Day -224: Almost a year ago today... my toughest challenge: Comrades Marathon.

One of the things I don't do enough of is reflection. Hansei. So in an effort to look back more, I thought I'd look back about a year ago to a Pretty Big Moment (TM) in my life: 

Completing the Comrades Marathon.

Below is my race report from a bit under a year ago, after I completed one of the toughest road running races out there, the Comrades Marathon. The name is misleading, as it is an ultramarathon - it is in fact an 89km run, between two cities in South Africa (Durban at the coast and Pietermartizburg up and inland). The race alternates direction so there is an "up" year and a "down" year. 2013 was an "up year". The race profile is below - you can see the first half is really an uphill marathon-ish followed by another marathon-ish.

Enjoy* 
*note there may be some potty-words in there - you've been warned

Well, it's two weeks to the day since I completed the Comrades Marathon in Maritzburg, South Africa. So I figured I owe a race report. I'm sure it will be long (as was the day) and it will have pics.

The trip from Vancouver to Durban was long and sucky. Economy bites. We shoulda upgraded. YVR -> LHR -> 6hr layover -> JHB -> DUR for 28 hours. had on the medical-grade (i.e.: sexy old lady beige) compression socks, but by the time we got to Durban on Wednesday, my ankles were pretty damn puffy. 

I had to actually keep my feet elevated for almost 24hrs to get them back to normal. Usually, walking solves the problem, and I was doing some of that, but this was definitely the worst swelling I'd had in a long time (I fly a lot for work). Thursday, the expo opened and I wanted to get the registration stuff outta the way. They do a separate reg for international runners, which is kinda cool. Here I am all checked in, very excited, rocking my Team Xantusia Womens hoodie.  

Thanks Erika!

The Women's Trophy - the closest I'll ever get to it :-) 

Then off to explore Durban a bit and try to relax. 

A look from the beach back towards their new stadium (built for World Cup 2010). 

Mmm.. made with real bunny! (j/kidding)

Bunny Chow - a portion of a loaf of white bread hollowed out and filled with curry of your choice! YUM! Big-time local street food. Cheap and tasty. People were friendly, food was always great, and many people who found out that I was running Comrades were all very supportive and encouraging. I did have a few double-takes - a lot of folks assumed P was the runner and not me - so they were often surprised that it was the other way around! 

The view from our hotel

We were far away from the expo & start line & host hotel and we were so happy about that. It made our stay a lot quieter (really!) and being right alongside the beach and waterfront path was great. We could step outside and run up and down the pathway with no fuss. We saw TONS of people running every day we were there. In fact even the day before the race, there were obvious competitors still out running - I debated it myself - so much nervous energy. Instead we elected to drive the course. 

 

Every road looked and felt kinda like this: 
 

The only real inaccuracy about using this pic is that the hills on the Comrades Up course literally do not stop. They turn a corner and keep going - sneaky I know! OK, maybe once you get to ~40-50kms in they kinda level out. I actually started thinking I couldn't do this, that I wouldn't finish, what the hell have I done, signing up for a race I had no business being in... I knew the course profile, but driving it made me really really afraid. I am a slow but stubborn runner and I do not quit. I was very afraid that I was going to meet my match with this race. 

We pulled into Maritzburg, where the race finishes. I really wanted to see the finish area - I am a big believer in visualization in racing and I wanted that image of the last k and the finish in my mind... we got to the Cricket Oval, parked the car and walked into see the finish area. Seeing the finish line being set-up, knowing what that last section looked like, I was starting to feel a bit better about this race. A fellow who was working security there asked who was running, again offered surprise that it was me running, but then said "well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then" all very matter of factly. Drove back to Durban, ate a big meal early (my usual pre-race meal of spaghetti bolognese at around 4pm - like to make sure the deck is clear in the morning haha), tried to relax. Got my gear assembled, which always helps me relax a bit more. 

Gear 
Runners: Mizuno Wave Riders 15 
Socks: Wigwam ankle socks 
Shorts: deSoto Tuesday run shorts 
Arms: deSoto CoolWings 
Bra: Champion DoubleDry (with gel padded straps!) 
Tank: Adidas - a new shirt I bought because I wanted something RED to wear (my Team Canada race shirts never materialized) - yes I know nothing new on race day but whaddeva - national pride is more important than chafage. 
Hat: the race badged hat that came in my race package 
Lube: Bodyglide EVERYWHERE. Literally half my body was covered in BodyGlide. I even lubed up all of my toes. 

Race Day 
Woke up at 4am. Coffee X2. Get the system going. OJ. A cup of yogurt with honey and strawberries. P and I walk the 25min to the start. My left achilles that had been nagging me on and off for weeks has stopped complaining, I think the walk ended up being a good little stretch for it. It's 5am when we get to the gates - and we say good bye - "I'll see you in Drummond, OK?" (half way). I walk through the gates into my starting pen (F) and try to remain calm. There are SO many people. I think this is the largest race I have done (max prior, maybe 12000). Just shy of 20000 had registered, but only just over 15000 started that day. I was one of 41 Canadians to run, in fact Canada was the nation with closest in gender parity from virtually all the internationals (21 men to 20 women). I was hoping I'd run into at least a few fellow Canucks. 

Waiting for the start seemed to take forever. It's dark, yep it's 5:30am ok; it's supposed to be cool/cold, wait a minute - it's not. In fact not cool at all. Some mornings had been low single digits but this... this was easily 12, maybe even 14-15 degC. The weather service had said it was going to be warm, but not this warm. It's OK, you don't control the weather and everyone here has to deal with it, so think about it for a minute, then forget it. Guess I can ditch the l/sleeve shirt I had on top. The South African anthem is played, most around me sing. Then all of a sudden I hear the start of a different song. It's Shosholoza - an old song sung by miners to keep their spirits up when the work was hard -  and it occurred to me at that moment that I had been waiting ten years to hear this song. 

English Translation of "Shosholoza":

Work, work, working in the sun
We will work as one
Shosholoza
Work, work, working in the rain
Till there's sun again
Shosholoza
Push, push pushing on and on
There's much to be done
Shosholoza
Push, push, pushing in the sun
We will push as one.

I tear up a bit. Here I finally was, at the start of the Comrades Marathon, scared to hell I was not going to finish, that all that effort was for naught. OK so I had a good little cry to myself, glad it was dark :-). Chariots of Fire played, the rooster crows, the guns fires and... 

nothing. 

We begin shuffling. It takes me 7 minutes to cross the start line. This race is gun to gun, so now I only have 11:53 to finish. :-( I am really happy for the darkness as the massive crowd pulls me Westward along the N3 highway and we start to slowly climb. All the roadsides are packed with spectators. All the highway overpasses are packed with spectators. The Eastbound N3 lanes with the speeding cars and trucks are all honking at us. The absolute mass of runners in front of me is mind-blowing. 

My strategy from day 1 was to leverage my strengths. Stubborness being the primary one. I am not a fast runner. I do climb hills well, in general, so my plan was to run up any hill until I felt ~70% of max RPE, or actually started breathing harder, then walk; typically this was 1/3rd to 2/3rd of any hill. For the big 5, I had already planned to walk 100% of them. I would run every flat and every downhill. This was the plan, so I stuck to it. 

The initial climb up the N3 out of Durban is long long long and actually reasonably steep. I alternated running and walking on this stretch, and let lots of people pass by me. I would take the time to read the back bibs of many runners, as it would show how many Comrades they had completed as well as what medals they had received. I found it comforting to see a lot of "0"s burning it up the hill, while I was surrounded by many green numbers (10+ finishes) who seemed to be going about my pace, and walking a lot as well. The first aid station was impossible to reach, so I ended up with no fluids at all until the third one. (I had read advice to take a bottle for the first 10k or so but that seemed silly - turns out it wasn't silly advice at all.) We got off the N3 and onto a parallel fairly major road, the M13. There are a few flat-ish sections, even fewer minor downhills, but it always turned back into up up up. The kilometre markers, which show kms remaining, were actually quite demoralizing. When I finally saw my first leading "7" on one of these signs and knew that as long as I kept thinking about seeing that number going down, how amazing it would be to see single digits! How amazing it would be to see "1"! I knew what that finish looked like, and every time I saw some ridiculous number of kms left on those signs, I would just go to my happy place - the finish in the Cricket Oval. 

I had expected the crowds to die down a bit as we passed out of Durban but they never did... it was just endless people. Children would line up, hands outstretched, wanting hi 5s. Families with their braais fired up, cooking all sorts of yummy tasty salty meats, drinking beers already (love this place). I finally made it to an aid station where the water and energade is dispensed in these sachets - basically a small plastic bag with ~200-300mL of fluid. You grab a nice ice cold sachet, you rip a corner off with your teeth, you drink or otherwise dispense. Brilliant. And this is where another piece of brilliance came into play: the deSoto Tuesday run shorts. They have a pocket on either side that holds a sachet PERFECTLY. Emilio - I swear they were designed for these things!!! So I could grab two, shove them in my pockets, grab two more in my hands, and Bob's your Uncle. It was warming up nicely, so having the ability to carry more fluids really saved my bacon, particularly as I wanted to wet my CoolWings to cool down. The sun was finally coming up, and I was almost at the top of Cowie's Hill. Phew. One down, 4 more to go (ok 5 more, Little Pollys belongs in there IMHO). Short down, come into Pinetown, we're on the Old Main Road now (R103), then it's the start of Field's Hill. About 20k completed. I manage to toe-punt one of those roadmarkers/reflectors with my right big toe - OWIE. Stingy for quite a bit, not good, fingers crossed it just waits til Monday to complain further. 

Field's Hill just never f*ckin ends. Seriously. I think this is how you make people go insane. The heat is starting to get annoying, unpleasant. I had packed some salt tabs (4) and ibuprofen (2x400mg) just in case - I have a tendency to cramp up pretty badly in high temps. I was pretty sure I'd see P at the halfway with more tabs, so I took two tabs and an ibu, and kept trucking along... walking... forEVAH... In training, I would spend some of my lunchtimes on the treadmill at 15% gradient powerwalking. I worked up to 60min of this at a time. People laughed at me but I tell you this: I passed a lot of other walkers who were out for a Sunday dawdle I guess. 

It's "HEEL-TOE" bitches!!! 

I was not going to lose any more time walking than necessary, and I knew I could power walk for a pretty damn long time, so I kept at it. For ALL of Field's Hill. Two down. Kept taking fluids in but was starting to crave something solid. I had had a gel at the start of Field's, and there were virtually no gels at the aid stations on course... keep taking calories in, something will present itself...At the top, there is the first cut-off. Here was a chance to gauge my progress. I had planned and trained for a ~11hr run, so I should be ~90min ahead of each cutoff. Cut-off here was 10:10 - I came through at 8:30. Bang on plan. Excellent. 

After Field's Hill comes Botha's Hill - which is long and windy, but is nicely shaded with lots of trees and it's curvy enough to keep your eyeline short. Powerwalked up that one too. Still passing walkers. Damn it's getting hot. Get to the top of Botha's, wow, that's three down. Hey, I'm almost at Drummond (1/2 way)! Holy crap! Was still craving something more to eat, when a sign came out of the crowd: "POTATOES" - yess! this would work! Boiled soft potatoes rolled in salt. Perfect. Kept running the flats and downhills, walking all uphills, and passing a lot more people than I expected. As I crested one unnamed smaller hill, we start to come out of the treelined streets and into more open terrain, as if we've come onto a plateau. And cue the wind. Oh and no ordinary wind, this is the Berg wind, a hot dry and miserable bastard of a wind that comes right off the mountains and dries everything and everyone out. It's right in our faces. It's hot, it's not small, sometimes the gusts were close to 50kph, and it blew dust and dirt everywhere (especially in your face, it likes to do that). Evil evil wind it is. Pop my last two salt tabs and last ibu, that right toe is not happy, oh well, only another 6+ hrs to go, right? Rolling along, I close in on Drummond, passing through the checkpoint at 10:52 in the morning (5:22 of race time). I had originally hoped for 5hrs, but the pre-race drive had me adjust that to 5:30. So I was pretty damn happy with this time. Saw P, got a reload of salt tabs and ibuprofen, posed for a pic and rolled on: 

You can see my bulging shorts (ahem) - bulging with sachet-goodness. :-)

You will note that NO ONE IS SMILING. In fact from here on in, everyone kinda looked like this: 

 
Yeah, we felt like it too (and probably smelled just as bad - I can only imagine the cloud of stink coming off us all). The next big hill is Inchanga and it's a mean bastard. Again, because I'm walking it, I feel fine, moving along, starting to see some pretty shelled people, folks stopping at the aid stations and having their legs massaged, iced... in fact, those walking around me are moving pretty slowly. Hm. On the backside of Inchanga, we get a little break from the wind as I run down for a bit, then it's back up to Harrison Flats. The wind is really nasty here because we are very exposed now. Running the flat sections really started sucking because of that stupid wind. Add insult to injury, the wind kept blowing the km marker signs away so you'd go for (what seemed) long stretches with no idea how far you had left. I started to get angry about it, I remember walking a particularly long stretch - maybe for a few k or so - when I should have been running. I remember distinctly talking to myself and saying something along the lines of "why are you walking? that wasn't the plan. just start and run for 10 steps, then you can walk if you need to." So I started running and counting my steps, something I do when I do striders, so I guess it started to reassure me because I didn't stop after 10, I just kept repeating the count over and over, staring at the road, not caring what was ahead of me, the only job I had to do was count and move. I really don't recall much of Harrison Flats nor Cato Ridge nor Camperdown... just the wind in my face, counting to ten, and running. I passed through the cut-off at Cato Ridge with 80min to spare; the checkpoint at Camperdown was 7:39 race time - 26k left to go. Still on plan! That got me going, kind of pulled me out of that funk.I looked up and around, saw the TV antenna on the top of Umlaas Rd (highest point on the course) and knew I could do this. I think I might have even broke a smile or two. They started giving out jellies and cookies at the aid stations, and I found myself giving them away to the children on the side of the road instead, it just made me happy I guess. Walked up the hill to Umlaas, the next cut-off, again cleared it with 80min to spare. By this time, there were people laying on the sides of the road. The Runner Rescue buses were all full (hold ~15 or so, but there must have been dozens of buses). This part of the course sucks - it's hot, open & exposed, so the wind was miserable - it's boring, and worst of all, there's very few spectators here. I was happy to get out of that section (Rainbow farms/Lion Park). I crossed back under the N3 and knew what was coming up soon. The last big hill - and it's extra evil little sister. That's right, Polly Shortts and Little Pollys. Little Pollys comes first and is very steep actually. A few runners around me started saying "oh this must be Polly Shortts" - no way, this wasn't long enough. Still sucked a**, don't get me wrong. This is not a fun hill. But it's straight and you can see the top and know it will end. Eventually. Walking up Little Pollys, I started noticing a lot more D and C bibs, a few Bs even. I walked a bit with a woman who was going for her Green (permanent) number who sported a C bib (which means she can run a sub 3:40 marathon i.e.: she's a lot faster than I). She was absolutely shelled. I tried to keep her walking with me, talking to her about how she just had to finish to get her number, but she fell behind. She looked like she was going to cry or throw up (or both). I don't think she finished. :-( 

With Little Pollys done, we all knew what was coming. It got very quiet, no one really did much talking at this point ... Polly Shortts is long and winds up and up and up, with each turn in the road you are hoping you'll see the end but you don't so you just keep walking just keep walking just keep walking. Now I'm counting to 4, over and over, I can't even make it to ten anymore, just staring at the road. NO one is running. People are laying down in the middle of the road. Others are on the side, throwing up or trying not to. I get to the top, finally, pass through the checkpoint at 10:10 with 70min ahead of the cutoff time. Yep, that section sure cost some time. But looking around I was passing a LOT of people who couldn't run, and those that were running were running slower than I. 8k to go. I was seeing my sub11hr goal disappearing, but I didn't care at this point. I'd be happy with 11:59. My feet were really starting to ache, and my lower back was very stiff from leaning into all those hills. But my legs felt just fine. They felt pretty good actually. So I tried to just keep running and walk as little as made sense. There are only a few small hills into PMB, and I walked those, but then ran as much as I could aside from that. Once I navigated the ess curve off Washington and on Jesmond, I knew I was close. I started looking for that "1km to go" sign. The fences started, I was close! I started running a little faster, I wanted to be done... the visit the day before was now paying off - I knew I had one last right turn, a left into the park, the straight shot past the club tents, and into the swooping left curve around to the finish chute. I hear P yell at me, saw him wave, waved back but was almost sprinting at this time. I passed a dozen or more people in the park alone.  

I was too fast for P's camera skillz haha :-)

Everytime I have watched a finishers video, I am amazed at how many people there are crossing at the same time. So imagine my surprise when I come around and there's NO ONE but me and the announcer. The crowd is quiet. F that, I want some NOISE. I start waving at them all to get LOUD - LOUDER - LOUDER!!! and they do! It was awesome, it was like having your own finish line full of fans haha! I do the trademark jump across the line, get my medal and find P, who (good lad that he is) gives me a beer. 

My right big toenail is about to fall off, my first run in two weeks today felt terrible, and for such a long race you sure get the smallest medal. But this was by far the hardest and most rewarding race I have ever done. Would I do it again? Sadly, I would have to say YES. :-) 

I ended up 392nd in my AG (out of 1583), 929th Female (out of 2094), 6256th Overall (out of 10734). Pretty happy with that, especially considering what turned out to be "the worst conditions in 20 years" (as per Bruce Fordyce and he'd know!). Edit: my pace was virtually even the entire day: 7.69 / 7.50 / 7.57 / 7.71 / 7.66 (all in km/h) Not bad eh? 

Thanks for reading.