Comrades 2010

Wow, we made it!!! I will give a quick race report and look forward to Darl's report to come...

So, we started our adventure in Petermeritzburg and stayed at a wacky, but wonderful guesthouse that was about 1 mile away from the start line. Our new friends Rex and Mark Andre from Ottawa came with us and we had a great trip telling race stories and met up with them again to pick up our race kits on Saturday.

Our hosts at the guesthouse were very friendly but we are pretty sure they were wasted the whole time we were visiting!! There was a nice family also living in our guesthouse and the Indian lady kept on insisting that we eat her amazing smelling curries and "poykie" but we had to say no to prevent any stomach mishaps on race day. But we did agree to come back to Meritzburg in the near future (after we hike in the Drakensburg mountains) to have a proper feast with them. We also stayed with some people from South Carolina and they were also wonderful.

Unfortunately the day before the race something went really wrong with our stomachs yet again. At first I thought it was just nerves but after the 8th time to the washroom we were pretty sure we had food poisoning AGAIN. So, you would think this would have made us upset but as we lied in bed getting ready to go to sleep, we just started laughing. What else can you do in that situation?? So at least we went to sleep in good spirits despite how our stomachs were feeling.

During the race I knew early on (about 15km into it) that I was not feeling right at all. My legs felt like lead and I think the dehydration had already gotten to me. Luckily I brought 5 gels with me, and forced myself to down as much energade sachets and water and coke and salted potatoes and jube jubes as I could stomach to keep myself nourished. I was disappointed early on as well because I couldn't find any nice running buddies to talk with and help distract me from the pain. After 30km the downhills REALLY started to hurt. I now understand why everyone says an up year is easier. I was looking forward to the hills we had to climb because they were so much easier than going down!!

The crowds are what really got me through the race. They were amazing!! I had women singing me songs in Zulu and dancing, people drinking beers and offering me some as well, and just genuine looks right in my eye and telling me I could do it.

Crap, I will write more asap!! I am out of time online!!