The medal still warm in my pocket, my mind turns to next year’s run. Still another 4 weeks of recovery running before I start my secret plan improve my time: 1 min because its a down run, further sure but easier in a way and it ends at sea level, Toll Gate hill...
Jogged this weird-warm winter morning; a shirtless ode to summer Eyes filled with stars. Legs a little stiff. Saturday’s morning’s 13 k: Too much fast, too much fun. No training burden, you see. Just running playfully. ...
Always the name of the winner is inscribed big and bold: time, maybe age. But hardly ever, except for Alan Robb, is inscribed the colour of their socks, or as a poet asked, whether they dream of hunting tigers in red boots. Bill Rowan Who was Bill Rowan, winner of the...
There are lots of interesting accounts of the origins of the Comrades in books and on the web, worth exploring. The basic facts are the same. But one idea is not given enough prominence. The idea behind,in, a hard but achievable run, was to recreate enough of the...
A good reason to run, strong motivation, is a great help in getting through the training and then through the run on the day. My motivation this year came from the doom that hangs over my running. That I’m getting older is a part of it. The set-backs that made it a...
Well it would never be one or the other. Couldn’t be really. The two, working together, got me through Comrades 2011. Perspiration Without inspiration working hard for nearly 12 hours wouldn’t be possible. No point to that sort of effort without a splash of...
Moon high, Venus bright in a clear sky, city still; mountain quiet under its cloud; silence of a crisp morning before the first bird. Three joys of winter. Focus: car backs from garage at me padding the middle road, bright headlights rush at us. Three beings at the...
Ah … paragraph I see now (July 2011) that the Comrades organiser’s will allow substitutions. Great. Anyway here’s what I had been thinking: Wouldn’t it be nice to run with 18 000 other runners? With more if they turned up? I’d love it. The...
Part of perfect ultra-running is being able to run with, let’s say, ultra-efficiency for hours on end. The best I got to was maybe 6 hours on tar with hills; maybe 10 hours on a paved, flat 100-miler; and, around 14 hours on mountain trails as long as I didn’t twist...
Stepped lightly into a cold wind, clear sky for the first run after the big day 8 days after the race. Recovery, a warm bed, gurgling rain, a dash of glory kept me inside before then. Felt good from the very first step. At even the lightest effort my pace was...
