Category: The 16 Facets
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More than just a road race
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 big, rich, fulfilling, especially if I can finish…
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Comrades 2013 – Physical overview
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 Clapham medals, one DNS and one…
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After the 2013 run
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 that I could walk freely…
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Pilgrimage
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 Town to Durban. There is…
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Rugby and running
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 almost as tough as the playing. I got a…
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2013 – a last 10km
A last 10 km run 8 days before the run, on the Table Mountain road above the city centre. A good easy send off with a deeply etched memory. Except that I probably spent as much time taking pics, bathing in the marvel and sharing it with mountain bikes who were equally enthralled. So…
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Engaging your mind 3: Toughness
An exercise to get your mind right for the Comrades Marathon Accept that its going to get tough out there. It is going to get tough. Accept that. Facing up to and going through the effort is what ultra-running and Comrades is about. Unless you run way behind what you could be doing, it’s unlikely…
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Engaging your mind 2: Fear
Another exercise to get your mind right for the Comrades Marathon Write down the things that worry you. List them. Externalise them. Get them out of you. That way they don’t gnaw at, give you sleepless nights, undermine you. Then take time to understand them. Fears are not a sign of a moral failing, or…
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Engaging your mind
An exercise to get your mind right for the Comrades Marathon Visualisation – making it concrete Get a profile or map of the route. You can look at a the small one on the the official Comrades website http://www.comrades.com/Route/Route-Map.aspx or a more detailed one at mapmyrun.com at http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/2640629. You also can rely on your memory if you’ve run it…
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2013 Comrades – Not yet
I don’t want to run Comrades yet. More of this taper-happiness in my legs first. And I want that long trip up to KZN all sparking with hope and fear. And I want to stand in the Expo and feel the buzz. After that, the last meal and a bit of sleep, I’ll be ready…