The Comrades Marathon is the world's oldest and largest ultra marathon run over a distance of approximately 90 km (55.9 mi) between Pietermaritzburg and the coastal city of Durban in South Africa. The direction of the race alternates each year between the up run starting from Durban and the down run starting from Pietermaritzburg. This year was the down run and I had three friends running it this year: Bob Kazar and Melissa Johnson from Ohio, and Scott Cohen from NYC.
I'd met Bob & Melissa while participating in the Dublin Marathon in October, 2007. It was Bob & Melissa that inspired me to do an Ironman event. These strong athletes have done many marathons, several Ironman events and some pretty interesting travel running adventures. When they informed me that they were doing Comrades this year, I got excited. This is my dream event to do one day. This winter, I met Scott while he and his girlfriend ran along A1a on a Saturday morning. Scott is a triathlete and a runner. When he told me his plans to run Comrades, I made sure to connect him to Bob & Melissa. Recently, I read on the Runner's World website that Bart Yasso also planned to run Comrades, so I now had several runners in the event to cheer.
Comrades is hard race with many rolling hills. The main goal is to finish before the 12 hour cut off. I am happy to report that all my comrades finished Comrades. I have yet to get more than a preliminary e-mail that they finished, but I'm looking forward to a lengthy report.
Me, I'm back on track for Vineman 70.3. I ran 13.1 miles in Tampa on Saturday while at a Florida Bar section convention. The run was along Bay Shore Drive. This area along Tampa Bay is an ideal place to run and is a part of the Tampa Marathon course. If you are ever in Tampa, I highly recommend this waterfront course.
Sunday, I rode 60 miles solo to reinforce within my psyche that I can ride long solo in the aero position. With these two days of running and biking, I now feel good about ramping back up to half iron shape. This weekend I'm doing the Miami Nice Olympic Triathlon as a kind of extended brick workout.
Hi Bill - thanks for the encouragement and compliments. The Comrades was truly amazing. We have done some great events and nothing compares. We have never experienced such inspiration from both spectators and fellow participants. I will work on a full report on the plane ride home. Best Regards Melissa & Bob (ps the sunset over the Atlantic ocean tonight was spectacular!)
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