2010 Comrades Marathon

It’s nearly 9 pm, and I am riveted to the computer. Halfway across the world, nearly 23,000 men and women are beginning their journey down the 55 miles that make up the Comrades marathon. It’s nearly 6:00 in the morning in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, where the ultramarathon begins. The winning male runner will take about 5 1/2 hours to cover the 55 mostly downhill miles (just under a 6:00 pace), while the winning female runner will take around 6 hours 15 minutes on average. Women have broken 6 hours only three times - including US ultrarunning phenom Ann Trason, who posted the 2nd fastest time for a woman ever.

I had heard of the Comrades marathon before, but I never realized the scope of this race. Imagine 23,000 runners all putting in over 50 miles for this race - a distance that most runners in the US don’t really consider running. And they have to do it in less than 12 hours - if they don’t make the finish by the cutoff, they don’t get to finish at all. It’s an international event; I’m listening to commentary in a variety of languages. It’s an amazing event that we hear little about here in the US.

American runner Josh Cox is running today, but so are folks who I’ve twittered with, like @runwicked. Ultrarunner Michael Wardian, female badasses Kami Semick (a fellow Oregonian) and Nikki Kimball, running legend Bart Yasso and former ABC Bachelor Andy Baldwin are there too. Like the Boston Marathon, this is one of those big running events that suck me in and hold me captive.

I don’t know that I would have realized that the Comrades Marathon was taking place this weekend if it weren’t for the Endurance Planet podcast I listed to the other day. It recalled the story of Doug Kurtis, a 2:13 marathoner who entered the 1997 Comrades Marathon with high hopes. It was a great listen, and I encourage you to check it out if you want to know more about this big race. It’s a great story of how even the most experienced runners can make the most basic of mistakes.

I’m loving the coverage. I’m not watching the elites battling it out at the front - no, I’m watching runners just like me chugging down the course, waving at the cameras, thumbs up with happy smiles on their faces. Their enthusiasm is infectious. It is a sea of people - as crowded as I’ve ever seen. Inspiring. Amazing.

It’s 9:45 pm now. The sun is up in South Africa, and waves of runners are chugging up a hill towards the camera. I can’t help but think about all of the great American ultrarunners - but very few take on this long road ultra. Running 50 miles on the road is much different than 50 miles on the trails. Alberto Salazar and Ann Trason are the only two Americans to have won this race.

On the line today is $31,000 for the male and female winners, with extra incentives for breaking records, coming in as the first South African and placing high while wearing certain shoes. But you have to know that the vast majority of the runners toeing the line in the race don’t have dreams of riches to be had - they are just pushing themselves to finish the world’s biggest ultramarathon. It is an amazing spectacle to witness.

The camera is focused now on the leader, who is 12 minutes ahead of the next runner. But the commentators are speculating that he will only run half of the race, that he is rabbiting for his teammates. I want to believe that he is running the race of his life - that he is pushing his own limits and not making an individual sport into a team sport. I prefer to believe that running races is only about seeing where our own limits lie - that we would not sacrifice what we could do on a race day for what our teammate might be able to pull off.

Kami Semick is in 5th place for the women. Nice! Twins Olesya and Elena Nurgalieva are leading the women; they are matched down to their sunglasses.

10:45 pm. Wellington Chidodo is still in the lead. None of the American men are in the top ten. The twins are holding on to their lead in the women’s race. Farther back, the mass of humanity continues - the pack has not broken up.

I want to know more about Chidodo. He is a novice Comrades runner, from Zimbabwe. He has placed well at marathons, but he has not won any of note. He is basically an unknown factor. Is this a team play, or will it be something else? But it is now 11 pm, and I am fading fast. As much as I would like to watch the entire race unfold, I will probably soon be asleep. Now I see that Kami Semick has moved to 4th. How can I go to sleep?

These are the moments that move me as a runner. They are the moments that drive me to push harder, dream bigger, move longer. These are the moments that show me just how much I love to run.

A new leader - Charles Tijane. Chidodo has been reduced to a walk, his moment in the spotlight over.

11:45. I am dozing off, and the race is really just beginning to start. Josh Cox? He’s nowhere near the leaders. Looks like he is in 61st; Wardian in 63rd. Kami Semick is back to 5th.

7:37. The runners have been at it for nearly 11 hours. The coverage is continuing, and runners of all shapes and sizes are running, walking and stumbling towards the finish. Stephen Muzingi, winnng the race for the second year in a row, finished hours ago in 5:29:01. Michael Wardian finished 26th, while Josh Cox came in 186th.

But it is this mass of humanity that I find so inspiring. A man is running in with a “We’ve Had Enough” sign held high above his head. The Twitter feed tells me that Neepa Sheth is the first Indian woman to attempt to run the race. There are 23,000 stories of courage, bravery and triumph unfolding out there right now. I love that the live coverage captures all of it. The real race is on now - the runners have just about an half an hour to finish. Those left on the course have already had to reach the halfway point in 6 hours, but now, if they do not make the gates, they will no have the chance to cross the finish line.

In the women’s race, the twins held on to the lead, Elena officially winning the race by 1 second in 6:13:04. (Her sister Olesya won it last year.) Oregonian Kami Semick came in 4th, about 20 minutes behind the leaders.

A person in a huge rhino suit is coming across the finish. It’s a huge mass of people, and runners who did not know each other at the start of the race are now crossing the finish, arms linked. “This is what the race is all about,” the commentator announces. Indeed.