Post Comrades.


Can you remember the build up towards the last day of school? 12 years, (sometimes more) of angst exams, early mornings, and late nights? The day after the last day for many is something of an anti-climax, and like school, post Comrades means there are many gloomy soles trudging through the weeks that have past.

What to do on the weekends when you wake up and stare at the ceiling and realise that you don't have to force yourself to get up for a run. The washing machine is eerliy devoid of sweaty clothes and the jelly bean jar is empty. In a lonely corner my Comrades goodie bag sits and waits to be unpacked. I pretend it's not there, because if I look at it, it might become real. The feeling that it's all over- for this year. My dog somehow managed to unzip another running bag and helped me unpack by eating all the unused jelly beans and even the Super C's. I swear she looked a low shade of green when I realised what she had done. Even she 'bailed' to the couch!

The running shoes are calling me in the quiet of the night and I am dreaming again of running friends and races. I haven't looked at my races for the rest of the year ahead, in fact my calendar looks empty. I realised that I was suffering from a Comrades hangover, so I went searching for inspiration.

Firstly I watched a sped up version of the TV coverage, and tried to spot all our club members and people I know. That made me a bit excited, and I felt a gentle rush of Comrades feeling when I saw the smiles and flags and faces of the finishers. Then I looked at some random strangers photographs of the race on the website. The best thing to get over the running blues however, was finding the book 'Born to run' by Christpher Mcdougall. I had heard people rave about it, but I think the title put me off a little because I thought I certainly wasn't born to run.

It is about a long lost tribe in Mexico who run like the wind, but the author writes very well and it is so easy to read, so now I will have some Mexican tricks to get me through next year's race! It really has reminded me of how much fun it can be and how people run for very different reasons, so that is really helping.

Otherwise, it is good to see that Comrades organisers have decided to keep the date of the race in May, which suits us icy Highvelders just fine. Keeps us snug in our warm winter beds, and that is exactly where I am headed to right now, with my book of course!