Category: The Story of us
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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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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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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…
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1935 Comrades Marathon humour
“As one would expect in an atmosphere charge with common suffering and endeavour, there is a lot of spontaneous, unconscious humour of the type that the written record cannot adequately capture. One pictures the exhausted 1935 athlete lying on the roadside on Alverstone Hill with his legs stretched up the bank for greater relief.” …
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That medal
That Comrades Marathon Medal Even before my old shoe-box was full of medals for doing runs between 10 to 160 km, they had kind of lost their value. Not the running, the medals. At best I could see myself old, one had holding a rattling teacup, the other hand in the medal box lingering in the…