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It’s official. I’ve lost my mind. I’ve registered for Comrades Marathon.
I’ve been talking about my idea to run Comrades with my dad and how I’m planning on training for the 90KM race through South Africa’s Valley of the Hills. I spent the summer building my base of mileage, enjoying a few classic summer road races, and preparing for my triathlon this weekend. Although Comrades has been on my mind regularly for the last few months, there was nothing I could do until September 1st.
Entries opened.
I entered.
I’m now committed.
I find myself an equal mix of thrilled and terrified. I’ve read so many blogs and forums about Comrades and the powerful experience each person seems to have by participating in the event. I’m impressed by the camaraderie of the participants, whose banter gives off a strong sense of comradeship despite the limits of online communication. I’ve read about the tremendous crowd support, the airing of the race on national tv– all twelve hours of it, and the thrill of participating in the world’s largest and oldest ultramarathon. I’m excited to be a part of the Comrades community.
But, hello….any race that has this as their motto:
Well, either they need a new PR firm or they aren’t joking around.
I’ve read enough about Comrades to know that it’s the latter.
Let’s review the race profile for next year’s “Down Run” course:
My quads hurt just thinking about it.
The good news is I still have more then eight months to prepare. My training is coming along well for the Dallas Marathon in December. I still plan to take a few weeks off at the end of the year, and then the first five months of 2016 will be All Comrades All The Time.
I’m pretty darn excited about it. It’s a huge undertaking, but I’m ready. I can’t wait to put in the hours of training, and I can’t wait to have it pay off.
I am certain, however, that at more than one point on the way from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, I’ll be spit-shouting “izokuthoba!”
And it will be worth it.
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