Comrades 2011

My Comrades experience this year was one of mixed emotions. It is always great to be linked to ‘The Ultimate Human Race’, but this year more so than the other years that I ran, circumstances rocked me immensely.

Of the actual race I have little recollection except that my time was slower than the previous two years and that I did less training than previously.

The toilet queues at the start were longer than before but then again some of the poverty also seemed more dire than before. Standing in my starting pen and waiting for the gun to be fired, I removed my old jumper in preparation to throw it on to the side of the road to be collected for charity. One of the blokes next to me looked at it longingly and his face just said that he would really like it. At that moment my old jumper changed hands and his face lit up. ‘Ngiyabonga’ – he thanked me.

Fast forward to Fields Hill (by this stage I knew my run would be more social than previous years), meet up with a lovely girl from Fish Hoek in the Cape (ironic since I have family living in this seaside village and spent many happy times there as a kid). We run and walk together and I share my trusty cramp stop with her. She finds her boyfriend in the crowd at the top of the hill and that is the last I see of her.

Halfway comes and goes and for the first time in 3 years of running this race I take the rose that is handed to me and lay it at the foot of Arthur’s Seat (the resting place that the great Arthur Newton carved for himself in the 1920s along the route). This practice is said to ensure a good second half of the race.

The earth speaks to me and along comes my next saviour in the form of my old mate Kirsty from Maritzburg. She is having a shocker like me, but keeps repeating to herself ‘This day will end’ ‘This day will end’. She is incredibly mentally strong and I am glad to see her. Is this Arthur or is this pure coincidence?

Onward and onward we roll chatting about a whole bunch of topics until we are joined by a carefree rasta going up Polly Shortts. While congratulating him on his 25th run and asking him what the secret is, he simply says that he finds the course to be getting easier. He is in his 60s and first ran Comrades in the 70s. His take is that the numerous water points and support make it much easier than when he first ran when the only support was water filled barrels every 5km. Makes one think how things have changed and how we might have been whinging had that been us running back in those days.

On we trudge up the mighty Pollys and on into Pietermaritzburg. The discussion turns to the contentious issue of medals and both Kirsty and I conclude that the only medals that we keep are Comrades medals – the rest may or may not be somewhere around the house. In contrast one of the blokes running next to us mentions that he has hundreds of them strewn all around the house. I suppose as with everything it is different strokes for different folks.

The finish line is again a welcome sight and appears after temptingly teasing us for many a kilometre. As in previous years I embrace my fellow Comrades and thank them for their help and encouragement. In true SA hospitality, Kirsty asks me if I have anyone waiting for me and offers me the chance to come and relax in her club’s tent. I politely decline and hobble my way over to the International Tent to be greeted by family and friends.

The event may be over, but the journey that it has set me on is lifelong. The course cannot be altered once you are on it.

Later that night I reflect on what in many respects was a less than ideal day in my running career, but then conclude that time is but one aspect of our lives. That day I accomplished what many can’t or won’t do in their entire lives. I made a new friend and I helped a stranger when they were in need, not because I expected anything in return, but purely because it is the right thing to do!

In the future I shall be seeking out to do even more for those much less fortunate than me.

Ah Comrades 2011 – a beast of tricky proportions, but indeed one that has rewarded in much more than the material sense.