Comrades 2018

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  • lowrezlowrez ✭✭✭
    Or a patch? Does this work? I have been messing around with the yellow central line for ages. It is meant to be a road with dashed line down the centre. Getting the perspective right is quite difficult. I am conscious the line needs to be very chunky otherwise it won't translate to a patch very well. Can you see how the upper part of the flag in particular forms a valley helping the perspective that it is a downward road? My eyes have completely goggled up though I have been looking at it for so long, time to let them rest and see what you think of it so far; rubbish?...
  • Don't take this the wrong way Lowrez - but its not realistic enough without a single deadly cats-eye visible :wink:
  • lowrezlowrez ✭✭✭
    An independent auditor has commented that the original is "terribly clean and stark" in comparison to previous years? I think its a very strong and recognizable image because of that though?
  • Maybe a little something like through the middle? 



  • lowrezlowrez ✭✭✭

    Yeeess... a variant of that is what I based it on. Just depends how far you want to inject the perfectness of the photo into the abstraction of the flag, also bearing in mind that a lot of detail doesn't translate well onto a patch :)

  • We didn't actually run that road did we? :|
  • lowrezlowrez ✭✭✭
    No that vegetation is far too lush! It is a good visual though :)
  • Becca7Becca7 ✭✭✭
    Think I've seen it before and somebody said it was Kangaroo Island in Australia.
  • SS - it was the closest thing i could find to looking down an actual undulating and straight road.  

    I like it the picture the way it is to be honest but linking it back to the RWUK group somehow would be a nice touch. 
  • lowrezlowrez ✭✭✭

    From my perspective the fact that it emerged on this forum links it back? We could bung a union flag in one corner or spin the acronym RWUK into a roundel and plonk it somewhere, but, whilst there are a heap of UK based people on here its not solely used by them, there is an international mix to this merry band :) On the two previous patches we haven't pushed a RWUK identity?

    Things are pretty quiet around here too at the moment. Would appreciate views from a ton more people too ultimately before I do any mods or a total rethink.

  • Fair point Lowrez - you can tell I'm a little eager with just 345 days 21 hours and 42 minutes to go before race day :smile:

  • lowrezlowrez ✭✭✭

    JAR - where are you planning to qualify this year? I am aiming for Detroit in October - good and early - no drama - ha ha!

    Keep the comments coming - anything is possible - I think I will round the corners off like the last patch which will mean the words Comrades and Marathon will need to go on 2 lines - I am thinking that a patch with dead square corners might be more prone to peeling off easily?  

  • I'm nearly finished nursing a sore knee back to health, I'd love to qualify this year and I was thinking about Marathon du Medoc with a friend who sadly withdrew.  I was considering Bournemouth but I saw the route has quite a few out-and-backs so didn't fancy that one.   Reckon Thames Meander in November is most likely for now, at least its flat and near home.   Quite keen to register for Portsmouth Waterside again, its late in the year so helps limit the break around Christmas.  

    Detroit sounds cool, how did you hear about it?    

  • No drama Lowrez? That would be boring. But better for all our nerves if you qualify in October

    I think rounded corners would be best. At the top of the yellow lane markers is a little triangular bit that looks like an arrow pointing upwards. I know it's just where the pattern runs out but maybe the little arrow bit could be at the bottom pointing down?

    Haven't been doing much running, but my hips or actually a bit lower are aching. I don't have the mojo at the moment. Don't want to do too much and put myself off by January but I do have a marathon to run in 14 weeks.

    Jar - maybe marathon du medoc wasn't a good one to choose anyway depending on how much alcohol you intended to consume on the way round :)
  • Agreed, I couldn't depend on M-d-M for my pen allocation thats for sure.

    Drinking mid-race would be a new experience though!
  • Becca7Becca7 ✭✭✭
    Think my first one in the qualification period is Jungfrau but I hope I don't need to rely on that!  I've got Leicester in mind as the qualifier but have San Sebastian and Malaga as other possibilities.
  • lowrezlowrez ✭✭✭

    I was going to run Detroit back in 2008 after I did London, the attraction is that its run in two countries. But then I got drawn towards The Majors and Continents instead and ended up in Tokyo and Chicago instead followed by several others in those sets. Glad I did it that way around as some of those are quite difficult to get into these days. Finally its time to do Detroit. I continue to look for marathons with a weird kind of draw for me; want to land Nuuk one day soon too :) Didn't really enjoy "having" to run Manchester (again) and Milton Keynes this year, would rather have invested the effort elsewhere on marathons of my own choice.

    I like the look of M-d-M, but I better speed up a bit, no time for drinking on it and making that 5 hour barrier! Did you know there was a beer lovers marathon too?

    I think Marty qualified at the Thames Meander last year.

    SS the downward trend is meant to be from the bottom of the patch to the top - maybe its not that obvious? If you look at JAR's photo its the same perspective? The "road" gets narrower and the lines get thinner the further up the patch you go, but it is meant to have a downward perspective?

    Becca, those are some interesting places, how did you end up discovering those?

  • I was going to do Malaga last year, it's fast and flat and easy to get to from the UK. But I'd been injured and wouldn't have had time to train properly so I decided not to go. And then they had torrential rain, and it was cancelled anyway because the city centre was flooded. I still quite fancy it.
  • Becca7Becca7 ✭✭✭
    I was due to run Malaga last year RR, rain was indeed torrential but I was all ready to run it.  They said that they were delaying the start but I was glad when they eventually cancelled it as I was too cold by then!  It wouldn't have been safe but I had a nice run along the coast once the rain stopped.  Since I didn't get to run it then I'm going back this year.  San Sebastian is one that I've heard nice things about so I've wanted to run that one for a couple of years.  Similarly Jungfrau has been on the wish list for a few years.  
  • marty74marty74 ✭✭✭
    Very true, i ran the thames meander last year. Well organised race by Dave Ross and lots of Comrades folk there. Definitely flat, although did get a bit lonely where i was in the field.

    Another one here probably going to Malaga...
  • Just signed up to Thames Meander on 4th November...will be pushing on 17 months from Comrades 2016 without racing.  
  • lowrezlowrez ✭✭✭

    4x4=16 weeks to get you in shape for that JAR, sounds perfect!

    I am going to try and address this long running hamstring jiggy that makes me a bit tentative about upping my pace away from the 12 hour barrier. After much reading up on the subject it appears that I need to slowly stress the beast with mechanical load to iron the blighter out. This will involve some pain apparently which is counter intuitive, most injuries you would not expect to work through pain, but it makes a good deal of sense to me. I need to "teach" my ham to flex properly... I don't want to end up with this "left leg wobble" next year again. The only problem is I am very rubbish at being disciplined and doing this recovery stuff.

  • Hi all
    I am finally back in Wales
    Had a great time in Durban seeing you all even though I didnt get a medal.....No lasting ill effect on the hip from the race and it was fine for the rest of our adventures.

    We hated the Hilton so have booked somewhere else next year.

    Just awaiting confirmation of annual leave for next year and hopefully when i start work on August 14th they will honour my September holiday and comrades holiday leave........

    Started getting fit from Saturday and Loch ness will hopefully be our first qualifier...

    I also need to lose the 23lb I gained in the last 20 weeks of not training,,,

  • Finally posted my race report on the 2017 thread! Also finally started running properly again, after taking some time out with what I hoped was just a pressure point where the timing chip had been pressing into my foot. Seems it was, as with a 'donut' pad on my foot I was fine running 15 miles yesterday.

    I was thinking about Ridgeway 86 at the end of August and the Vanguard Way marathon in early August, but I think the 86 may be a bad idea given how much fitness I've lost over the past 4 weeks, and a family meet-up may get in the way of the Vanguard Marathon, so I'm not sure what my next goal will be. It would be fun to run Beachy Head Marathon again, and I'm also thinking about a 10-in-10 later this year to celebrate turning 50...

    Terry, very glad your diving turned out so well.

  • lowrez said:

    4x4=16 weeks to get you in shape for that JAR, sounds perfect!

    I am going to try and address this long running hamstring jiggy that makes me a bit tentative about upping my pace away from the 12 hour barrier. After much reading up on the subject it appears that I need to slowly stress the beast with mechanical load to iron the blighter out. This will involve some pain apparently which is counter intuitive, most injuries you would not expect to work through pain, but it makes a good deal of sense to me. I need to "teach" my ham to flex properly... I don't want to end up with this "left leg wobble" next year again. The only problem is I am very rubbish at being disciplined and doing this recovery stuff.

    Lowrez,  I'd be very interested in you have a link available to share.   I've never heard of this approach yet and like you have longstanding and lingering hamstring issues.  It feels like I could snap the thing during speed work sometimes.
  • lowrezlowrez ✭✭✭
    Took me a while to re-dredge this article from the net as I'd simply taken a note of the exercises mentioned. As with anything one would need to go carefully, but, it started to ring true with me in what they say. If I do nothing, ie rest, expecting the symptoms to go away, they do not. If I simply return to running I can't fully commit because the problem will flare up worse. If I sit on my arse all day at work my hamstring can complain awfully. If I garden at the weekend and do loads of other non-running stuff I get pain at times when I properly flex the ham but it kind of loves it, none of the lingering complaining if I rest it or sit on it. So there must be some method by which you put the beast under some load and it will respond and become cured: The Trick to Hamstring Rehab I was also looking at the vid in this article for general exercises, kind of a warm up before trying the load bearing: Why Iisn't My Pulled Hamstring Healing
  • Very interesting read, especially test results showing healed hamstrings being used less than the uninjured side even months after rehab.   I haven't run properly for ages now but still feel the same dull ache re-occurring as when I was running 6 days a week so its certainly not healing with rest.

    Nordic curls it is....  thanks Lowrez!
  • Hi guys, can a newbie ask a question? Hope so. For those staying in Durban how do you get from Durban to the start in Pietermaritzburg first thing in the morning. Perhaps you book a hotel in Durban and also in Pietermaritzburg for one night?
  • lowrezlowrez ✭✭✭
    edited July 2017

    Hi Stevie,

    The organisers lay on a vast armada of coaches which you purchase a ticket for at the expo.

    Last year I got on mine about 3:20am I think, which was probably a bit late especially with a driver who had no toll money and couldn't get more than 20mph out of the beast. The queue was quite long though, I wasn't really that late, I think I got there about 3:00am

    On the whole the thing is meant to be a lot smoother than that :) so its an early start required! Very few stay in PM. If you think about it... you'd have to go back to get your stuff... best staying in Durban.

    Some folks hire cars or take taxis up, it can get very congested. On top of the issues above we had to get off our coach last year and scamper the last k to the start. I was shocked at how many were running through the streets that late in the day. Essentially all the routes in get gridlocked if you don't stump up good and early.

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