Brothers in Arms

A bit of Dire Straits for you - thankfully Comrades went better than expected & I wasn't in dire straits !!!

What an amazing event, there can't be an ultra on the planet to match it for organisation & it entered the Guiness book of records for most people to finish an ultra marathon - just under 13000 finished under the 12 hour cut off.

I will be totally honest, at 6pm the night before I was scared to death - the prospect of running 23 miles further than I have ever gone on a hilly course in 28 degrees of mostly unshaded course, with an injury & the 10 in 10 in my legs was really worrying me - I was hoping to watch the final of the Super 14 rugby but couldn't relax I wanted to ensure my chip would be comfortable on my shoe & my number in the perfect position.

Not suprisingly i didn't sleep & we headed off from Durban for Pitermaritzburg at 2.30am for the start at 5.30 am- it was a long drive & that didn't help calm the nerves knowing I was gonna have to run back to Durban.

After a frantic bag drop & a climb over the fence I was ready to start with 5 minutes to spare - the national anthem rang out & the cannon fired we were off & running in the dark & there was no time to worry just to simply focus on the long winding road ahead.

As the temperature warmed & I started running I gradually discarded a brass monkey half sweatshirt to a very grateful local lad & someone else had my gloves before later on my longsleeved Texas longhorns shirt became a gift too, but there was to be no full monty !! LOL !!

The crowd support along the route was the greatest I have ever received & I've done some big races across the globe. Having your name on your number was great as folks shouted personal encouragement & at 35km I couldn't resist rewarding them with a fly by as I approached the huge sub 10 hour bus - 500 folks all running the same pace - I made my way througn the bus & continued to forge ahead logging 6 min kms & wondering if a sub 9 hour Bill Rowan was possible (that was rather optimistic) I stayed way ahead of the bus until with 20km to go I could feel them all breathing down my neck but refused to let them swallow me up & accelrated downhill to finish.

I was relived to see the 5km to go sign as someone infamously said "anyone can run a 5km" or words to that effect & I thought yes of course I can run 5km (i was 7 min kms at this point) & calculating I needed just 8 min kms to break 10 hours then 10 min kms with 3 to go & needed to get under 18 mins for the final km to break 10 hours - I entered the huge cricket stadium for my lap of honour & sprinted until I reached the finishing straight & with 30 yards of open space in front of me I aeroplaned home & was over the moon to finish & amaze myself I could actually run that far - still finding it hard to believe.

I couldn't have got it done without the great support on the course from spectators & even more so from my fellow runners my "brothers in arms"

I guess i can possibly call myself an ultra runner now, but will be glad to do just 26.2 miles from now on, 56 is a bit far !!

keep on plodding !

foxy xx