Forty days until Comrades Marathon: Rory reflects on his decision
'I think it must have been sometime around October that I decided to run
the 90km from Pietermaritzburg to Durban,' says Rory Petzer.
When I decided to run the comrades, it was while running down a hill about 7km into an early morning, casual training run.
Things were going well. I had the wind at my back. The sun was rising. As I ran down that hill, in my mind, I had at least another 100km in me.
Read: Five things Rory Petzer learned while running his second ever marathon
“Comrades Marathon? Yes please!” I said to myself as my feet scampered uncontrollably ahead of each other. About 2km later, I hit an uphill. All of a sudden, things weren’t so fun. I did not have another 100km in me.
“Comrades Marathon? What were you thinking?” I asked myself as my feet pushed tirelessly against the tarmac, sweat trickling down my shirt.
But, the decision was made, and as soon as I arrived home, I opened the Comrades Marathon website. I set my alarm for 26 March 2018 when submissions were due to open as the race was already fully booked.
Now here I sit two 42km marathons later, with just 40 days to go until the big day.
Do I feel like I have 100km in me? I think so. I’ll report back in a few days’ time and let you know how I feel.
Are you doing Comrades Marathon 2018? If so, how is your training going, and how confident are you? Let me know in the comments below: