I thought i would post this up as it was my first blog i done about my running achievements......

COMRADES MARATHON DONE....Race Report

Good morning people

it is the morning after the most mental day of my life....

Well what can i say but wow wow and bloody wow with a lot of pain chucked in along the way.

The company i had booked the hilton with had arranged originally to pick me up from durban at 4am and even i thought that was ambitious, but later on they called to say it would be a 3am pickup, so that meant getting up at 2am (NICE). 

So pre race day routine kicked in and i started to think about for the 100th time on how i was gonna run the race...should i try and stay with a pace bus or go on my own??? i had worked out that if i could do the first half in 5.30 it would give me a cushion of 6.30 for the second half, aint rocket science i know..the first half could be run at 6.40mins per k and the second half would be me as much as 9.20mins per k with 8.00 mins per k average along the whole course, that would give me a finish time of 11.59.59.....now i dont know about you but i thought that was too bloody close to not finishing so when it came to setting the virtual partner on my garmin i set it at 7.45 mins per k and though that would be spot on.

Right the start line, whilst here i realised this aint your normal race and although we had timing chips on one of the guys i was talking to reminded me that although due to the amount of participants the cut offs had been extended by 10mins to allow you to get through the start, the actual cut off for the race had not been extended...pointless really i know. So i started my watch as soon as the cock crowed and the start gun went off. 

The first few k's were good a little undulating but altogether quite pleasant, it just seemed too good to be true, and yep it was we came upon polly shorts which dont play a massive part in the down run but the build up was still not nice and then there were some more undultaions and i think at about the 12 k mark i took my first proper walk......i was trying to conserve what energy i had to ensure i would complete the course, then after running through little pollys you have a nice down run and as soon as it gets good you turn into umlaas rd which takes you to the highest point of the course from 600mtrs to 810mtrs. Now this dont seem like a lot but with 19k and 70k to go it aint a nice prospect, lots of walking done at this point. the next few stages kinda went withoout a hitch really i had planned in getting to Drummond which is the halfway point at around 5hrs 30 mins and if my memory serves me correct i was spot on, the only bad thing about drummond was that it was all uphill and i was doing a lot of walking, still i never panicked i checked my watch and i was on 7.10 mins per k so knew i was building reserves for the second half.

The second half....
Its all a bit sketchy really as there were times when i was really in a bad way, i suffer big time with salt loss when i run even in the middle of winter i have salt deposits on my face, so you can imagine how i was here, i had taken all the rite precautions i had electrolyte tabs in my belt with a water bottle and i was drinking all the fluid that the marshalls where handing out, but still i really felt like i was going through a bad patch......i felt sick and dizzy and thought if i dont get some salt in me bloody soon thats gonna be my lot, and all i kept thinking about were where are all the bloody salted potatoes that they said were on the course, lo and behold and as if by magic, i came up to the next water station and it had a feed station there aswell with salted potatoes, i managed to munch a few of them and even got a lady to pour some salt in my hand which i greedily devoured within seconds (SOMETHING YOU WOULD NEVER NORMALLY DO WITHOUT THROWING UP) but trust me it was sheer bliss. This seemed to be the miracle cure and almost immediatley i felt good again....So after going through bothas hill which intself aint a very nice hill on the up run but although tough not playing a big part in the down run, and immediatley after you have got approx 17k of down hill which had the worst camber on the road i have ever run on....i would like to think after many years of rugby that i have got strong quads but oh my god, this nearly broke me i tell you, i was starting to feel the effects of so much running down hill and i could feel both my big toe nails screaming at me and every time i started to speed up i was getting major cramp in my hamstrings...I WAS IN BITS. 
After the treacherous downhill the course once again reared its ugly head at a place called cowies and gave us a dirty great hill to cklimb, i have since spoke to a few people and they didnt think cowies was a big hill, now i beg to differ and it could of been the bloody size of everest as far as i was concerned....it fekin hurt.

After cowies there was about 17k left to go,i thought for the first time that it was doable, i was surprisingly feeling ok, well when i say ok what i meant to say was that at that point i was not bloody giving up and no matter what it took i was coming in under 12hrs some way or some how, at this poitni was checking the watch and trying to work out my splits my watch said 7.42 mins per k and i kinda knew i had to really screw up for this not to happen now, but as they give The Comrades the utmost respect at all times, bearing this in mind i plodded on.

1k to go and i was starting to get proper emotional, i read a few text that came in from england and that made even worse at the same time as making me feel awesome, i turned the corner to see the shara sun stadium and had about 300 mtrs to go until i entered the stadium, once inside the stadium the feel of elation and overwhelming joy is a bit much to deal with whilst tryin to run, it was awesome the colours all around you from the signs and the people in the crowds shouting your name is truly amazing, with 200 mtrs to go i heard my son screaing out my name and managed to give him a wave and a thumbs up for the video he was doing, 50 mtrs and nearly there crikey i didnt know if i could hold back the tears anymore the emotions where just too great and crossing the line i started bawling it big time. Pain yes i have never felt anything like it, emotion yep aint ever felt anything like it AWESOME hell yeah would i do it again.....jury is still out on that one......my finishing time was 11hrs 44mins 32 secs......

hope you like my little write up.....

Laters

Jbrunningman