Wayne’s World: Time to debrief … and laugh
Striders shared their Comrades war stories.
I WAS chatting to a couple of people from South Coast Striders about their accomplishments at the Comrades.
The task of running the whole day to conquer 90km in the allotted 12 hours is an immense one.
The pain for a lot of the runners sets in around the Inchanga area.
With 50km to go you can only imagine the stress your body must go through to actually complete the race.
Cramps, muscle fatigue, dehydration or even worse, over-hydration, hallucination and many other factors come in to factor as the race unfolds … and yet these very special athletes keep on going. Why?
It’s pretty simple really. The sense of achievement is immeasurable and the tiny medal you get as a reward for your accomplishment is a prize that becomes most valued.
I asked Freek Stander, a first time finisher of the Comrades this year, if he could have turned around at the finish line and run back to the start in Pietermarizburg.
He simply put it that it was a really crazy thought and it would be impossible.
The reality is that there are people that have actually used the Comrades as a training run to do exactly that.
The Washie 100 Miler is around the corner and that means that they will be attempting to run 160km between Port Alfred and East London in the allocated 27 hour time.
Many South Coast Striders have successfully completed this absolutely crazy event and I got word that a young woman called Kerry Farren might even be contemplating to do one soon.
So, just a thought… if you want to do something crazy, start off by doing 1km and who knows, after time you too might be clutching a tiny medal of your own.
Well done to all the women who competed in the Spar Ladies 10km Challenge in Durban last weekend.
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