Comrades 2018

Matt..

Looks like everyone is building well for June.
been a while since I’ve been on here, i’ve finally managed 3 back to back weeks that had a 20 mile+ run in. Completed the crossfit open for the first time this year as well, not sure it’s made me speedier, but a welcome distraction from the mileage.

lowrez, all the best in the upcoming qualifier.

1owrez

Hotels
Belaire Suites: Terry48, Bike It, Debra Bourne, Dannirr, Carmen23, Southern Snail, Becca7, Mc Hilly
City Lodge: marty74, Slow Duck
Hilton: lowrez
Umhlanga: jkissane

Comrades 2018 Qualification
24Sep Berlin (M) marty74-Q3:14-PenB, jkissane-Q3:09-PenB
24Sep Loch Ness (M) seren nos-Q4:51-PenH
08Oct Yorkshire (M) Southern Snail-Q4:43-PenG>CC
08Oct Chicago (M) Matt..-Q3:54-PenD
15Oct Leicester (M) Becca7-Q3:49-PenD, Max Mladenovic 2-Q3:23pb-PenC
21Oct Betteshanger (M) Debra Bourne-Q3:55-PenD
17Dec Portsmouth (M) Peter R-Q4:01-PenF
25Feb Tokyo (M) Slow Duck-Q3:58-PenD, Wilfmannion-Q4:42-PenH
03Mar Albany (M) Dannirr-Q4:07-PenF
04Mar Vaal (M) Bike It-Q4:13-PenF
10Mar Thames Meander (M) justanothrrnr-Q3:53-PenD
18Mar Utrecht (M) Mac3-Q3:34-PenC
07Apr Exmoor (M) Southern Snail
08Apr Rotterdam (M) Mac3
08Apr Manchester (M) Marty74, Marty74 Snr, ajd19, 1owrez
15Apr Brighton (M) Slow Duck
16Apr Boston USA (M) Matt..
22Apr London (M) Becca7, Terry48, Mr Southern Snail, 1owrez, justanothrrnr, Mr K, (Beers at The Harp, 47 Chandos Place, WC2N 4HS post race)
22Apr Connemara (U) jkissane
22Apr Pewsey Downsaround (U) Carmen23
28Apr Spring Ranscombe (L) marty74
02May Qualification and Race4Charity (PenCC) Closes
10Jun Comrades

Course Tour
Friday 7:30 - Mc Hilly
Friday 8:45 - Southern Snail
Saturday 7:30 - 1owrez, seren nos

Parkrun
North Beach: Terry48, Bike It, Debra Bourne, Dannirr, Carmen23, Southern Snail, Becca7, Mc Hilly, Mac3
Umhlanga: jkissane
Thousand Hills: Slow Duck
Zandvlei: seren nos
Lie In Bed: Bike It

1owrez

What font colour could one choose other than "chocolate"?

Thanks for the vibes Matt.. Great training you are getting in there

marty74

Great run Debra so soon after your 100. Hope you are 100% soon.

And lowrez, our plan for Manchester is to go through halfway in around 2.26 ish??? Might catch you en route somewhere?? Will be wearing comrades cap and have comrades badge on my salomon backpack as well, so may be fairly easy to spot around the 5hr pace groups??

1owrez

I will look out for you Marty, not quite decided on my garb yet . Given the close shaves so far I was going to aim for 2:20ish half to try and keep a one mile margin of error in the bag for the second half. I'm sure our paths will cross

marty74

we can have a celebratory beer at the finish then

1owrez

Do I recall correctly - is a "free beer" available as part of the post race goody bag

1owrez

Hmm, would you call it "beer" though:-

What’s in the finisher bag?

 

Your finisher t-shirt is in the finisher bag so please make sure you pick up the correct size from the XS, small, medium, large or XL stations in the finish chute. There will also be a your medal, a bottle of water, a foil blanket and a protein recovery bar. There will also be Erdinger Alkoholfrei available next to the baggage marquee with isotonic refreshment.

marty74

Lets call it liquid refreshment then

seren nos

hi all
 been a bit quiet as training not great.Legs suffered from weird bruising and struggling on long runs...Have Llanelli and Newport marathons this month so hoping to finish both not too much over 5 hours but doubtful at moment...Glad I qualified in September.

Husband will be going for his Pen C place so hopefully will get it at one of the races as I have already bought my Pen C place.

Has anyone seen the official tshirts.......cant believe they have different colours for men and women...I hate pink so pleased I put a mans size on my entry

Debra Bourne

seren nos: good luck to you and your husband in your marathons. Hope your legs improve soon. Have you had yourself checked properly? Blood tests?

Where have you seen the T-shirt? I hate pink as well but like you have ordered men's anyway as I prefer the styling.

Actually tempted by the UK T-shirt as well - nice design. But I really do have enough running shirts...

Debra Bourne

Ah! Seen it now. Not nearly as nice as 2016 or 2017, in my opinion - uninspiring. And VERY glad I've asked for the men's - blue is much better than pink.

Southern Snail

Where are you guys seeing the t shirts. Did we not put down which size we wanted. Why would they have asked us to gender? And what do you mean by the uk t shirt?

Sorry the legs are still not sorted Seren. You seem to have had something going on a while now.

I'll see you in pen C

Debra Bourne

SSnail: If you go onto the main Comrades website, the pics at the top cycle through including showing a horrible pink one for women and an uninspiring blue design for men - you can click the arrows to cycle through as well. UPDATE: they've taken them off the carousel!

You had to specify male or female as part of the size of shirt. I went for male small, thankfully as I don't like the "cute" capped sleeves etc. of the women's shirts. Uninspiring design compared to the last two years' designs, but something I'm prepared to wear - unlike the pink!

The UK shirts are these: https://www.eventrac.co.uk/merchandise/28 - the ones a number of the UK runners will wear.

Southern Snail

Debra - thanks. Presume I put female down. Last year we all had orange didn't we? Men and women? In the link above do you know how the sizing goes? the xxs is 34" That can't be bust size! And are they the equivalent of the green ones people were wearing last year? Sorry. Lots of questions. Thought the green ones had come via Dave someone from Facebook 

Terry48

Southern Snail - If you don't like the pink T shirt, log in to your "2018 Entry Update" (dropdown under "Login" at the right hand tab of Comrades website).  Then, move across those tabs to Products and Charity. That drop-down shows an editable line with selection of shirt - male/female sizes, etc. I just tried my entry to check this and found I could change and then save change of mine, if I wished. (Just as well I don't like pink either!!!! So, mine stays blue.

Don't tell too many of the ladies or they'll run out of men's sizes!

Southern Snail

Thanks Terry although I still don't know where to find a picture of what they actually look like.

Terry48

SS, are you on facebook?  If so, see "Comrades UK and Ireland" - post of 26 March for recent pics.  Or, if on Facebook send your FB name if you wish and I can share it to you?

Dannirr

Hi all,

Have had a magnificent week in Cape Town.  Came for Two Oceans, which did not go to plan, but loved it never the less.

Have been training with a friend who has wanted to run the race for ages, but is very borderline for a finish.  Qualified with a 4:59:59 in Chicago.  She trained really well, and is in superb shape and I was very confident we could get it done in 6:45 (cutoff 7:00).    Shake outrun the day before was great.   On race day, a long established hamstring issue resurfaced and would just not go away.  She kept pace despite terrible pain in the leg, and new hip pain from trying to compensate,  to 25 km, and then we decided it was time to stop.   Disappointed?  Yes.   But wouldn't change a thing.  Ran a magnificent route with my best running friend.  Priceless.   And yesterday, with things feeling better and a few other friends, we ran our own, slow run over Chapman's Peak.

Now back to Comrades training.

1owrez

Dannirr - the light in those pictures is superb, sorry the day didn't go to plan, I have unfinished business to sort out on this course one day. Your friend has an amazing qualifying time - I am envious! Maybe this has the makings of a future trip about it? Hope the ham recovers completely for Comrades, sounds like the jog a day after was good therapy?

justanothrrnr

Envious of that weather Dannirr - sorry the race didn't go well.  

Becca7

Great that your friend got to do this race, even if it didn't work out on the day and it looks like you had a great trip anyway.  I fear that 4:59:59 may have given lowrez a target but something a little safer would be preferable.

Southern Snail

Terry - thanks. not on FB but have got my daughter to show me. I actually don't mind pink although I think everyone should have the same. I hope they're not tapered. They look like they might be pulled in at the back. You don't really need to be worrying what your figure looks like when you're running

Dannirr - well done anyway at 2 oceans. Looks great. Might have to go on the running list! Need a goal for next year. Sorry about your friend. Hope she can sort the hamstring out for Comrades.

Lowrez - hope you've got your feet up and are saving all your energy for Sunday.

Southern Snail

I'm still baffled by the sizing on the other t shirts. Which size would people order? normally UK small/medium?
Small is 38" but that would be way too big

justanothrrnr

64 days to go.....taking the 'tapir' into account that's only about 6-7 weeks of hard work left pre-Comrades.   Is it just me or is time disappearing far too quickly?  

Hope everyone has a good weekend of running.  Best of luck to you Lowrez and to anyone else eyeing up qualification this weekend.  Go for it Sir!

Becca7

Oh yes, good luck anyone running a marathon this weekend and especially to lowrez for the qualifier.  Please, please, please no stormtrooper outfit and no drama, just a nice safe qualifier.

1owrez

Had to have pulled pork in a white bap with curly fries and mushy peas for lunch as there was no pasta in the canteen? Is that any good for carb loading? Oh and I got a massive Eccles cake out of the vendo for afters.

Thanks for the best wishes everyone - certainly leaving the stormtrooper garb at home, but the weather forecast is intermittent rain with a good breeze and 9C at the start not pushing over 11C by the finish... that's quite cool... I might need two layers instead of one... and... Hermes just e-mailed me to say a package has arrived... it might be my Britney Spears airhostess uniform... you can't expect me to leave that in the wardrobe when I've just got it?

What's all this about a pink t-shirt? Count me in

1owrez

Coincidental, and not defeatist thinking on my part in any way, but just had an invite to run Hamburg on 29th April if all falls through!

Won't need it though, Manchester is going to deliver!

Southern Snail

Yay lowrez. Qualifier at Manchester and Britney in Hamburg!!! Good luck

Exmoor tomorrow for me. Hotel room overlooks the start line and some rather large hills. Very civilised. 2nd floor though and no lift  

good of luck to Mac 3, Marty and Marty senior, ajd19  and lowrez 

marty74

Thanks SS. Think i may get more nervous at Manchester since i have the added pressure of trying to keep the pace slow enough but on track and then no doubt having do to some maths to ensure the mile times later on don't slip too much!!!!