July is the a quiet running time for an ultimate Comrades runner. So I if I get out to run now it’s mostly for the joy of running, to maintain the aerobic capacity I built and to get my legs muscles to recover, deeply properly and bouncingly. I am also working...
After this morning’s run, there’s no doubt I’ll always be a runner Fabulous run. Not for recovery from the 2013 Comrades, nor for something like Comrades, as all the runs before 2 June were: committed, thought-through, after-analysed, all trying to...
The race-pic of me walking Polly Shorrts in long shadows was a bit of a nasty surprise. Legs, body, arms look strong with enough thrust. But my face shows strain. Much more drain than I was feeling. Thought 1: Maybe I shouldn’t have been as confident as I was...
Family down with coughs and sneezes. I fight off the creepy-crawlies, don’t run much because of the rain. It’s okay. I’m enjoying the Comrades recovery. I like walking around in my everyday world, with the fingers and ankles still tingling and...
If Comrades was just another long road race, an “up”, a “down”, and a silver medal would be enough for an ordinary runner like me. But Comrades is much more. Partly because of what I do with it, sure. You seem I’m a magician. I make it...
I know now why I wanted to run this not-too-but-long enough ultra- marathon. I know to exactly why. Running helps me get the most out of life. The Comrades Marathon, all that it is, gets me the most out of running. Simple. Marvellous ...
Long enough ago … I ran 11 Comrades, one after the other, got sick, got better and a medal a couple years later then stopped for too many years. So this is a kind of second time around and definitely starting over. My record for Comrades Two – two Vic...
I’m still full of Comrades. I got my medal, a couple of pints of drip afterwards and all the goodness that Comrades gives. Plus I had the week after the run in the Durban area winter sun, with my supportive family. Their time after my time. The best thing was...
The journey to the start The journey to the start of Comrades is part of its richness. A pilgrimage, a journey to a place where something special happens so that we too get some of what makes it special. Mine starts tomorrow early, the long drive by car from Cape...
One of the by-products of rugby is the recovery massage practice. The players get battered and bruised in game, get fixed up so that they can get battered again the next weekend. They sit in an ice bath. Specialists dig deep into their bruises. Getting fixed is...
