"More than a Race"
It's been a week since the 98th edition of the Comrades Marathon, a grueling foot race that takes place each year in South Africa.
The distance varies, between 85 and 90km, alternating direction each year as either starts in the city of Pietermaritzburg and ends in Durban, or vice versa.
Due to Durban sitting at sea level, 600m lower than 'Maritzburg, it is considered the "Down" run, but make no mistake, both directions offer a tremendous amount of climbing and descending. To offer some perspective on the 1100m of gain + 1800m of descent, consider this: Boston and NYC marathons, considered as hilly races, both have about a quarter the amount of climbing over half the distance. "Heartbreak Hill" is only 600m long and gains about 35m. There are so many of those climbs in Comrades they don't even show up on the map. In addition to dozens of these little pesky bumps, it also features several monster climbs, affectionally called the Big 5: Botha's Hill, Inchanga, Field's Hill, Cowies Hill, and Polly Shotts. Any one of these in a marathon should be enough make you reconsider your goal time!
And then there's the obvious effect from all the downhill running. In the 2nd half of the race, I witnessed more people walking the downhills than the ups, quads, hip flexors, and feet completely obliterated from the impact.
Now that you know a little more about the race, here's a little recap of my own journey.
Coach/wife Melissa and I sat down about 6 months ago and began thinking about the best way to approach a race of this nature. The distance and format are so unique, and it would require a tremendous amount of personalization (and flexibility) to get it right.
For starters, we needed to get in around 4 marathon+ distance runs. We needed to ensure the majority of the long runs were on pavement, but having consistent mileage spent on the more forgiving trails. The focus was going to be about pockets of high volume, including cross training, consistent speed workouts, combined with plenty of pullback weeks and physiotherapy to keep the body progressing through the build.
Thanks to strength coach Bre, physio and sadist, Tyson, and training partner extraordinaire Blaine, this training block was one of the most interesting builds I've ever done.
The Race
1am wake up call (just as we were starting to adapt to the time zone), and on the bus at 2:00. Staying at the finishing city meant enjoying a 90km commute to the start line, with a group of anxious, jittery and sleep deprived fellow runners. Arriving with plenty of time to spare, praying to the gastro-intestinal gods to forgive your irregular morning routing, and eventually all shuffling our way through the crowd of over 20,000 runners to find our starting corals.
Here, the energy is like no other. Running clubs in Africa are more like large families. Swarms of people dancing and singing and laughing.
This energy intensified as the crowds bellowed the South African national anthem, then Shosholoza (Comrades Marathon 2024 Shosholoza - goosebumps!). Then they played Chariots of Fire, the sound of a rooster, and pistol shot. All of these decades-long traditions. And we're off!
The stampede of runners pushing and jostling through the first few kilometers is intense. There are kerbs and other road obstacles that make it the most technical part of the race. Held my ground and kept my pace in check as I hoped to steadily catch up to Blaine, whom I saw was just about 10 rows ahead of me at the start. It took me nearly 5kms to catch up to him, and both of us observed how hard the hills were feeling, even these early baby hills on fresh legs. My HR was quick to rise and we both settled in for the next few. We didn't have a lot of time together, as Blaine needed a few pit stops, but it was magical being there with him after the journey we had been on together, and even when we weren't running side by side, I knew he was right there too and experiencing the same adventure.
On climbs I set the upper limit (150bpm), but always kept running. On descents, I let my natural descending strength dictate the pace, but ensured my stride length was short to keep the impact forces to a minimum. I would lose ground on the ups and make it up on the descents. And there was really nothing in between!
It was going to get hot, so I doused water all over myself at every opportunity.
I consumed. Maybe a bit too much for the first 30k. Stomach was feeling a bit strained so I took a ginger gravol and eased off my gel intake.
Any original time goals went out the window as my body began feel the damage from unrelenting hill repeats. My new goal of sub 7hrs took every ounce of physical ability and race math to stay on track. My feet had been taking a beating. Laces too tight. Toe box too narrow. Off-camber asphalt descents. Told myself I could deal with all of that later.
At km 60 I switched to just water and gels (forgetting electrolytes), and this would come to bother me at 83kms, where leg cramps forced me to walk and replenish.
A few minutes later, the cramps dissipated and I picked up where I left off. According to math, I could finish with about a minute to spare, unless there was another "Cowies Hill" in the final 5k!
There were 3 more hills, each the equivalent of Heartbreak hill, but not enough to stop me. 2kms from the finish, the road is fenced and the finish line beckons. The crowd volume becomes deafening as you cross about 3 banners (only the last of which is the actual finish line, somewhat dishearteningly).
Yes, it's over! 6:57:25. Good for a Comrades "Silver" medal (<7.5 hours). Pure relief, joy, and gratitude. Yes, the race itself was an incredible experience, like nothing I've ever been a part of (Tour De France meets Boston Marathon?), but as their slogan goes, it was much more than a race.
It was also 6 months of sweat and stories on long runs with Blaine, Mel, Liyang, and others that jumped in during the training.
It was about 48 hours of flying, 15 hours in airports, shuttle and tour busses, and 3 nights in one week with no sleep!
But it was also about the culture of Africa. From the shake out park run with thousands of "busses" and singing to the excitement of a nation before, during and after their biggest event of the year. The traditions, the history, the folk lore.
This is one experience I will never forget.
Isiko Mpilo
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