My 2017 Comrades journey

On 20 June 2017 I went for my first run after Comrades. I intended to run for only 4kms and I ended up running 9.95kms that evening. Also yesterday morning I ran slightly over 13km and I am now looking forward to my fourth Comrades, this will be a special one as it is being run on my 40 something birthday on 10 June 2018. I think I am ready to talk about my Comrades 2017 journey. My journey towards Comrades 2017 was not easy. During the last weekend of January 2017, I decided to skip the Akasia Marathon qualifying race and drove to Zimbabwe. When I came back, I became seriously ill and the doctor suspected that I had consumed contaminated water in Zimbabwe and he put me on antibiotics which meant that I could not run for over a week. I eventually ran my first qualifying race, Deloitte Pretoria Marathon at the end of February. I took annual leave for the last two weeks of March and drove home to Zimbabwe. I intended to also help my cousin on the farm and eventually run the PPC Matopos 33 miler in my favourite city of Bulawayo on the 1st of April. I booked and paid for my accommodation in Bulawayo. I can’t believe it is now over 9 years since my last visit to Bulawayo!

With less than 2 weeks to the Matopos race, one morning I left my home just outside Harare and decided to run 20km along Mutare road. Within a kilometre, I felt pain in the calf of my right leg. I continued to run for the about 9km but the pain got worse, I had picked up an injury. I decided to stop running for a few days but concentrate on walking long distances as this would also be very handy in the Comrades run. During the last week of March I realised that I could no longer run the Matopos Marathon and I was disappointed. I tried to cancel my accommodation, I was late I missed the deadline by a few hours and I forfeited my money. My most important worry was that with less than 10 weeks to go to Comrades would I recover in time. Early morning on 30 March, I walked over 20km when I went to visit my grandmother and then back to the bus station to catch a lift back to Harare. On the morning of 31 March I decided to run 10km along Mutare road and I ended up running 22km and the pain was still there and I was just ignoring it. On the same day I also walked a distance of about 10km to and from Harare Fourth Street to Mbare Musika to buy the dried Mopani worms that my wife had asked me to buy as I was leaving for Pretoria the following morning.

For me the thing with Comrades is whenever I thought about those hills and the distance that I had to face on 4 June, I would wake up early and run for about 4kms no matter how cold it was, in the evening run up to 15kms on several days and on weekends around 20kms. Also entering Comrades means a total change of behaviour on my part as it also forces me to try and eat healthy. My initial goal when I started running again was to control my weight and the preparations required for running for Comrades works wonders for me. Entering for Comrades works like a strategy document for me, once I have confirmed my entry, I focus my energy towards preparing for Comrades and I try to do all that is required for me to accomplish that goal and the spin off is that I get to lose weight and that I do not get sick often. My flat is on 7th floor, the thought of what awaits me in Kwazulu- Natal province would make me take the stairs instead of the lifts even when I was carrying heavy parcels. I can actually blame running Comrades for my disastrous tenure as a Caretaker at our complex. I remember several times when residents would come to my door and complain why I had not called in the lift company to come and sort the lifts as they had not worked for couple of days and I would apologise that I did not know that the lifts were not working as I do not use them at all. If my wife did not tell me the lift is broken I would not know that it was broken.

I was still not sure if I was fit enough to run the Comrades so I drove to Benoni on 23 April and entered the Robor Scaffolding 42.2km. I ran the first 20km without incident and then the pain started again. I still managed to finish the race in my personal best time of just over 4 hours 20 minutes. I normally visit Zimbabwe every fortnight since I did not want to catch flu just before Comrades so for the whole of May I did not go home. I also tried to avoid crowded places and I became less tolerant of people who sneezed next to me. On top of the pain on my calf I started feeling pain in both knees. I would run a distance and rest for two days and run again ignoring the pain. On Saturday 13 May it was one of the coldest mornings in Pretoria, I left home wanting to run only 4km, I ended up doing 27kms. Thanks to my friend and neighbour at work Kim Naidoo, who convinced me to sign up for uncapped internet at home after we both experienced atrocious service from the satellite TV service provider, I started researching on you tube about the pain I was experiencing on my legs. I saw dozens of videos on how to strengthen my knees. I started to do these exercises and I saw improvements. My last run before Comrades was the 11km I did on 30 May. I continued with the knee and leg strengthening exercises until the race day. We left for Durban on Wednesday 31 May morning for a well deserved holiday before the Comrades race on the following Sunday.

I arrived in Durban CBD around 4:30am on the race day and decided to park the car next to the South Beach and walk all the way to City Hall where the race was starting. I did not want to repeat my previous year’s experience where I could not remember exactly where I had parked the car. When I was going to my seeding pen, I saw a runner who had a vest made from Zimbabwean flag colours and this brought a smile to my face and I greeted him. Just before the race started, we sang the national anthem “Nkosi Sikelel iAfrica”(this also used to be our national anthem back in Zimbabwe, we would sing it at school in the early 80s and at some stage uncle Bob decided to introduce a new national anthem that talks of guns, blood and war). We also sang Shosholoza and the announcer mentioned that it was raining in Cape Town that morning and the runners started cheering and this surely was a good omen as the whole country was worried about the water situation in the Cape. Then the Chariot of Fire theme song came on and the race started. We at the back we would cross the mats at the starting point moments later.

Participating in the Comrades race is one of those profound moments in my life, you tend to forget about the almost impossible task ahead of you and bask in the positive energies all around you. To me everything to do with Comrades from the race itself, the organisers, the spectators, medical teams, police, the runners etc. gives me faith in humanity. I am reminded about what uTata Nelson Mandela wrote in his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom to give testimony to the fact that people are inherently good and kind when he wrote,“Even in the grimmest times in prison, when my comrades and I were pushed to our limits, I would see a glimmer of humanity in one of the guards, perhaps just for a second, but it was enough to reassure me and keep me going. Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished”. Comrades is a multi-national event, on the route I met runners from countries that are neighbouring South Africa and then countries like India, Australia, UK, Germany, Japan, Canada, USA, Brazil, etc.

I do not trust experts so I try to run my own race the same way. I run as fast as I can for the first half of the race and after that diminishing returns kicks in. If I have run the first half well, I know I can still complete the race even if I struggle in the second half. Taking into account the fact that I was in the seeding which was second from last it meant that I would only start running faster once we were out of the city centre. A few kilometres out of the city, I saw a woman carrying a baby on her back kneeling on the tar road picking up T shirts that had been thrown by runners and this was a reminder to me of the inequalities we have in this continent. The first distance marker I saw said 85km to go and you try to ignore it as it is can easily intimidate you. For the first plus or minus 25km I was running whether it was uphill or downhill. After Cowies Hill, I saw a lady holding a Zimbabwean flag and I shouted “Zimbabwe”. I know I am biased but you must agree with me that the Zimbabwean flag is one of the most beautiful flags around. Just as we got to Pinetown, I was expecting to see my wife Manyoni and our last born Rangarirai whom we named after my beloved late mother. The Comrades route was passing through less than 300 metres from our hotel. I got through the spot and my family is nowhere to be seen. I just figured that at 7am, Manyoni must be fast asleep as she loves her sleep very much. I continue running and my mind is now switched to the upcoming Fields Hill that is less than 3kms ahead. Many spectators are lining the road and some will be offering salt, Vaseline, bananas, chocolates, boiled potatoes, oranges and crisps to runners. For the first half of the race, I stay true to my mother’s instructions “Do not eat at strangers houses”.

I start the ascent on Fields Hill and I realise that many runners are starting to walk and I lower
 my cap so that I do not see all the way up the hill and get intimidated, I can only see a few metres ahead and I continue running. Later on I start to walk before finishing the hill and I know I have done better on the hill than my first up run. As soon as we finish the hill, I start to run again and I caught up with my workmate Randall and he complains that he has picked up an injury on his knee. After about two kilometres we have a small uphill and Randall starts to walk and I felt sorry for him and I kept on running and started to think how long before the pain on my knees comes back again. My goal was to reach the half way mark in less than 5 hours. After the halfway mark I will be tired and diminishing returns will kick in and the slow pace that I will have will be compensated by the good first half of the race. From my experience with walking long distance back at the village after three hours you will become tired whether you are walking slowly or if you are running so I do not buy the idea of running slowly the whole race. Back in the village if they say where we are going is not too far then you must realise they are talking of 20km. If they say it is far then they are talking of 50km or more on foot. In 2002 during the land reform period in Zimbabwe that was a few months before I got my first company car, we once had to visit my aunt at the new farm she was staying and there was no transport going that direction and we walked the whole day. I later measured the distance with the car and it was around 50km.

On the descent before we started the Inchanga hills, I see a couple on the left holding the beautiful Zimbabwe flag and I shout “Zimbabwe Woye”. I then start walking all the uphill and run when it is flat or downhill. Along the way, I see school boys wearing their blue blazers cheering runners and among them I see a few black faces and this immediately reminds me of Peterhouse College back home in Marondera in the 90s. Later on, I see disabled school kids lining the route cheering us on. After Inchanga hills, I come across young African males wearing their majestic Muslim robes also lining the route. Arch Desmond Tutu must have this in mind when he coined the term rainbow nation, not only do we have multi-national participants, we have all races represented and on top of that we have peoples' support transcending religion. At the start of the race, runners next to me had expressed sadness that this years’ addition of the Comrades had taken place during the fasting period which meant that Muslim runners would not participate. As we approached farming areas, a lot of African children were also lining the route and they would be asking runners for the Energade sachets. This scenario illustrates the inequality in the society, about 10km before spectators were offering refreshments to the runners and now these kids are now begging for the drinks from the runners.

I got to the halfway mark within 5 hours which meant I had 7 hours left to finish the second half of the race. I was already tired. I was running whenever it was flat or downhill and then tried to walker faster when it was uphill. With about 30km to go my boss Siya caught up with me and we ran together for a number of kilometres. With about 18km to go, I could feel a blister developing on my right foot and also there was discomfort on my toes, I sat down and took off the shoe and tried to rearrange my socks. Siya passed by and asked if I was okay. I put my shoes on and ignored the pain and started running again.

Retiring this pair after completing 3 comrades with it

With about 10km to go as we started the ascent on to the dreaded Polly Shorts Hill, there were guys offering massages, I think they were from Mercedes Benz Athletics club. I went up to this gentleman and he poured oil on both my legs and massaged my legs for about 30 seconds and I thanked him. I told another runner that I felt much better after the massage and I add that maybe it is just psychological nothing has really changed. Almost everyone is walking as fast as they can up Polly Shorts and I am talking to another runner and he said he will try to run a bit so that he can say he ran up Polly Shorts and I say to him,” I also want to get into the history books lets run”. We ran for about 300 metres and then we start walking again. We then got to the last cut off and we are more than an hour ahead of the cut-off time. When the ground was flat, my brain tells me that I cannot go on, I override my brain and starts running and it becomes downhill. I stop a bit and I start running again until there is a slight uphill and I start walking. When the land is flat and downhill I continue running again.

I see the stadium and I start running and before I get into the tunnel someone from my right hand side shouts my name “Dabson” and I look up and I see it’s a lady from the OUTsurance tent. I continue running and on my left there is a lady standing with a big Zimbabwean flag and I shout to her ”Zimbabwe” and continued running to the finish line, my time is 10 hours 50minutes. I can’t believe it my knees did not give me any problems during the race. After collecting my 3rd bronze medal and the Comrades badge I line up for my first hot meal of the day, a cup of soup and brown bread slices. My teeth are now very sensitive it must be all the oranges I was eating along the race. I try to sit down and I can feel the pain in my leg. I knock my cup of soup by accident and I have to stand up again to go and collect another cup of soup. When I have to sit again to have my meal I ask a runner from Eskom to hold my cup otherwise I will spill this one again. After the meal, I have to look for the OUTsurance tent. I start to feel the pain when I am walking. After an hour, I eventually look for the buses back to Durban and it is getting chilly and I am only wearing a running vest and the short. I got into the bus and I had to cover myself with the bus curtains to stay warm. I am sitting on the two seater and another runner from UK comes and sits next to me. On the opposite three-seater another runner from UK is also seating there. Once the bus is full, the runner seating next to me decides to lie down on the passage and I start talking to the guy on the three-seater. I tell him that I am from Zimbabwe and we started talking about how beautiful Zimbabwe is. It takes us about an hour to get to the highway due to the traffic jam and anyway Comrades runners are a patient bunch we seem not to notice this and continued chatting. I ask the guy for a phone as I want to phone my wife so that she should not worry and he said he does not have a phone with him but I can come with him to his hotel for the phone call, I thank him and I tell him it wont be necessary as my vehicle is in the city.

After about 2 hours the bus drops us nearer South Beach and it is a mission to disembark from the bus. I start talking to this runner I think he said he is from Burundi. We see a novice runner who just completed his first Comrades complaining about all those hills that he went through and he tells us that he will not run Comrades again. We laugh at him a bit and we assure him he will be back next year. After 5 days in Durban tomorrow morning the holiday ends, I will have to drive all the way to Pretoria. I arrive at the hotel and my son tells me that he no longer wants to go back home and he wants to stay in Durban. I also tell him that I also want to stay in Durban and run every day on the beach but I have to work. That night my sleep is erratic as I feel pain everywhere.