In the UK, a runner's right of passage is the London marathon at 26.2 miles, and you can feel pretty good about yourself for completing it. In South Africa however the marathon just isn't enough - Comrades is the run everyone aspires to and it clocks in at a whopping 56 miles...

I thought I would give you a report from my last minute attempt at running Comrades 2005. Prior to this year I had run 3 Comrades, but actually specifically trained for the big day. This year, after a very disappointing and painful London marathon, I decided to skip the Comrades and rather look at doing the London to Paris triathlon in August.

Anyway, I was out in SA for a week on unrelated business, and got caught up in all the Comrades hype. It is all anyone talks about from January till 16th June. After chatting to a few mates, who were all aiming for Silver (sub 7h30), they reckoned I should give it a go and try and finish. Once I have something planted in my brain, that is it.

As I had entered at end of 2004, I just needed to buy a championchip (as mine was in UK), and get some decent socks.

At 11am that day, I nervously walked into registration, knowing that the following day, would be the hardest day of my life.

As everything was last minute, I had to try and see whether I could get some friends/family out onto the course in case the dreaded meltdown and consequent "DNF" happened. Then of course there is the nutrition side of things. Those who have done Comrades before (Barry A. can vouch for this), know that the 3 days prior to this event, you eat, and eat and eat. I had 36 hours to try and get enough carbohydrate into my chassis to support me for +/- 12hrs. This is where Energade Megaload comes in handy,......2litres of this and some pasta was all I could manage. What does one do 24hrs before Comrades, when you know that you have not prepared mentally or physically for this?

3am, the alarm goes, and time for porridge, and last minute preparations. The "buzz" at the start of Comrades is like no other anywhere in the world, and that includes IM starts, and London marathon starts. 14'000 runner's all together in their batches, some nervous, some happy, but most just realising what is in store for the next 6-12hrs. You can hear all the guys talking about their accumulated mileage, intended splits through half-way etc. However, nothing, can prepare you totally for Comrades. You can log the miles, do the long 60km run, but it all depends on what happens on the day. With 15mins to go, they start playing "Chariots of Fire" which brings goose-bumps to everyone’s flesh, even those that have completed it 10 times, it signals that you are now about to embark on a unique adventure.

Then someone starts singing "Shosholoza", and before long, everyone has joined in. At 5:30am, the gun goes, still dark and very cold. It will be another 90mins before the sun comes up, so gloves and bin-bags are necessities.

For the first 6km, you climb out of Pietermarizburg (trust me, the "down" run, is just as much "up"). I didn't feel great, my stomach felt bloated, and my breathing was all over the place. I put it down to nerves. When they say that Comrades is 75% mental, they are not kidding. After what seems like ages, you then encounter the km markers. The difference in Comrades is that they are "km to go" !!! And when you are all beaten up and sore, and cannot stomach another energy gel, the last thing you want to see is a marker that says "48km to go".

At 8km, I stopped and physically threw up everything I had eaten or drank over the past 2 days. I then knew it was going to be a very long and painful day, one for which I had not prepared mentally. As I continued, nothing seemed to stay down, coke, energade, banana etc. I went into a complete "dwaal" and just kept going. At 22km I saw my brother, and told him that I was not sure that I would make it to halfway. After a brief walk, I started running again. The road from Cato Ridge to Inchanga is a very undulating stretch with no respite. I kept thinking how easy this part felt in 2003, and then reminded myself, that in 2003, I had done the mileage. All I wanted to do was get to halfway. That was my milestone, if I then bailed, I couldn't be bothered.

Along the route they have Imperial mini-buses, that pick up anyone who has bailed. For the first time in 4 runs, I even thought about getting in one. I got to Drummond (halfway) after running with intermittent walks in 4h11mins.

Right decision time. Bail or continue. At this stage, I had no energy, hadn't managed to keep anything down for 4hrs. How the hell was I going to get through another 45km (and the hardest 45km)? I calculated that I could walk the entire 2nd half and get in just under the 12hr cut-off. I decided to walk the 8km uphill to Kearsney College. In that 8km, I actually managed to keep some food down, which was good. In addition, ironically, I met a guy (Nick from Pretoria), with whom I ran the last 10km in 2003. He had fallen off a "silver" bus due to a chronic hamstring strain. So there we were, 2 years later, both physically stuffed, but still able to joke about it. So we walked and talked for the next 90mins. We spoke about Ironman Switzerland, his family, SA rugby, the recent Jacob Zuma debacle and before we knew it, the 8km had passed.

At Hillcrest, I said that I was going to try and run again, to which he replied, he would try and see how his hammie was. After 2km, I was throwing up again, and he was battling to even waddle. So we decided to walk. I realised that this Comrades would be a PW (personal worst) for me, and I swore I would never let myself under-estimate Comrades again. With 20km to go, Nick said that if we continued like we were, 10h45 was on the cards. But stated he may even bail, and said I should go on ahead. If I ran the last 20km, I could duck under 10hrs, not great, but hey, considering everything, I would be damn happy with that.

We exchanged "good lucks and see you at the end". I then started running, and didn't feel too bad. At the bottom of Cowies Hill, there were bodies strewn all over the physio stations. These were the guys who "pushed it" down Fields Hill and Cowies Hill....the quads were mash!

The next 2hrs were a blur, I ran as if my life depended on it. I hit the stadium and the final corner and looked at the clock, 9h45mins.

It was 90mins slower than 2003, yet felt like a PB to me.

Crossing the line, I was just so happy to finish. After the way I felt at 8km, I honestly never thought I would finish.

After refueling with some food and drink, I changed and went to the last corner to look for Nick. My heart went out to him when he came around the corner at 4:15pm (10hr45). He didn't bail, and yet this is a man who has done 5 silvers (sub-7h30), so is normally finished & showered by 1pm. A comrades medal is a comrades medal, no matter what colour!

I learnt some very harsh lessons though, and those mistakes will not be made again. Comrades will catch you out, if you are sick, injured or haven't done enough training.

I will be back in 2006, and this time I will be prepared mentally and physically for my silver attempt. Below is just a table showing the differences in mileage and races for each of the 4 runs.

Next stop: London to Paris triathlon