The waiting is over…
May29
Two years after arriving here in South Africa for my first ever Comrades Ultramarathon I’m back again to test my mettle against the gruelling road race which over here is legendary. There are 20,000 runners for this the 85th race timed perfectly with the FIFA World Cup.
Afritrex was the start of something new for me, I’d run marathons before but always in the UK and touching down on the African continent ignited a passion in me for long distance running that I haven’t yet extinguished…and really don’t want to quite yet.
The Comrades is run between Durban and Pietermaritzburg, around 89kms/52miles, and this year is the ‘down’ run dropping some 1200m from the Drakensberg mountains down to the warm waters of the Indian ocean.
My last attempt in 2008 was the ‘up’ – the easier of the two apparantly as the down punishes your ankle and knee joints making the last half of the race even tougher. I completed the course in 10hrs 20mins and my goal this year is to try and beat it…but first of all just to finish of course!
Training as with my last run has been sporadic. Travelling to so many different countries for work in the first half of 2010 has meant I’ve never been able to establish a training routine that I can stick to. But what it has done has given me some awesome locations to run in – along Venice Beach, L.A., through Central Park in New York, in subzero Toronto, past the Tokoyo fishmarkets and in the desert heat of Dubai…I’ve been very lucky.
When back in Brisbane I’ve been hitting it hard with long runs around Mt Cootha, out to the coast and almost everyday along the boardwalk through the city building up to a couple of half marathons a week and a long 3-5hr run on a Sunday. Since I changed my running shoes to a size that fit my toenails seem to be staying on as well! Yuck I know
So as I sit here in the car on the way up the N2 to Pietermaritzburg the nervous energy is starting to build, the butterflies are starting to emerge and fly around inside me and the anticipation is almost complete. By this time tomorrow I hope to be within an hour of the finish and my second medal! Fingers crossed, holding thumbs etc
If you happen to be reading this prior to the race and in South Africa then get out of bed early and tune into SABC’s coverage – I’ve managed to organise a pre-race interview live on tv at 5.02am. So that’ll be no-one getting up at that time then, can’t say I blame you!
If you do want to track my progress on race day (30/05/10) then log onto www.comrades.com and click the ‘follow a runner’ link. My number is 12002 and I can tell you now I won’t be winning it!
Afritrex was the start of something new for me, I’d run marathons before but always in the UK and touching down on the African continent ignited a passion in me for long distance running that I haven’t yet extinguished…and really don’t want to quite yet.
The Comrades is run between Durban and Pietermaritzburg, around 89kms/52miles, and this year is the ‘down’ run dropping some 1200m from the Drakensberg mountains down to the warm waters of the Indian ocean.
My last attempt in 2008 was the ‘up’ – the easier of the two apparantly as the down punishes your ankle and knee joints making the last half of the race even tougher. I completed the course in 10hrs 20mins and my goal this year is to try and beat it…but first of all just to finish of course!
Training as with my last run has been sporadic. Travelling to so many different countries for work in the first half of 2010 has meant I’ve never been able to establish a training routine that I can stick to. But what it has done has given me some awesome locations to run in – along Venice Beach, L.A., through Central Park in New York, in subzero Toronto, past the Tokoyo fishmarkets and in the desert heat of Dubai…I’ve been very lucky.
When back in Brisbane I’ve been hitting it hard with long runs around Mt Cootha, out to the coast and almost everyday along the boardwalk through the city building up to a couple of half marathons a week and a long 3-5hr run on a Sunday. Since I changed my running shoes to a size that fit my toenails seem to be staying on as well! Yuck I know
So as I sit here in the car on the way up the N2 to Pietermaritzburg the nervous energy is starting to build, the butterflies are starting to emerge and fly around inside me and the anticipation is almost complete. By this time tomorrow I hope to be within an hour of the finish and my second medal! Fingers crossed, holding thumbs etc
If you happen to be reading this prior to the race and in South Africa then get out of bed early and tune into SABC’s coverage – I’ve managed to organise a pre-race interview live on tv at 5.02am. So that’ll be no-one getting up at that time then, can’t say I blame you!
If you do want to track my progress on race day (30/05/10) then log onto www.comrades.com and click the ‘follow a runner’ link. My number is 12002 and I can tell you now I won’t be winning it!
After the race I’m heading for a massage and then for a few days R&R into the Drakensberg Mountains to take photos, ride quadbikes and horses – legs permitting. Then it’s onto Cape Town to give a presentation about the Best Job before I return to Durban for the World Cup football match between Australia and Germany.
And of course I’ll blog whenever I can. Have fun wherever you’re reading this from and smile – life is out there for living!
Ben
