Comrades 2016

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  • lowrezlowrez ✭✭✭

    For a 4:59 qualifier like me last year pen CC (if you can find it and get into it!) is a great invention. I always throw up a charity collection thing for anything marthon and above. If you haven't done this before it literally is like falling off a log to gather in the £250 to £300 you need to gain a place in pen CC. I e-mail friends and everyone at work, and thats enough to make a total like that, no bother at all. Plus you are doing something mighty fine and good! If you are selfconscious about doing that compare making the full donation yourself to how much you are investing in the event overall and it's not a very high percentage for an extremely good pen placing. Completely took away that stress Dannirr refers to for me. 

  • Hi everybody



    Joined the Facebook groups as wanting to join you for comrades 2016. Had some amazing responses so far. My main concerns are coming out solo especially being female. I'm hoping to fly from Manchester on the Tuesday before and may have to leave to come home on the Monday ...possibly the Tuesday. I can be a little flexible on dates. Hotels....Hilton bit too much for me I think but looking for a safe place to stay with lots of runners from UK who don't mind me tagging along. Please can you tell me which ones are best. Thanks
  • PG3PG3 ✭✭✭

    Hi Jane

    What FB group did you join?  I am potentially coming on my own (am female), hubby might join, it depends on finances and cover for the looking after the kids.  I booked a room at the Hilton and also another room .5 miles away.  Mine were both free cancellations so i would sooner have the options (assuming i get to the start line).  I cant remember the name of the other hotel but its probably on the page before this one.  I have never done it before so not sure what goes on.

    Keep on here anyway as we can make plans closer to the time.

  • Becca7Becca7 ✭✭✭

    Hi Jane, I have gone as a solo female for the last three years and there are so many others around that it has not been a problem.  A good alternative to the Hilton is the City Lodge - just down the road and very handy for the finish and the Expo.  I have always found it to be clean and secure.  I'm back there this year and there should be quite a few other Comrades folks there.

  • Thanks girls that's reassuring. I'm willing to share accommodation in a twin with another female if anybody wants ....providing we both feel comfortable having not met etc. But equally I like my own room. The hilton is too expensive for me. I tried to get into City Lodge but it's saying it's full. I can get in belaire suites which looks adequate. The Facebook group is UK and Ireland I think plus the Comrades one but that's not so much the British runner. Thank you
  • PG3PG3 ✭✭✭

    Hi Jane - i booked here through booking.com and it has free cancellation so might be worth booking a room and then cancelling if something better comes up (below is my post from last week)

    I have also just booked a room at Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani which is 0.6 miles from the Hilton.  It's less than £100 a night and is also free cancellation.  I will leave the bookings in place until closer to the time but if anyone has any feedback on this then I would be grateful.

  • Ok thank you. I'm on Facebook as jane benson personal trainer. Please can you add me if you see me
  • Fido2DogsFido2Dogs ✭✭✭
    * I said *last* year would be my last

    * this year too

    * not running _at all_ at the mo, in fact, on bus right now on way to see sports doc

    * wondering if I should book the hostel for next year

    #cognitiveDissonanceTastic
  • lowrezlowrez ✭✭✭

    Whats the diagnosis/prognosis f2d? It was wonderful last year when you all of a sudden you were in and running! Fingers crossed you can make this year too! 

  • Fido2DogsFido2Dogs ✭✭✭
    Being referred for an MRI, doc thinks that treatment will likely be in the rehab/injection field rather than choppy pokey stuff so fingers crossed.
  • lowrezlowrez ✭✭✭

    Hope thats the start of a stream of good news f2d image

  • PG3PG3 ✭✭✭
  • PG3PG3 ✭✭✭

    Jane, sent a friend request

  • Fido2DogsFido2Dogs ✭✭✭

    que sera sera peeps. Not that I am ready to leap into IronMan like Douglas! But there was this youngish chap I saw twice this morning (once while dog wrangling, once when I was cycling to work) - on crutches, his right leg strapped and bound and bolted up with great gusto. Heaven knows what had happened - skiing? Motorbike? on the bicycle & got hedgehogged?  JPDFO (Just Plain Done Fall Over)?

    There's always lots of folk worse off ...

  • Peter RPeter R ✭✭✭

    Good Luck f2d, fully expect you to be on the start line ....

    IM 70.3 for me in Durban on 2 August, cant wait!!

  • Slow DuckSlow Duck ✭✭✭
    Fingers crossed Fido.



    ...and welcome to PG3 and Jane.
  • Fido2DogsFido2Dogs ✭✭✭

    SD sleep is important!

    I have an MRI tomorrow - my, what a lot of exercise I'll be getting, just getting there and back (the OH has the car as it's market day)!

  • Mr KMr K ✭✭✭

    Shot in the dark but anyone running Athens Marathon in Nov? 

    I ran it in 2010 & I`m going back there this year image

    Fingers crossed from me too F2D

  • DannirrDannirr ✭✭✭

    I did Athens in 2011 - was my first marathon.  I'd like to go back and do it again but there are too many others.......   I made a rule not to do the same marathon twice.  So far, I have broken that for Paris, Disney, Comrades, Atlanta.....   Some rules suck.

  • Ok been looking at this for a month now and the idea won't go away which is usually a worrying sign, work commitments right now mean I don't know if it will be 2016 or 2017.

    I think I can make it into pen D but probably E more likely.  anyway the whole thing looks awesome any advice for a Comrads first timer???

  • Fido2DogsFido2Dogs ✭✭✭

    Don't worry about the pen you're in
    Do get as much sleep and rest as you can beforehand
    Don't fall over
    No, seriously, the catseyes are inches high, the streets are full of slippery binbags etc and your fellow runners' feet are a menace - DON'T FALL OVER
    Do keep a positive mental attitude come what may
    Don't eat anything but the blandest, most familiar food on Fri & Sat
    Do join the FB groups. Yeah, all of them. Go on.
    Do run a shedload of up and downhills (doesn't have to be fast) to work out what's most efficient for you personally. About 1% of the course is flat.
    Do spend a few half-hours in the sauna (if you can) in the week or two before going out, unless you already live somewhere warm. (An Ian Sharman tip which worked a treat for McHilly & me).
    Don't fixate on getting a particular medal or time first time out. It's OK to have some time in mind but it's a long day and stuff can go wrong that you can't control, and you have to keep positive regardless.
    Do stay in front of Vlam Pieterse's pace group ("bus"). If you're *with* them, do as they suggest. If you're behind them - RUN!
    Run your own race - the pace groups (buses) can be useful as markers but in reality they are a big crowd which makes getting stuff at aid stations, and running your own pace, difficult. And the "bus drivers" pacemakers are only human and some get it wrong. (Vlam is safe though).
    Book accommodation fairly early but don't worry too much about flights.
    Practice running "within yourself" aka slowly. If you can do 30 hilly miles on road in the warm in training at pace X that's a good indication for a target race pace.
    Don't worry about carrying food and drink, the aid stations are very close together.
    Don't worry if you don't sleep the night before.
    Do be organised and get to the start pens well in time.
    Consider dropping your kit bag off at the Expo instead of at the start - can save a bit of hassle (not a big deal though).
    Do check you're not allergic to your sunblock before race day.
    Don't join the huge registration queue at the Expo (unless you are registered as a local and belong to an SA running club) - join the queue for "Internationals" which will be 2-7 people long image
    Do do the course tour and bring something to put in the pot at the Ethembeni School
    Don't expect to be able to do anything much after the race 
    Do put a bit of money aside to cover sports massage and physio treatment in training
    Don't worry if you don't run over marathon distance before the big day
    Do learn Shosholoza
    Don't expect it to be a super exciting experience for any non-runners you take with you - it's fine to buy them off with something else and go on your own
    er....

  • Fido2DogsFido2Dogs ✭✭✭

    Do bring your parkrun barcode (lots of people walk Durban parkrun ... no need to exert yourself)
    Do nick a barf bag or two from the planes over to put in your kitbag
    Do put space blanket in your kitbag

  • Mr KMr K ✭✭✭
    Top advice there... enjoy
  • DannirrDannirr ✭✭✭

    Perfect advice from f2d.  Thats about it in a nutshell.  

  • Mc HillyMc Hilly ✭✭✭

    I listened to Fido's advice, and she gave lots of travel and race day tips which I found really helpful this year ( except the bit about eating bland food, I ate whatever I felt like and suffered no ill effects... Bunny chow seemed to go down a treat, although I did stick to pasta the night before)

    Fido how did the MRI scan go, or do you have to wait for results?

  • That's a cracking start point thank you everyone, there are some gems I would never have thought of .  Thank you.

  • Fido2DogsFido2Dogs ✭✭✭

    I have to wait for a doc to look at it - I guess in a bit someone will ring me up and I get to go in and see the sports doc again.

    The thing itself was fine - R2 through the headphones and my specs off (metal ) so I nearly dropped off - but cycling there and back in the rain ended with me coming off on one of Abo's crappy cycle paths in front of what seemed like all the town's commuters - and as I'm sure a lot of you know, what you want in those circs is a complete absence of humanity so you can swear and bewail your lot in private! 

    What *is* that avatar Mr K?

  • What is Shosholoza by the way???

  • DannirrDannirr ✭✭✭

    Z-O:  Shosholoza is a traditional song sang at all sporting events in South Africa. It is part of the tradition of the Comrades start, as is the National Anthem, Chariots of Fire and the crowing of the cock.

    Here it is from this year:

    https://youtu.be/SoJlA5OhYv4?list=FLn9-tOzI89WPs9UbWpwcXDA

    You are required to learn the words and sing it before they issue your chipimage

  • Fido2DogsFido2Dogs ✭✭✭
    It is short . very short.

    Unlike the national anthem (five languages two keys).
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