Everything went to plan, I trained well, ate well, slept well, drank enough water, done enough hill work but what I didn’t train for was the KZN heat today. It took everything I had and more to get to the 66km mark before I was stopped from going any further. More about that later…
First a few thank you’s… Saleh Martin what a superstar, my guru Wasfie Adams, the Kenfac family that supported me through this crazy time, the people that donated to the Starfish organisation, my mum for just being mad, my sisters Sharen, Shereen and Antoinette for supporting me like they do, friends and family sending messages of encouragement and prayers since last week and the the superstar Tamsyn, it would be difficult to put into words what she has sacrificed for this Comrades attempt. Without her support and undying love for me and her wanting me to succeed so badly none of this would have been possible. This Comrades journey was much like last year. Sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice.
Back to the race now, the UP run. Nobody lied to me. Advice was taken, absorbed, researched and put into motion. My experience is limited, I am still very much a novice in this distance running game but researching sport is my thing. I was meticulous about my planning, diet, sleep, vitamin intake and asking questions from those that know what the game is about. I can be thankful I have access to people who know what the UP run beast is all about. Meeting the boys and families outside in the dark at 4am making our way to the start. The ladies doing support duties need a medal. They are the superstars. In the starting pens time flies, people scaling the fences because they can. A nice dynamic warm up is what it looked like to me. Great music to psych you up, then our Wonderful Anthem sung with pride – some people need to learn the lyrics of our anthem. My favourite tune, Shosholoza followed and then the Cockerel and off we go. Durban is hot, from the food to the sea water temperature to the air temperature. It could have been 18 degrees at the start but the mecury reached a high of 28 today, no wind, just the sun, tarmac and hordes of people wanting you to succeed. Except the gentleman from Kyalami AC, he got hit against the head from a misdirected water bompie toss. Esmund van Wyk and Clinton Hendricks laughing their socks off because I hit this dude in the head with a sachet that was meant for the bin.
The hills are relentless they keep coming at you, on this route, what goes up only continues to go up. The big 5 hills and their cousins broke me today. It wasn’t the 5 big ones that hit me but more so the “little” ones and the sun. Sadly when I cramp, I cramp badly. It was a bad day for me. Quads and hamstrings took a beating. Unfortunately it started after Botha’s Hill. Those hills are demanding, as are all the others. All you need to know is I managed to get going with cramps because of my mentality and some treatment from Vania, we had a physio on our support team. Running with cramps is a strange thing in the sense that it comes and goes and just when you think you’re home free the snipers hit your legs. In hindsight it must be hilarious watching someone run his heart out and boom the oke is touching his toes stretching his hammies.
I done everything I set out to do and i was on track until way after my rub down treatment I started seizing up again. If the struggle wasn’t already hard the snipers thought they’d shoot my thighs a bit more. This time snipers shot me from two angles. Quads and hammies simultaneous spasms and cramping. I soldiered on with purpose with the intent to get to Maritzburg. I got to the Cut off points in time all except the Umlaas Road one. The 2nd last one. Cut off 15h00 I got there not long after. From Camperdown through to Cato Ridge it was tough. Gradual climbs. So 66km of an up run completed I just missed the cut off. I would like to think that if they let me through I would have made the 12 hour cut off. Realistically I had nothing left. 21km within 2 and a half hours with fatigue having taking over was never going to happen. I would have had to push and in doing so I may have spent the Night in the medic tent, in a space blanket at Scottsville racecourse. No thanks, I live to see another race and I will certainly come back to get my Up run medal. I may have let myself down but it wasn’t because I didn’t try hard enough. I just had nothing in the tank to make my instagram feed blow up.
Pride dented, ego bruised, goal not achieved but I am alive, in some pain and I have already made the decision to go get that medal in 2019. Tamsyn knows I won’t be able to rest without closing that chapter of my life so she has given me the greenlight. The cool part is I have two years to train for the up run. I may need to spend a few months on the sun to get ready for Durban in “winter.”
I raced against the clock and came off second best, no medal, no back to back medal, no cup of soup at the end, no cool medal photo. What I do have is this picture for you to enjoy.
The Struggle Continues.
Struggling Sportsman 