My Comrades Story

Late post!

Indeed a very late post! I have not been blogging for a while and it feels weird to back here to write about running and racing again!

Well, the motivation behind restarting writing was my Comrades Marathon finish! It was a dream race and finishing that on August 28, 2022 in decent time was a dream come true!

This race was on my checklist for a really long time and in 2019, after a very successful racing year 2018-19, I decided that it’s time I go big and register for the oldest ultramarathon in the world.

I was all set for the race in 2020. I had my qualifier done at the Sydney Marathon in September 2019, booked tickets in December 2019, booked AirBnb the same month and everything was looking great.

But what we never expected was the global pandemic. It didn’t just ruin my Comrades dream, but everything we learned to live for. Pandemic has surely changed the way look at life in some way or other. What we thought were essential to life seemed not so important at all.

Races are not essentials to a runner’s life. But it is a motivation and a goal for training. So, when things started opening up in 2021, I had decided whenever Comrades happens, I will be there and they announced for 2022.

The qualification race

Though the dream was big, the training was far from perfect. My qualification race was Jaipur Marathon in March (the earliest one opened in India with a flat route). But during Christmas 2021, I was hit by Covid and training was affected and once I was cleared by doc, it was time for a serious shoulder and elbow injury. The latter happened 3 weeks before the race and I was miserable. All I could do was get out there and finish the race and get the qualification and that’s what I did and a PB by few seconds.

The Training

After the qualification race in March, I didn’t have much time until the Comrades day. But utilized whatever I could and wherever I was. I had many travels between May – July and they may have affected the training a bit. And then there were weekends I feel ill and missed few key long runs. I was also paranoid about Covid all the time with new variants flying around.

But I made it to Durban anyway!

The Race – the Down run

The race was everything I visualized and dreamed of experiencing. I soaked up everything – starting with the chariots of fire (I don’t know how many times I heard that on the route, and every single time it made me a bit emotional), the crowd, the cheers, kids with snacks and oranges, special ‘go India’ cheers from the Indians there, entering the stadium, the finish line… I can go on and on about it…

Those were the good stuff! The real race was a pain-fest! If you think the down run is easy, you are wrong. The rolling ups and downs got my both knees busted by the 30th km. But you never give up during Comrades and the crowd and the cheers and many stops for physio kept me going.

I proud of the first 50km where I never took a walk break though coach had given be walk/run option for couple of the big climbs. The down run part from 65km was the real killer and I was surprised at my own determination to keep going. Every time I thought of stopping, I told myself that this is your time and you can do this even without walking.

The final timing was 10:42:29. Coach had given me a plan for a 10:40 finish and I was close. The finish time could have been better; but this was the best I could have on the day and I am happy with the timing.

Will I run this again?

May be not the down run! But I’d really like to give it a go for the up run and improve my Comrades PB.