Comrades 2020

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  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    Yep, I kinda cut it at a reasonable point, couldn't really cram more text in and leave it readable. You can read more without purchasing the book here, it lets you look inside. I have actually purchased it at £55 from a reseller; discovered that the 2nd edition was selling for USD 60 in 2005, so the price I paid looks OK for a new copy of the 2010 3rd edition. Sounds a lot but there are well over 300 pages and there is a whole section on points of interest if you tour the region which is what I was after plus there is tons of context in there too... I am a bit of a fanatic on this stuff :D
  • Just checked it out on amazon.ae, it's for sale for 749 dirhams, which is £168.31!!!!!!
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    Currently on Amazon UK there is a reseller listing it at 579 GBP! I am assuming they don't want to sell it. The variability in price was what made me search out the true face value; usually it is on the back cover, but not so on the Amazon photo. I forget where I saw it but that 60 USD was the actual "buy it new price" in 2005. 
  • marty74marty74 ✭✭✭
    That sounds like an interesting little tour you are planning lowrez, bit too hardcore for me though :D:D:D
  • Terry48Terry48 ✭✭✭
    Lowrez, Why not include the "Big Hole" in Kimberley in your grand tour?  Not quite the same causes but a very interesting visit nevertheless.
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    I am going to be giggling for a long time remembering that pun Marty; I am having trouble typing... I keep cracking up... very good... for those not in the know... various remnants of the blast have been used for hardcore etc over the years, I would think most people being oblivious to how the stuff came about.

    Terry, thanks for the tip, but that's outside my area of interest... I will however take time to pop up to Tswaing/Soutpan Meteorite Crater, that is tiny in comparison to Vredefort and much more recent, but as a result it is in pretty good condition and actually holds a shape that you would call a crater. 

  • marty74marty74 ✭✭✭
    Good luck on the Ridgeway this weekend Debra. Looks like its going to be a hot one for you all...
  • Marty: thanks. Yes, I think I'm going to take a third 500ml soft bottle with me - I usually work on 500 mL per 5 miles, but at the forecast temperatures that might not be enough and it's a bit more than 10 miles between some of the aid stations.
  • Becca7Becca7 ✭✭✭
    Good luck Debra.
  • Hello all,  apologies for the radio silence while i've been 'busy' convalescing and getting used to my new recumbent lifestyle.  Operation went well,  the consultant said it was a success and i should make a full recovery.  He said I had good muscle mass from my running really helped him to grip the muscle and work with it.   I was extremely relieved to hear I'll be running again.  i'm currently in a leg brace, i can't straighten my leg or put weight on it for 6-8 weeks, then rehab will begin very slowly (he really emphasised the slow) and max window of 12 months.

    I'm stuck in bed mostly, work has been very good about it,  my  wife even more so - she's been amazing,  i want for nothing (except maybe a run in the sunshine).  I've been watching boxsets while on the initial painkillers,  not sure i remember what happened in a lot of them.  

    Keeping an eye on Strava on my phone - love seeing some of the runs and locations - it's keeping me positive and motivated!

    Anyway all,  just a quick update from me.   Thank you I was very grateful for the well wishes before my operation.  I had a moment to log in and managed to read them during a very nervy period waiting pre-op so it was the best timing. 

    i haven't seen the 2020 entry date come up anywhere - have i missed it?  Wonder if any changes are going to be thrown our way?
  • Becca7Becca7 ✭✭✭
    Thanks for the update jar, glad it went well and that you are being looked after.  I hope that the healing and rehab processes go well.

  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭

    Splendid news JAR :) have you done Breaking Bad yet? I just caught up with Mr Robot, great stuff.

    I haven't seen an entry date touted yet?

    I had my phys visit this morning, more good news, given a stack of exercises to do twice a day and told to get out and do my normal running training regime. Glad they didn't ask me to run 30 miles ending in the hospital so they could understand the symptoms first hand :D. Basically I am inflexible, coreless, and overly sedentary in my job, left side weaker than right causing an imbalance which is probably the underlying route of the stress that causes the symptoms... the exercises are step 1 in complexity, I go back in a month for the next level... some are weird, extremely slow leg movements whilst maintaining a mild stable core tension and pose... I am thinking of taking up ballet!

    Good luck this weekend Debra :)  

  • Terry48Terry48 ✭✭✭
    Jon, good news on your successful op.  It will seem a long slow rehab but well worth it in the end when you eventually get out on the road again.

    Lowrez, you ballet outfit might inspire your next marathon outfit. Should we expect a tutu?  🤣.
  • Jar - glad things have gone well for you and that you will be able to run again albeit not for a while

    Debra - good luck this weekend. It's going to be a warm one for you.

    Lowrez - good news on the physio front that it isn't anything more sinister. Now you just have to make sure you do those exercises :)
  • Debra BourneDebra Bourne ✭✭✭
    edited August 2019
    JAR: Thank you for the update. Really glad to know that the op went well and that the long-term prognosis is good.
    lowrez: that sounds positive. Good luck with the exercises.
    becca, Southern s=Snail: thanks. A little cooler would have been better, but after Lakeland 50 I am at least thankful there's unlikely to be rain.
  • Mc HillyMc Hilly ✭✭✭
    JAR good to hear op went well, I was about to wish you a speedy recovery, but follow the advice and go for slow and steady recovery! 
    Lowrez, I’ll be expecting to see you in a tutu in your next marathon and pausing to do ballet moves along the way
    Debra, have a great run this weekend. Is there any tracking options? 
  • Mc Hilly, thanks. Sorry, no tracking - I've not paid to have a tracker.
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    edited August 2019

    Nice to see organisers layering their costs like that Debra, but you owe a responsibility to your adoring public :D, we will be blind now, but even worse won't be able to track our bets live!

    Ha ha - so many tutu requests - over time I seem to have accumulated several! Looking realistically at how my fitness has dropped since Comrades (I have not run much since with a partial worry it was making things worse) I don't think I will be challenging the marathon distance again prior to Christmas. I ran a 5k race this Wednesday in 27:47 - not remarkable but considering I thought it might be closer to 35 I was dead pleased - but I felt like a carthorse all the way around. Gloucester looks like a good target, but it is a 5 lap thing and I am never keen on stuff like that. Split looks very nice, although it is 3 weeks prior to Barcelona, that kind of a gap has never put me off before though... hmm, decisions, decisions...

    SS - I need a coach to mither me into shape - despite the wonderful news I left it last night because I am still a bit achy from that 5k, and today I am helping my daughter move house, and its Sunday tomorrow, that's a day of rest isn't it, and then a bank holiday on Monday - I mean, holidays are for relaxing aren't they - and then Tuesday...

  • Hi lowrez: I think there was some sort of 'through checkpoint number X' - on at least my stepmother remembers checking that last year - but I didn't manage to find it.

    That was HOT. Definitely in the 30s. Totally draining, didn't cool down at all until about 8pm, and started heating up again from about 7am. My full report will be titled "Roasting on the Ridgeway 86". Drop-out rate was high - over 30%, I think even 40%. The fast guys came in about 2 hours slower than expected - c. 15 hours rather than 13, which makes me feel better about coming in more than an hour slower than last year, when I'd hoped to be an hour faster. But I improved my F50 placing for the UK Trail Running Association Championships (ultra distance) from 2nd last year to 1st this year (everyone else was slow as well, evidently).
  • Debra - congratulations. Amazing result in those conditions. Was definitely very hot. Looking forward to the report.
  • marty74marty74 ✭✭✭
    Amazing Debra. Well done on your 1st place. Now please rest :):):)
  • Terry48Terry48 ✭✭✭
    Well done Debra! What a great performance.
  • Becca7Becca7 ✭✭✭
    Well done on another brilliant performance Debra and that age group Championship placing. I imagine that the Ridgeway was a particularly tough place to be on a hot day. 
  • Congratulations Debra - you can only race what's in front of you so fantastic result and well done on rising to some challenging conditions!
  • Mac3Mac3 ✭✭✭
    congrats Debra, time not important when you get a first place!
    Great to hear the Op went well, hoping for a fast slow recovery!
    Lowrez - so some hardcore core strength for you.  Good to note it's not something more serious.
  • Mac3Mac3 ✭✭✭
    2nd comment was meant for JAR....
  • Mac3: you can edit up to one hour...
  • ONE HUNDRED THUMBS UP Debra!
    The OH did a 3-6am shift at  Sparsholt Firs but I had to drive Sunday morning so left him to it - he said there were 12 runners in the tent at one point! Presumably you were well through by then!
  • Best of luck with the rehab JAR.
  • Fido: according to the provisional results spreadsheet I reached checkpoint 7 at 02:52, so just before your OH's shift started. Please pass on my thanks to him and to all the other volunteers there - they were great.
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