Martin Parnell

At 5:30 a.m. on May 29 the cockerel crowed and the 86th running of the Comrades Marathon began.

The day had started at 3 a.m. My running buddy Ken had flown over to Durban, South Africa, from India and that morning we met in the Polo Room of the Durban Hilton for a pre-race breakfast.

I have the same thing before any race: oatmeal, honey and a banana.

The plan was to leave the hotel at 4:45 a.m. and make our way over to the start two blocks away.

I had made up a recovery bag for after the race and Ken’s wife Dori said she’d meet us at the finish line.

We left the hotel and everyone was complaining about how cold it was.

The temperature was 15C, which to me is a summer day in Cochrane.

Runners crowd around for the 5:30 a.m. start of the Comrades race. Photo courtesy Martin Parnell

The race had 16,000 starters and the streets were packed with people trying to get to the start line. Ken and I were seeded in Section D and were jammed like sardines in our race corral.

At 5:15 a.m. the crowd started singing “Shosholoza,” a traditional Zulu mining song, then “Chariots of Fire” started to blare out of the loudspeakers. At 5:30 a.m. on the dot the cockerel crowed and the race began.

I had 12 hours to complete 86.5 kilometres from Durban to Pietermaritzburg in South Africa, and I felt good.

Ken and I started off together but I knew it wouldn’t be long before he would pull away.

I maintained a good pace and the kilometres clicked by. The weather forecast had predicted a clear and sunny day so I wore my “Sahara hat” with the neck flap, a very good move.

I was moving well and hit the half way mark at five hours, 20 minutes and 40 seconds. Each year they alternate the direction of the race. This year is an “up” year and next year is “down’.

The “up” is meant to be easier on the body.

Tell my body that.

In races in North America “pace bunnies” are used to help runners achieve a certain time.

In marathons, there will be four hour, four-and-a-half hour and five hour pace bunnies. If you can stick with the bunny you’ll make your time.

At the Comrades race, they have “buses.”

Participants work their way 'up' the Comrades course in Durban, South Africa. Photo courtesy Martin Parnell

There’s a 10-, 11- and 12-hour bus. I had been running with the 11-hour bus, on and off, for the first 50 kilometres so I knew if I could stick with him I’d be OK.

At the 55-kilometre mark the wheels fell off the bus. It was getting hotter and hotter and my legs started to feel weak.

The bus pulled away from me and I never saw it again.

For 10 kilometres I was in a dark place. I walked most of it and couldn’t get going. Time was slipping away and the possibility of missing the 12-hour cutoff to finish the race was looming.

At 65 kilometres, a voice behind me asked, what was the “Parnell 250” on the back of my shirt? I explained about the Marathon Quest 250 and he said I must be nuts. His name was Roy and he was from Johannesburg.

He had completed nine Comrades races and if he finished today’s he would get a special medal for his 10th.

Two other runners were with him, Tony and Terrence. Running with this “mini-bus” picked up my spirits and my pace improved. In the Comrades you finish at 12 hours and one second you get no placing, no medal and no t-shirt.

Martin Parnell finished the tough Comrades Marathon in South Africa with less than nine minutes to spare. Here he is at the 73-kilometre mark — in pain but smiling. Photo courtesy Martin Parnell

Now that is tough love.

It was going to be close for our little group. Roy was cramping up and his pace was down to a slow shuffle. We entered the Pietermaritzburg Cricket stadium at 11 hours and 49 minutes and staggered around the last 400 metres.

The crowd was yelling and screaming and our little band of comrades crossed the line at 11.51.23 — not a moment too soon.

© 2011 Martin Parnell

mjparnell@shaw.ca

www.marathonquest250.com

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