This year Comrades was all about business. Get in, throw down, get out. I know it’s not taking advantage of the opportunities but sometimes that’s the reality of long travel and having a family waiting for you at home. I’d been training for Comrades on the roads for the last few months and I was so looking forward to enjoying backyard adventures with the family, the nice warm weather of Central Oregon, and getting back on trails. When it’s all business I tend to have more successful races anyway. Last year was for the experience, this year was to race well.

I came in to South Africa on Wednesday this year, not much time prior to race day to get over jet lag and a 30+hr travel experience. But it is what it is. I’ve done it before, I told myself.  I spent a few easy runs running to the beach, enjoying the warm weather of Durban and prepping for a race that was going to be very difficult.

Because there’s nothing to talk about around the race I’m just going to have to bore you with a real race report. Of course I was excited about racing this race again. The downhill year promised to play into my strengths as a runner more so than last year’s uphill version and I’d put much more solid training in than last year as well. I wanted to know what I could do. With the downhill year start being in Pietermariztburg we get a 2am wake up call and we’re on the bus by 3am for the 5am start. Ugh, that’s early…unless you haven’t been sleeping at 3am the past couple nights due to jeg lag anyway.

This was one of the most exciting starts I’ve ever had. I’ve run plenty of big races but in no other race do sooooo many people underestimate the distance they have to run more than Comrades. You’d think the field was running a 5k the way they bolt off the start line. I was in the second line (because I really didn’t need to get out that fast) and as the gun goes off the entire crowd around you heaves forward in one flowing motion, feet, arms, and bodies moving and bouncing like atoms in a hot gas, when, BAM, down goes the woman in front of me. She rolls, I jump, I clip her feet as they go up in the air and all of a sudden I’m down on the ground. “Holy crap, I’m going to get trampled and die!!” is the only thing I’m thinking. I really thought it was going to be falling off a cliff up on some remote mountain. I just got up as fast as I could like I was bolting out of sprinters blocks. “Whew! Distaster averted.” The two seconds I was down allowed about 500 people to get in front of me. How does that happen in a 56mi race? Literally, I was probably in 400-500^th place at one mile. Moved up to about 70^th by about 15km, and 50^th by 31km.

It was nice, running through the dark fields on the plateau above Durban. Mist rising from the valleys and lights in the distance. The sunrise as we ran along Cato Ridge was inspiring and I was glad I had the chance to enjoy it as I was running my own race at my own pace. The racing and the hurt would come later, for now I had to relax and not worry about where the leaders were. I was running a comfortable 6min mile pace along the rolling hills of the upper half of the Comrades course.

By 50km things were starting to get real. I’d moved myself up into 15^th place running a steady pace and not pushing. This is where Comrades takes a big dive down into Durban. The majority of the downhill starts here. Time to start rolling with an eye on top 10. Top guys were starting to spread out more and it was getting harder to pick guys off. I knew it was going to be close if I was going to make it up to the top 10. Just keep flowing downhill. Using my speed and training to be efficient.

By about 20km left my quads were really starting to speak to me. I was still passing guys all the way to the finish but it was getting harder and harder. The downhills that I was so looking forward to rolling down earlier in the race were now my nemesis. The flats felt the best and uphills were now out of the question.

As we charged down the wide freeways leading into the Durban city center I could see a guy up ahead and I was gaining. I ran the tangents and passed him inside on a wide sweeping corner. “Where’s the next one?” is all I was thinking. Up ahead, way up there. 5km left to go. I’m still gaining so I’m not worried about what’s going on behind me. Trying my best to hold it together through downtown Durban, slowly gaining on what was now 7^th place. Ugh, the last 3km felt like an eternity. I got to within about 20 sec of 7^th place before heading into the stadium. With the corners I was losing steam and knew I wouldn’t catch him.

8^th place. I’m really happy with that. From what I can tell, just to toot my horn a bit, that’s only the second Gold(top10) medal an American male has taken home. It doesn’t happen very often and it’s not an easy feat. To put it in perspective I ran the World 100k Championships at a 6:14 pace for 62 miles. I ran Comrades at 6:01 pace for 56 miles. Granted, different courses and conditions. You can’t directly compare them but I can tell you that the South Africans have a special ability to run a road ultra that is very difficult. The winning time of 5:18 is astounding, and to have the top 10 go under 5:40 is also just as unbelievable.

This is bad but even before the race I was looking forward to getting home, putting the road running aside and hitting the trails. I enjoy a good battle in a competitive race but, yeah, it’s hard, mentally and physically and I do enjoy cruising down a winding dirt singletrack. 

It’s back to work for now but it’s going to be on trail for the next couple months. Something I can wrap my mind around. Leadville is on the docket for August. It’s going to be hard too.

Thanks to those that helped me achieve a top 10 Comrades finish. My fam for letting me be gone so much. Salomon provided me with an amazing road shoe that tore it up and combined with Swiftwick socks, no foot issues at all.

GU kept my energy levels rock solid all day long. About 15 Blue Pom Roctanes, 20oz of Summit Tea Roctane, and 6 Roctane Electrolyte tabs.

Flora’s healthy oils have been prepping my body to burn some fat even at 6min pace so that I could withstand the distance and intensity of Comrades.

Thanks everybody.