN.

 

Thanks again to all my sponsors

 

You can view some images at http://www.actionphoto.net/payment.aspx?pgm=2#

 

Track down the photos via Comrades 2011 (running, SA , my race number 25010)

 

Also worth a look http://results.comrades.com/  again enter my race number 25010 you can view some video clips here (count down gives you a clue when I cross under a banner etc – (my colours are green and white and I have a white cap on – check out “50m before the finish” on left of screen to get a good idea)– the one I like is the course video you can see the whole route speeded up from the motorbike – try and gauge the hills !