The Comrades Marathon is an ultra marathon of approximately 89 km (approx. 56 miles) which is run annually in the Kwazulu – Natal Province, between the cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg. It is the world's largest and oldest ultra marathon race.
The distance alone makes Comrades intimidating. The infamous climbs make it torturous. The direction of the race alternates each year between the "up" run (87 km) starting from Durban and the "down" run (89 km) starting from Pietermaritzburg. Runners over the age of 20 qualify when they are able to complete an officially recognised marathon (42.2 km) in less than five hours. During the event an athlete must also reach five cut-off points in specified times to complete the race.
The start of the Up run is at sea level in the centre of the harbor city of Durban, and finishes in Pietermaritzburg at an altitude of 650m. On the way runners encounter 5 major hills, popularly known as the “Big Five” and many small hills.
I have run the Comrades Marathon four times so far. Each run I faced different type of challenges. Each Comrades run was a different learning experience. Since the 2013 Comrades Marathon was a UP Run the distance was marginally reduced from 89 km to 87 km. But they added three more hills towards the end, making it challenging and interesting over previous years.
This year I was feeling fitter than ever, so I was expecting to do better than my previous comrades runs.
I was very excited to be in “ A “ seeding this year and felt honored to be lined up along with the elite runners in that most of them were silver medalists. It was only after 30 km that I realized I was running in the wrong category was somewhat carried away and running almost 4.45 to 5.30 pace an average of 5.30 pace in the beginning and I was exhausted . By now the weather and lake of intake of solid food added to my feeling week.
“Essentially, the ‘up’ run is all about self-control – and this control has to be exercised in the first half,” writes nine-time winner, Bruce Fordyce. Just take a look at the route profile and see what dramatic physical variations occur on the stretch between the start in Durban and the halfway mark at Drummond. Fordyce continues, “Controlled running in the first half will be rewarded by an exciting second half. The first part of the ‘up’ run is littered with hills, really tough hills. From the gun we have to start climbing them: Tollgate Hill to Cowies Hill is a long steady climb. In the cool dawn, lulled by excitement and strength, there is a danger you may run them too hard.”
This is exactly what happened with me. After the halfway, I was so weak that I could barely keep my eyes open, Yet I could feel my legs were moving and that I was still running. So I entered the medical tent after the halfway, had my blood tested by the Medic who said my sugar level was okay to continue running. Since I was feeling very weak, I was given a dose of glucose with water and advised to rest a while. Since I was tired and sleepy I requested to be awakened in 10 minutes, just in case I slept off. After 10 minutes, I was on my way again, having refused the Medic’s suggestion to use the ambulance. With instructions to visit the medical tent and ice my legs and Arnica oil massage at every station, I resumed the run.
Although I was feeling weak and tired, I didn’t want to give up the race. I diverted my attention and started visualizing the finish. I realized that every stride I took further, I was getting closer to the finish line. To preserve energy for the end, I started walking uphill, briskly by swinging my hands. That time my mind went back to all my training days and I even saw Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev face, he was smiling at me. In this manner, I managed to run-and-walk from one water-stop to the next covering around 60 to 65 km. At this stage, I stopped at another medical tent and was given some sachets of Sugar-syrup. This worked like a magic for me, and I picked up pace. By now the wind had also picked up, in fact it was so gusty that we (the runners) were literally being pushed backwards; and could barely see the route ahead, because of the dust being carried by the wind.
The Gel which Alok Shukla gave me, as well as the sugar syrup were my saviors and helped me run the last 15 km almost nonstop. I finished the race very strong.
Running teaches us lot in our life. If you keep your head down and stay focused on the hill or your life you might stumble a bit but you will be able to be in better control and be able to reach your goals. If you look too far in front, you will probably feel like the hill will defeat you or that life will be too challenging for what is in store.
