5:15am
I’m standing in a crowd 23,000 people strong, along with Craig (my running partner from last year) and his mom Linda listening to Chariots of Fire and feeding off the energy only this many people can give off at the start of a race which is said to ‘define you’.

5:30am
The cannon goes off and it takes 10 minutes to get over the start line, this could be a problem considering that the race is timed from gun to gun, not on your actual time from your chip.

6:30am
I join the sub-11 hour bus and hang on,  looking for Craig who got lost in the mayhem at the start.   I happen to find Julie and we catch up on the last few weeks.

7:30am
I find Craig and we try to keep up with the sub-11 hour bus and fall off when we stop at my dad for food.  We decide to just take the race as it comes, enjoying the experience for what it is and not stressing about coming in at a certain time, other than just to finish within 12 hours – which we would have comfortably.

11:04am
We go through half-way.  We are tired and still seem to be running UP on a DOWN run…

12:00am
I lose my sense of humour and then get it back once the Myprodol kicks in.  Craig and Julie are going strong although also on the grumpy side.  The supporters help us along, screaming and shouting for us by name.

14:20pm
We are 18km from the end and the downhills are testing our quads and already dead tired legs.  We have picked up one of my team mates along the way who isn’t feeling great.  The sub-11 hour bus is nowhere to be seen.

15:40pm
We are 10km from the end and decide that we would like a bronze and not a copper medal so we need to do the last 10km in an hour.  All the literature says that you need 80min for the last 10km but we decide to push anyway.

16:00pm
We are running hard into Durban.  We see the first sub-11 hour bus and pass it.  We are going faster now than in any other time during the race.

16:20
We catch and pass the second sub-11 hour bus, the one we were meant to be on.  Before they  fill the road around a bend, we take them on the outside and zoom past -  into the last 2km of the race.  I’m feeling like my legs want to pop off, Julie wants to throw-up and Craig is just hell-bent on getting to the end before 11 hours.

16:40
We enter the stadium.  I get goosebumps from everyone screaming our names.  We cross the finish line at 10 hours and 52 minutes, hand-in-hand.  We ran the last 10km in 42 minutes – that is after we had run 79km!!  And again I am convinced that you can do ANYTHING you put your mind to.

I had an amazing time once again, thanks to Craig and Julie for sticking it out with me   I hope all of you that ran had a great run and enjoyed it for what it is – The Ultimate Human Challenge!!  Let me know how you did.

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There are ways in which you can actually be updated with your runners progress throughout the day!  If you SMS the race number of the runner concerned to 38132, you will get an update of the runners time and where on the course they are at that stage, sent right to your phone.  These SMS’ cost R10 of which most of it goes to charity.

If you would like to keep track of me, my race number is 43099.  For those of you who need more details you can call my dad (aka Worlds Best Second)  or you can leave me a message on my phone and I’ll call you back when I’m done.  I will hopefully have someone updating my Twitter account with my times if anyone prefers that medium of communication

I think that covers it…

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The biggest thing about being able to do endurance events is how well you are able to get into the ‘zone’ or to the point where you body is doing what it needs to do automatically, and the mind is still.  You need to stop all the doubt and frustration going through your mind because I believe this is the factor which determines whether you have a good race or not.

I have said this before and I’m going to say it again, this is just one day!  One day of pain and fear and exhaustion, but just a day, not a week or a month or a lifetime.

Pre-Race

Before the race I try and stay as calm as possible.  It is very easy to get caught up in the mayhem at the start and it is also very common to feed off the nervous excitement and anxiety of other runners.  I try and block all of this out and focus on the fact that I am standing at the start of the oldest Ultra Marathon in the World and the fact that I am finally at the point where all my months of hard work are going to pay off.  I try and stop negative thoughts before they have even had a chance to bloom and gain momentum.  I would suggest basking in ‘Chariots of Fire’ and the fact that you have loved ones watching from all corners of the country.  It is too late at this stage to stress about the training you didn’t do, focus on what you did and trust in your power of will.

During the Race

The way I see it is that to get through the day, you have to become pretty damn good at ignoring what is going on in your head.  Your legs will be sore, your feet will be aching and there will be various other aches and pains which will occupy your mind – if you let it.  It basically becomes a battle between you and that noise in your head (mind).  My first line of defence is usually to find someone to speak to – this distracts your mind from focusing on what is sore and other negative thoughts by concentrating on someone else.  If there is nobody in sight I will put my iPod in and crank it up depending on how much my mind is protesting.

If this doesn’t work, and there is usually a couple of points in the race where you will need to step it up a notch in running your mind into submission – this is where I will try and connect with my senses which shuts the discursive mind (that part of your mind which is making a noise) right up.  A simple running through of your senses, from feeling your feet in your shoes and your clothes on your body, taste, smell and sight to hearing your heartbeat and the sound of the footfalls of runners around you.  This does wonders in reconnecting you with that part within which is capable of anything.

As you run into the stadium

You need to remember to be totally focused as you run into the stadium at the end.  You need to enjoy and remember what it is like to run into a stadium where thousands of people are shouting for you because YOU have just run 89km, you need to be with it enough to plant this memory into your brain, although I must warn you, it is usually due to this feeling at the end which makes people do this race again and again

I have a little energy exercise I also do when I’m REALLY feeling like I might lose the battle with the noise in my head, but that is for another post.

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Either way there is one thing which is guaranteed, you either have breasts of your own, have access to breasts and have almost certainly suckled on breasts in your lifetime – so just imagine finding out that these sometimes flattering, sometimes the object of your lust are effectively the cause of your sickness or even death…  I know its a less than savory subject to talk about, but it is for just this reason that there are so many women out there that are uneducated on the seriousness of this disease, which can be checked for and any irregularity found early on and treated.

The Pink Drive aims to educate women and provide  mobile mammogram units to those who either don’t have access to medical facilities or who have never thought to have lumps in their breasts checked.  This campaign is vitally important if we are going to keep the women behind each set of breasts alive and well to keep caring and nurturing the generations to come.

So, if you would like to show your support then go to my Pink Drive tab and donate some money – then comment on my blog, my wall on Facebook or send me an email so that I know who to think about while I run the 89km from Pietermaritzburg to Durban on May 30th, clad in pink!!

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This year I will be running in pink socks with a pink wrist band and pink shoelaces for the Pink Drive.  This organisation raises funds to finance mobile mammogram and breast cancer educational units which visit the rural areas, bringing these services to women who would otherwise not be able to afford it, or who haven’t realised the seriousness of this disease yet.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of death for many South African women even though the treatment is so incredibly effective.  Mis-diagnosis, late diagnosis and lack of education are to blame for this which is why a mobile mammogram and educational unit is so important.

Reebok is donating money to the Pink Drive for every runner they see coming into the Kingsmead Stadium wearing pink gear.  You can donate by SMS’ing ‘breast’ to 36560, this will send 50c to the Pink Drive.  If you are feeling generous then head to the Pink Drive tab on my site for their banking details.  If you would like to run for this cause please let me know and I’ll put you in touch with the organisers.

There are some fun things for spectators too, if you are going to be in the Newcastle, Pietermaritzburg or Durban areas supporting your runners then you can also play a part in this drive for awareness, details are here or you can just email me and I’ll put you in touch with the relevant people.

Early detection saves lives so lets band together and all play a part in helping save lives!!

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It’s not that I’m unmotivated because I have been training, more so I think than previous years.  I did a 21km near Stellenbosh 2 weeks ago and then a 56km on Sunday, both of which went very well although I still don’t think I’m anywhere near 1000km, but I can live with that.

I think many people who are doing this years Comrades Marathon are reaching the same point, its getting harder and harder to motivate yourself to get out there and its not just because of the weather.  This is normal, or at least I remember feeling like this before, where you are just sick and tired of running – or if you are not running you are thinking about running or stressing about how to fit it in.  This all forms part of the pre-Comrades stress and I wish I could tell you that it gets better… it doesn’t, actually it peaks at round about 5am on Sunday May 30th

Anyway I hope you have all sorted out your flights, accommodation, pick-up points etc – if not and you still have questions then please give me a shout and I can see what I can do for you.  Oh and Rescue Remedy really comes in handy these last few weeks, go and get yourself some!!

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I can see virtual hands going up all over the place because I know I’m not alone, not by a long shot…

It became evident after/during the Two Oceans a few weekends back that I was in desperate need of new shoes (and no this is not an excuse for my performance).  The shoes I have now are almost exactly a year old, having realised at the same time last year that the shoes I had then, New Balance Pronation shoes were way past their shelf life (even though it was premature in my opinion).  So I’m no stranger at getting new shoes 7 weeks before the Comrades, hell last year I even changed brands which did give me a few sleepless nights in the decision making process.  Luckily my new shoes never gave me a moments trouble, which given the circumstances was very fortunate.

This time around I had been advised by my biokineticist that I should try a slightly lower pronation shoe to what I had – to be fair she did tell me this last year November.  Yesterday I was faced with the dilema, do I buy the shoe I have never had issues with or do I listen to the professional and make the change to a different model?    Luckily being paralysed by indecision is something I am familiar with so after umming and aahing for a while I took the different model.

Running in them yesterday felt a bit strange.  I could feel rubbing on the inside of my foot – the type that would get rather unpleasant on a long run of lets say for example, 89km.  They also didn’t really match my outfit which had me thinking twice about the decision I’d made.  Today I called my biokineticist and she heard my sob story which really boils down to the fact that buying new shoes is always a cause of anxiety for me and she suggested I go with the old style shoe given that I’d only woken up to the fact that I needed new shoes at such a late stage in the training game.

So, this afternoon I sit with my new Asics 2150’s feeling much more comfortable.  I’m taking them out for a test-drive later but something tells me that I think they will be just fine.  And you know, I don’t even feel bad for having new shoe anxiety, my mom loses 8/10 toe nails every time she does a long race – no wonder I’m a little paranoid…

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Last week I did another 21km for the guys at My City Running Tours – I’ll fill you in on that great run in another blog post.  On Saturday I ran with the old guys I usually run with on weekends when I’m not doing a race,  it was great to be part of the banter with people who have known me since I was a toddler.

This week I think I might have over done it because my legs feel as if they are filled to the brim with lead and I have a shooting pain in my one quad BUT, I’m heading to Thailand tomorrow where I plan on doing as much of nothing as possible, with a few runs here and there to prepare for the Two Oceans Ultra on April 3rd.  I’ll be sure to send an update on running in Paradise

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I took my place in the starting group just as the ‘gun’ went off and basically resigned myself to the fact that the race was going to be difficult given the fact that the longest run I’d done since November was 18km… Taking it slow for the first 17km’s, I searched for someone I knew which I could run with but alas, besides some familiar faces I ended up just putting my iPod in and blasting any negative thoughts away.

My trusty seconds were waiting for me at the foot of Red Hill ready with sweet potatoes to fortify me on this notoriously steep and windy road.  As I was about to head off I spotted Christopher, my last Red Hill running partner starting up the hill so I fell into pace with him and the person running with him Julie.  Now Julie is from North Carolina so we immediately hit it off chatting about the States (I lived there for 2 years) and all the other interesting topics you manage  to cover on a race that takes over 4 hours, if you are not sure what these topics include here is a short list:

• Ben & Jerries Ice-cream
• Divorce
• Running shoes
• Other Races
• The Comrades
• Cancer (Julie has survived stage 4 breast cancer)
• Jelly Bellies
• French Vanilla Coffee Creamer

That is just a short list

The trusty seconds were waiting 4km’s from the end with more potatoes and it is only then that I realised we were almost done, Julie and I had been chatting so animatedly and consistantly since Red Hill that it felt like the rest of the marathon had just flown by.  We both realised we weren’t going to make it under 4:30 so we decided to pick up the pace and give it our best shot to the end which we made in 4:34 – I am almost positive we did those last 4km’s at 4 minutes a K…

Now, I meet many people on these races all of which make some impact on me – there is Katie from  Pinelands who encouraged me to go on alone at the half-way mark of my first comrades, then Anne who fell very badly at the Two Oceans but still managed to help drag me over the finish line – but Julie is going to stick in my mind for a long time I think.  She danced for the camera’s just outside Cape Point Nature Reserve and copped a feel from the guy wearing a bra about 5km to the end.  She fought and beat cancer, running between Chemo sessions and bragging about the fact she didn’t need to shave when she lost all her hair – her strength of spirit is tangible and I consider myself privaledged to have spent 3 hours together running with her.  Thanks for running with me Julie, they make them tough in the States too

Special thanks also to Nicolene and Ines for sacraficing their Sunday morning and seconding for me, also to Amanda for letting me stay over – I might have to make this an annual thing!!

If you ran let me know how it went, the gale-force winds we were putting up with didn’t make this the easiest race I’ve done…

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