Adios Sydney, Hello BrisVegas

A week ago I did my last run with my running friends along the beaches in Sydney in nice sunshine and sea breeze.
On Monday I started my new job in Brisbane and first thing in the morning is going for my first jog along the river. Apart from the humidity, I was surprised how hilly Brisbane is and those hills back to my hotel almost killed me at the end.
Did two more runs this week and look forward to one or two slow discovery jogs around the city during the weekend. This city seems to be very sporty and loves cycling and running for sure. Another big difference is that daylight starts at 4.30am! So by 5.30am I am up and running and still have time before going to work - love it.
Have to find some good tracks and find out about local races to get my fitness up again for next years season. Not sure if I can stick to the plan for 2011 but for sure will get in one or two bigger races in.
Happy feet
Markus

Last runs in Sydney

Italian red wine, French soft cheeses and German bread is probably not the best food for a runner but hey, it was great to enjoy some nice food for a while. After Ben and my 1/2 marathon last month I enjoyed a rest doing absolutely nothing for 3 weeks....nice!
Last Sunday, finally with some warm sunshine and blue sky, I went out for a 12km jog for 80 min and sure enough I could feel those cheeses and custard tarts from the last 3 weeks...it was pretty slow and heavy going.
Anyway, the big news is that in the next couple of weeks I will have to run for the last time my favorite runs here in Sydney, soon Uli and I will pack our bags and move North to sunny Queensland. Warm Brisbane is waiting and the city seems to have a great running culture which I certainly will join as soon as we have found a place to live. Looking forward to finding new routes and places to run and train as well as meeting new runners and hopefully new supporters for The Fred Hollows Foundation too.
Happy feet
Markus

Running free weekends

I forgot how good those running free weekends can be....Italian Wine, French Soft Cheeses, German Bread and Swiss Chocolate...hmmmmm, how good is that! I just have to make sure I am not putting too much weight on before I put those running shoes on again.

Talking about running shoes - just cleaned-up my garage and got rid of some old shoes --> don't simply put them in the rubbish but help someone who loves to run and has no shoes. I passed them on to Viv at Shoes for Planet Earth

I met Viv at a pre-Comrades meeting in Sydney. Viv and her husband started a great project. I used to give my old running shoes to my South Africa friends every time they come to visit Sydney and they took them home for the poor locals. On my last visit in May I met their gardener who was still wearing my Asics runners from 2006!

Now it has even become easier to make some feet happy!

I plan to enjoy my break now from training and relax a bit - I know that in a few weeks time my itchy feet will be aching for new shoes and a run - until than, Happy Feet and Save Running

Markus

Finishing the year in style

It was almost too early today at 4.45am and waiting for a taxi which never turn-up was not the ideal start for a race day. Luckily a friend borrowed me her car so I was able to drive into town to catch the train to the start in time.

Ben & Ellis were already waiting for me and we had 15 minutes to get ready...race number on front-check, name tag on back-check, blind runner tag on back-check, race chip on foot-check, so we were all good to go. Moving down the hill to the start block of our group we ran into Marathon Man and Susie - a few minutes to chat and before we knew the gun went off and....nothing happened.

It took us another 8 minutes to start moving and crossing the start line. The start is always challenging for Ben and me, as the crowed is still too packed together and everyone is too excited and rushing forward.

Thanks to the excellent help of Ellis, who moved the slower runners in front of us two out of our way, we had literally a free run all the way to the finish.

I decided to carry two water bottle with me during the race so we don't have to stop at the drink station for water and could run through - saved certainly a couple of minutes. The excellent weather conditions and the flatter course were no doubt reason too that Ben finished his 2nd marathon in a new personal best time of 2 hrs 08 min. Ben is already dreaming of the full marathon now....maybe next year?

Running over the bridge is always a great experience and having a helicopter hovering just above our heads add to all the excitement. We cleared the bridge rather quickly and moved on towards Darling Harbour but this course had many surprised in stall - quite a few sharp and unexpected 180 degress U-turns we had to maneuver - not easy when we had to look out for all those cat-eyes (ankle twisters), checking which way to go avoiding having faster runners trying to run between us. Needless to say we managed all those challenges in style and Ben kept up his great form and pace almost to the end - we both hated that last bit along the wharf on Hickson Road, and this time we had to do it out to Pyrmont and back to Opera House - 4 very long and booooring kilometers. Ellis and I kept encouraging Ben to find that extra strength and together with the help of cheering, clapping, drumming and music playing spectators he dug deep and found some extra power to spring onto the forecourt of the Opera House and finishing the race in just a bit over two hours! Well done, Ben - as always an inspiration to many out there today.

Ben and I would love to say thank you to all our supporter next Friday, 24th September when we have a drink and chat before watching Michael Douglas in 'Wall Street 2' at the Ritz Cinema in Randwick.

Please join us for a night out from 7.30pm and support two great charities - The Fred Hollows Foundation and The Achilles Running Club. Your $25 will get you a drink and movie ticket and will help needlessly blind people see again and support people with disabilities.

We hope to see as many as possible of you Friday night.

Thanks and happy feet
Markus

Never say never again...

170 km and 27hrs50min - Never again!

But the 'Never say never again', right - even so at the moment I don't even feel I could run to the bus stop after last weekend's 100 miles in the beautiful Glasshouse Mountains north of Brisbane. As always the organisation and volunteers at the checkpoints where brilliant and I consider this still one of best Ultra Event in Australia!

Flying up on Friday I arrived to a wet and overcast Brisbane. Luckily the rain stopped and by the time we all met for the race brief and compulsory medical check the forecast looked good for weekend. Over a pasta dinner I caught up with some fellow runners but soon it was off to bed and getting ready for an early start.

4am alarm went off and after a big breakfast it was off to a 5.30am start for what will be my longest race ever. Having been up in the Glasshouse Mountains in 2007 finishing the 100km race I knew what was ahead of me for the first part of the race. It was great to catch up with some old Marathon des Sables competitors from 2008 at the start. Pretty soon after the gun went off we all settled in to our own race speed. I had an initial plan of finishing the race in about 26 hours.

The first 10km where a warm-up round for all of us (all means the 100km and 100miles runners). We left the school of Beerburrum in a single line and headed around the Beerburrum Mountain anti clock-wise. Everyone was still in a buoyant mood and lots of chatting was to be heard along the route....chatting which soon stopped when we finished the round trip and ended up at the bottom of Beerburrum Mountain...what a climb! Only 300 odd meters high but man, was it steep. I made a point of walking up and down as I remembered from last time that if you run down here you going to pay a hefty price later on.

Soon we arrived at the first big Checkpoint No 4, where our first drop bag was available to re-stocking with Energy Gels and Food. I had been running for 3 hours covering 27 km and I felt great. 7.5 km later I arrived at CP 5, where I met Cliff (MdS 2008 runner), he did not look too happy and was sitting there waiting for another MdS runner. At this stage I did not know that this would be the end of Cliff's 100 mile run. Always heartbreaking when you see somebody pulling out knowing about all the hard time and sacrifice of training going into a race like this. The next 16 km where cruel along a set of powerlines, up and down and hot being in the open sun at midday.

I had my two bottle of energy drink full and enough food to cover the distance in relative comfort. Arriving at CP8 on track, I checked my weight loss (- 500g) and after a good food break, I headed off for the first of two loops. The first 10 km where quite hard, lot's of up and downs again and it seemed a never ending loop...it took me a long 2 hours to finish this part but the second loop of 10.5km went much better and I was back at CP8 in 1.22hrs - so after more than 10 hours of running it was time for lunch, a nice ham, tomato and avocado sandwich with some potatoes and salt. I was already tired of my energy bars and gels but needed some food on the run to keep me going.

Daylight was running out and I realised that it will be along run in the dark back to the start at Beerburrum, where some warmer clothes are waiting. Arriving at CP 7 I started another short 4 km loop just in nick of time before I had to turn on my head torch. At this stage I was 12 hours on my feet and the body slowly but surly started to get tired.

On my way back to CP 6 disaster struck, getting to the intersection where the powerlines started, the road suddenly was full of 4W drives getting ready for some fun in the night, I looked for the markings on the road and saw a faint arrow pointing….up ?!? along the main road, which did not make sense to me as the map told us to go back were came up in the morning. Tired as I was I first followed the arrow up the main road but after about 1 km I have not seen any course markers, so I return to back to the intersection and went down the way where we came from in the morning (as on the map indicated), however soon I found myself lost in the dark forest and even more unsure where to go then 30 minutes ago. Back up again to the 4W drives and by than I was feed-up and ready to go home, especially as my back-up torch broke down just to make it worse.

One of the 4W drivers eventually came to my rescue and told me that he has seen other runners going up the main road, so off I went and soon I caught up with some slower runners, runners who where over 45 min behind me at CP7....I lost at least a 3/4 of an hour and once I arrived at CP6 I was exhausted, frustrated and ready to stop there and than. My rescue was my running friend Keith, who happened to be there too and he encourage me to keep going. I was cold, shivering, tired without a good torch and without Keith encouragement and a spare t’shirt I would not have finished this race.

We decided to run together the reminding 30km through the night back to the base. The section between CP 6 and CP5 was rough and rouged but thanks to Keith brilliant head light it was easy to find our way around all the water pools and narrow passages. By the time we arrived back at the base it was midnight - 18 hours on the road, dead tired, brain empty, legs jelly and knees wobbly. I was ready to curl up in my car and wait out the sunrise. Keith was again pushing me on. His lovely wife Carol, who finished her first 100km race in 17 hours, handed me her powerful torch and after a cup of soup and a NoDoz I felt like new born and ready to go...NOT.

Off to new territory, never been running more than 100 km nor longer than 16 hours non-stop. With Carol’s great torch it was easy to keep running, Keith and I swapped the lead regularly making our way towards CP9 knowing that only a few slower runners are behind us. We reached the bottom of Wild Horse Mt. 2 hours later and made our way up the steep 400m hill and back. Just when we got too comfortable at that CP drinking our warm soup and enjoy all this lovely homemade food, a headlight slowly came out of the woods behind us - Bill, the last man standing in the competition...good old Bill power walked the whole way and caught us, that was bad news and enough for me to pop another NoDoz and head off fast big time....the saying goes that if Bill overtakes you, you won't make it too the finish....10 years in a row Bill finished the 100 miles with-in the cut-off time of 30 hours and it was no different this year. With Bill breathing down our neck Keith and I ‘sprinted’ towards CP10, where we arrived after 23 hours on the road.

By then we both struggled big time and there where times where I would find myself shuffling along the path falling asleep and finding myself a few seconds later just having covered 10-15m of track without remembering how.....interesting stuff, the body can cope with lots of strange things which I found out for sure that long night on the road.

From CP 10 we had to do 2 loops of 9 km each, before heading back to base. Both loops were fairly flat and easy to navigate and after I saw Bills headlight again in the distant behind us, I felt a second wind and started to speed up a bit, so sadly I had to leave Keith behind hoping that unlike last year, this time he can keep Bill off his back and finish the race. By the time I started the second loop, I was catching some other runners who slowed down and this made me feel even stronger, especially since the dark gave way to the morning sun again and with a new day starting I was happy to find myself back at CP 10 strong and feeling good, knowing now, that I will make it to the finish in time.

At this stage however, 24 hours into the run, I just wanted to have this done and over with and without much delay at CP 9, I attacked the last 10 km of the race....it proved to be a very long last 10 km and looking at my watch, I feared unless I pushed hard, I may not finish under 28 hours - my new goal made up along the way.

I could see the first houses of Beerburrum and with 10 minutes to spare I sprinted rounded the last corner back into the school yard crossing the finish line after a long 27hrs 50min! I never felt so tired and exhausted but at the same time satisfied that I all the hard work in training over the last 4 months have paid off and I have made it into that elite group of true ultra runners in Australia.

I did not have to wait long for Keith crossing the finish with more than an hour to spare. Bill Thompson made it walking in 29 1/2 hours! The first across the line, well, that was 10 hours earlier, but nobody really cares, as for us everyone who was standing on that starting line 30 hours ago is a winner.

I made it safely back to the Airport hotel for a shower and a little snooze – setting 3 alarm clocks so I would not miss my flight back to Sydney…..

I just had a week to recover – some long sleeps and lot’s of good food…..before tomorrow morning I will be guiding Ben on his second 1/2 marathon at the Sydney Running Festival.

I look forward to the finish as it will be the end of 2010 racing. A well deserved rest for the body and mind before we look at new adventures for next year.

900 km - enough for 100 miles?

Since I crossed the finish line with Francois in South Africa end of May and after my break in June I covered 900 km in training runs for the big one next weekend. I hope that it was enough to survived the 100 miles (165 km) of trail running in the Glasshouse Mountains north-west of Brisbane. I am looking forward to conquering this new distance and try to finish under 36 hours. Have prepared all me drop-bags and my race plan is done. In 2007, pre-paring for the Marathon des Sables, I have finished the 100 km a in 14 hours, so I am aware of the challenge ahead, well, at least for the first part. First 100 km start to the West from Beerburrum school on Saturday 5.30 am, I hope to be back there late evening and than it means to start all over again this time to the East for another 60 odd km in another loop returning to Beeruburrm school again. My goal is to get back to Beerburrum by Sunday morning for breakfast but than again one never knows what will happen out there and finishing is of course the main goal. There will be a few old comrades from the Sahara trip in 2008 at the start, will be good to have a little catch-up and chatting about the good old days....
So - a week of relaxing ahead, ice bath, massage and just little jogs and cycling the next few days and than Friday up to Brisbane. Come back for the full report next week.
Happy Feet

Greed is good....not

Remember Mr Gordon Gekko who once said that 'greed is good'?

Well your greed won't be good for our movie fundraiser night next month when Ben and I will be running our last race for this year, participating in the 1/2 marathon of the Sydney Running Festival.

To finish off our running season, we have organised another movie fundraiser event at the Ritz in Randwick on Friday, 24 September, staring at 7.30 pm. We would like to take that occasion and say thank you for all the support you gave us during the year. Please join us for a drink, find out how we training, and run together and watch a great movie.

Wall Street 2 - Money Never Sleeps. An Oliver Stone movie with Carey Mulligan, Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, Susan Sarandon and more. Join us at the Ritz Cinema Bar from 7.30 pm onwards for a chat and drinks. The movie starts at 9.15 pm. http://www.ritzcinema.com.au/

Please pre-purchase your tickets - the movie is going to be popular and seats may be limited for our night. Tickets are $30* per person and include entrance to the movie, a pre-movie drink at the Ritz Bar, and 5 raffle tickets.

Bank transfer:
HSBC, Australia / BSB: 342080 / Account: 126923412 / Name: Markus Schar / Ref: Run 4 Vision
Credit Card:
Follow direction on website for credit card payment on http://www.run4vision.com/support_fred.php

Ben and I hope to see as many of you and your friends on the night.

Remember, 'greed may be good' for Mr Gekko, but certainly not for our movie night next month. Your money will never sleep in the hands of two great charities (The Fred Hollows Foundation http://www.hollows.org.au/ and The Achilles Running Club http://www.achilles-sydney.org.au/). It will be put to good use, helping needlessly blind people and assisting those in need.

Thanks for your support!

Ben and Markus

New Challenge - New Frontier

Well, it has been a while but believe me, I have not been resting but clocking up km after km to get ready for my next challenge - a race where I will reach new frontiers. The Glasshouse Mountains north-west of Brisbane are a beautiful recreational area for hiking and my next race will take me around, up and down those hills covering 100 miles (165 km) !
Check it out - have a look at the description and course maps. I had the 'pleasure' to run the 100 km race in preparation for Marathon des Sables in 2008. A run which I finished in 14 hours. So in 4 weeks and if all goes according plan and preparation I am hoping to a) finish the run and b) do it in 25 hours. It will be a long day and night and this run will push me to the limit of endurance and perseverance, but knowing that me covering that staggering distance non-stop will help needlessly blind people see again makes it all worthwhile - so please do not forget The Fred Hollows Foundation. Support their projects and keep Fred Hollows Vision alive. 10 more years to eliminate unnecessary blindness.

Photo Story - Comrades 2010

A few photos from our journey together


Signing in at Expo / The great FHFSA team

Radio South Africa Interview / Tasting some local wine

Freezing at start / Meeting up with our supporter

Mary with us runners / Great support along the route

On the road to Durban

On the Freeway near Durban / In the stadium - 50 m to go!

Crossing in 11 hrs 46 min and 32 sec

Cheers! Well done and we will be back - because we can!

Run for Eyes – The Comrades 2010

I have been asked why I would travel all the way around the globe to run for almost 90 km. With this report I try to explain why, it is a bit long, so you may want to get a cup of café or a glass of wine before you start reading

The Comrades Marathon 1921 - 2010

Little could dreamer Vic Chapman have visualized, when he founded the Comrades Marathon in1921 with 34 runners at the start, that 85 years later over 23’000 aspiring athletes would sign up for what is arguable the ultimate human race on this planet.

This ultra marathon was instituted by the comrades of World War I. Vic Chapman felt that if infantrymen could get used to forced marches over big distances trained athletes would have little difficulty in running the 89 km from Pietermaritzburg to Durban.

In the early days the average number of entries would be 45 runners and this number only slowly increased to a couple of hundred athletes in the 60’s and 70’s. Thanks to cheaper airfares in the last 20 years did the race become the international event it is today.

About 350 000 athletes have successfully run Comrades over the years, of these less than 100 have won and less than 1000 have achieved Gold (top 10) and about 8% of the field achieve silver (sub 7:30). At the same time, in the 2009 down run, about 20% of the starters did not make the 12 hour cut-off.

So, for most of us, Comrades is not a race, it is an adventure of the mind, body and spirit. It is about the smells, sights, sounds, thoughts, finding yourself, cursing yourself and above all enduring memories.

Daily long haul jets leave from all over the world for non-stop flights to South Africa and for 51 weeks a year the demographic of the passengers is similar; a mix of business travellers, tourist and ex-pats returning home. But for one week a year, another group appear within the passenger lists and their numbers peak by Wednesday and Thursday of that week but by Saturday they all but gone.

These new people wear sometimes facemasks, even so they are not sick, those people get out of their seats more often and walk up and down the aisles of the plane. Hesitating here and there at the exit doors peering out the window, even so there is nothing to see at 10’000 m over the Ocean. When you look closely you can see that they applying pressure to the door and their legs are braced against the floor – they are stretching. Most of them wear near new and expensive running shoes, carry a bottle of sports drink and wear shirts proclaiming ‘I ran the Melbourne Marathon’ or similar marathon races from around the world.

This is the week before The Comrades Marathon in South Africa. These are the international Comrades runners and some of them actually are sick – they have ‘Comrades Fever”. Just as the Jewish are drawn by the Wailing Wall, the Catholics to Rome and the followers of Islam to Mecca; runners are drawn to KwaZulu-Natal for The Comrades!

This year I was one of them, for the second time in my life.

This year coincides with the 85^th anniversary of the race and together with the FIFA World Cup in South Africa a record number of athletes travelled to Pietermaritzburg. With the exception of a few who vie for an outright win, over 99% of the runners are just ordinary people trying to do something extraordinary!

This is not the longest, nor the toughest, but it is certainly the cruellest race in the world – Comrades takes no prisoners.

This year’s ‘down’ course (from Pietermaritzburg to Durban) is divided into 40% up and 60% down with a total climb of 1400m and fall of 2000m. This degree of difficulty is further increased by enforced cut-offs. If you don’t reach those predetermined locations in time you are not allowed to continue. To make sure you don’t continue, the road is blocked by a human barricade with men who would not look out of place in a Wallaby scrum. They then remove your race number so you cannot proceed.

At the finish – in the Cricket Stadium of Durban at around 5.15pm over 30’000 spectators, families, friends and finishers are wondering where missing friends are, if they are still out on the course. The clock is ticking relentlessly towards 12 hours and the tension builds. In the last hour of the race over 10’000 runners will cross the finish line, some will run, some will walk and some will crawl but many won’t beat the clock. At 11 hours 58 minutes into the race all eyes in the stadium are focused on the finish line because it takes the tail enders about 2 minutes to run from the entrance to the stadium to the finish line and now, those out on the streets in Durban won’t make the final countdown.

At 11.59.45 the Chairman of the Comrades Association takes up his position with his back to the finishing runners, gun in hand. At precisely 12 hours after the cock crowed that morning in Pietermaritzburg he fires a solitary shot into the air and instantly the ‘front row of the Springbok Rugby team’ blocks the finish line. It is over, no more medals, no more finishers this year. This single shot not only echoes around the stadium and down the streets of Durban but via television across South Africa and via internet around the world.

Runners trapped on the wrong side of the finish line are devastated. They sit down and ponder their situation, some cry. For all of them it is at least 6 months of hard training and long miles for no Comrades medal. To some it is a lifetime dream of finishing the race shattered. It will take weeks, months or years for some to cope and to virtually all, the only way to truly erase this disappointment, is to return in the future and beat that gun.

Pre-Race

In 2003 I travelled the first time to South Africa to participate in, what I thought was the ultimate race I will ever run in. As we all know by now I found bigger and crazier events out there for me to enjoy. However the Comrades always stayed as my favourite and best running event ever. And I was looking forward to return one day.

The atmosphere, the 1’000s of spectators along the 90 km and the fact that the whole of South Africa is watching this race live on TV make this a unique event for any runner and I believe that every fit and keen South African runner will try to qualify and finish one Comrades in his/her life time, if they get a chance.

Uli and I decided a couple of years ago that we would go to the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa and as the Comrades Marathon was held only 2 weeks prior the World Cup I saw this as a unique opportunity to help The Fred Hollows Foundation (FHF) in a more direct way.

It is estimated that of the 225,000 blind people in South Africa, 66 percent - or 160,000 are needlessly blind with cataract. The Eastern Cape Province, where FHF South Africa work is concentrated, is the poorest province in the country. In 2008 the results of a survey estimated that over 38,000 people in the Province were blind. Of these, over 30,000 had an avoidable form of blindness, mainly caused by cataract. The majority of these people have very limited or no access to eye care services. One of the greatest challenges FHFSA faces in the Eastern Cape Province is the tremendous shortage of trained eye care professionals at all levels of the health care system. Working with the Eastern Cape Ministry of Health and other partner organizations, FHFSA aim is to turn this situation around and restore sight to the tens of thousands of South Africans who remain distant and isolated due to blindness.

I contacted the FHF office in Sydney and asked if they know of a visually impaired athlete who would like to finish the Comrades in 2010 and through their South African office I got in contact with Francois Jacobs. Francois was the first blind Ironman in South Africa, finishing the race in 2008. He repeated this task last year and he was looking for a guide to help him fulfilling a life long dream of running the Comrades. Like for everyone, training for such an event is time consuming and in addition Francois challenge was also to find regular running partners/guides who were able to do long hours of running with him.

A nail biting finish at the 50km Loskop Ultra Marathon in April, where Francois finish 8 sec under the 6 hours cut-off time, meant that he is now officially qualified for the Comrades. That hard run made Francois realise that maybe he just has bitten off a piece too big to chew, when he signing up for Comrades. 89km is a long, very long run to finish under 12 hours. In the last few weeks prior the race, he made sure to cover many more km to get as ready as possible.

Myself in the meantime was lucky and honoured to be able to train here in Sydney with visually impaired runner and Australian Cricket player Ben Philips. Starting in February we trained 3 times a week and beginning of May, we I finished Ben’s challenge with bravura by conquering his first Sydney Half Marathon in just over 2 hours.

24 hours after leaving Sydney, Uli and I arrived exhausted in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. We stayed in a beautiful lodge just outside of town a few minutes from the start line of the Comrades. After a day of relaxing, we had to drive back to Durban Airport to pick-up and meet Francois for the first time. I was exited to finally meet my running buddy but also a bit nervous wondering if I am really ready to do this and take on the responsibility to lead Francois to the finish line in Durban. We got on right away and started swapping running stories in the car whiles Uli was driving us to the Durban Race Expo, where we are to meet up with the Fred Hollows people and register for the race.

Little did we know that the FHFSA prepared our arrival and did a great job of advertising our upcoming race together by printing posters, t-shirts and flyers with Francois and my photo on it, but also invited media to their booth to interview us.

After giving radio interviews and posing for photos we both were a overwhelmed by it all and ready to go ‘home’ to our hotel only to be told that Francois was one of the 5 candidates of this years ‘Hero of Runner’ award by the South African Runners World magazine

So ‘poor’ Francois had to head off to the awards dinner and party instead of joining us for a relaxing evening at the lodge. Mary from the Fred Hollows Foundation volunteered to accompany Francois to the dinner, where they rubbed shoulders with running celebrities such as Bruce Fordyce and other Comrades legends.

We caught up again the next morning (the day before the race) for a big carbo loading lunch and took that afternoon to discuss our strategy for the race. Doug, from Achilles Club Sydney joined us to spend the night at our lodge to avoid getting up at 2 pm tomorrow and drive from Durban to the start.

Media Links:

http://www.vision2020.org/main.cfm?Type=NI&objectid=3924

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=110003

The Plan:

Rule 1 - any race of this magnitude needs a race plan and discipline to follow it, if one wants to be successful in finishing the challenge. Our plan was to finish within the 12 hours cut-off time. For a while Francois was playing with the thought of getting a Bronze medal (sub 11 hrs) however realised that finishing is the main task. The plan was to walk the uphills and steep down hills and run the rest. I was carrying a drink belt with two 600ml bottles and energy gels for the whole race, this approach allowed us to give most drink stations a miss and save us heaps of time. The over 40 drinks stations along the road caused congestions on a regular basis and a stop at every station could quickly result in a time ‘loss’ of 40 minutes or more, time we certainly did not have.

The Race

After a hot shower I got dressed and had my last carbo breakfast in the room. Doug and Francois went for breakfast but I need my own food prior a race. That’s rule 2 - never change what worked in the past prior (and during) a big race. Always eat what you used to, always run in well worn gear and never try new thing out during a race – it won’t work and it will cost you.

Uli was kind enough to drive us down to the start – 0500 am and 5 degrees! Brrrrrr…..

Around 18,000 people were all crammed into the start area trying to stay warm and keep the nerves in check. Uli had to stay outside and we said farewell and see you at the finish.

By 0520, we got ready for the crowd to sing the in-official South African sporting anthem, Shosholoza. An old miners song that is inspiring, emotional and heartfelt. Its lyrics are quite simple and loosely translate to; the train is gathering speed and steaming towards South Africa. And when 18,000 Africans sing it together it is like a church choir and the emotions really start to churn. As we all sang along, the tears welled in our eyes and the lump developed in our throat – this was it.

I stared at the clock on the side of the Pietermaritzburg town hall. This was the moment to reflect on everything all of us standing here have done leading up to the race. All the sacrifice, months of blood, sweat and tears, hundreds of kilometres running since January, months of commitment - early mornings, late nights and family inconvenience. Months of running shoes, washing smelly training gear (thank you Uli, I love you), countless energy gels and bottles of power drinks. Months of thinking about this very moment, every single day.

After singing of the South African anthem the countdown started and then there it was, the famous cry of the cock and the gun went off. The longest 12 hours if running started, from now on the only thing that matters was to reach Durban before 17.30!

We could see the start line from where we were, we could see the masses ahead of us moving but it still took us 10 minutes of shuffle to get to the actual start and timing mats. Another 10 minutes we did not really have to spare, were already lost – so 11 hours 50 min to finish.

Another unique part of the Comrades is the fact that runners are getting advised of how many km to go to Durban along the route and not as usual of how many km one has done.

So there it was – the sign ‘89km to go’, it was hardly visible in the dark and through the many runners crowding the street and the spectators along the side of the road. But we did not need to see it - we knew, we feared and we looked forward to the other 88 km coming up.

The first few km we used to get comfortable with each others, getting into a running rhythm and for Francois to probably get used to my SwissEnglish commands. For me new was to run with a short rope between us. With Ben in Sydney I was lucky that Ben could relay on my vocal commands and we both could run freely. Francois was not used to that and preferred the tether. This made it of course a bit harder when we wanted to overtake slower runners or had to stop for drinks, on the other hand it gave me the chance to sometimes put some pressure on Francois and pull him a bit harder to make up for lost time when necessary.

It took about 10 km before the masses started to stretch out a bit and we had some space around us to run. Normally in a race like this I would fail to notice anything but the 10 metre stretch of bitumen in front of me, this time apart of focusing on Francois, I had time to enjoyed the scenery, supporters and fellow runners for most of the race as the speed was almost 1 1/2 min per km slower than my usual race speed.

As we started at the very end of the roughly 18’000 runners, I wanted to make sure that we made up the lost 10 min from the start and get somehow into line with my race plan, We had to work hard the first few hours to overtake 100’s of other runners. Not an easy task for a single runner and a nightmare for us two as the road got narrower once outside of Pietermaritzburg and the masses around us never loosed up wide enough to have more than 3 – 5 meters of free space ahead of us.

It took me a while to realise that weaving left and right all the time to overtake people was not a nice feeling for Francois and I decided to settle down to a slower pace as soon as I was sure that we are on track with our time. After about 2 hours of running the sun finally made her appearance on the horizon and we started taking off all the extra t-shirts and plastic bags we had on us to cover against the freezing cold. These extra clothing were quickly taken by waiting children along the road. With the sun out we suddenly could see more of the country side and the view over the valley and ahead of us was incredible – rolling hills after hills on both sides and a mass of people, looking more like a monstrous snake, moving slowly forward towards the Ocean and Durban.

I gave Uli a map of our race route which showed a few points where spectators, driving along the highway to Durban, could stop and meet up with the marathon. It was more for her to see the race and get a feel of it, than actually meet up with us. However lucky for all of us and thanks to the time I had to look around, I picked her and two Fred Hollows staff out of the 1’000s of spectators along the road and we stopped for a short chat and a few photos.

It was a great feeling to meet them on the road and it gave both of us a real boost. I remembered the route well from 2003 and knew that soon we would reach the highest point of the race and than it was supposed to be all downhill to Durban…not!

This race is known for its 5 major hills and each of them is a ‘killer’ – each of these up-hills slowed us down to walking speed and we had to make sure we picked up enough speed on the other side to make up for any lost time.

Since it is true that this race does not really start until around 60 km, we had to make sure we did not overdue it in the early stage and so use the first 30 – 40km to ‘pass the time’. I made sure that Francois started early with taking the energy gels and salt tablets and we kept up a good rhythm and stopped only at every 5^th or 6^th drinking station to fill up my two bottles.

Soon enough the first bad patch in the race will come for Francois, since he got closer with every step to new territory, having never ran more than 50 km in his life.

The saying goes that the first 50 km of the race is ran with your feet, the next 20 km with your head and the last 20 km with your heart.

We were lucky enough to see once more Uli along the road but after that I knew we were on our own now till Durban, as the road was wearing off away from the highway into those hills we all treaded so much. The route started making its way through the Valley of a 1000 Hills. I wanted to get us as soon as possible ‘into the second half’ of the race – being on the way home. However it took forever to ‘crawl’ up those steep hills of Inchanga and down the other sides before finally we could first hear and than I could see the half way mark down in the valley passing Drummond. We passed the ‘half way’ sign with about 20 minutes to spare and I have to admit I got a bit worried, as I knew the worst part of this race is still ahead of us.

Francois started feeling the distance and the pain started to slow him down almost to the point where we had to walk even the flat pits of the race. Being blind he was of course unable to see that there were many runners much worse off than him – people suffering cramps, sitting beside the road vomiting, walking stiffly beside us, limping up those hills It was hard to describe this to him to make him feel better and it was time to get some help from ‘Doctor Markus’. I carried not only the necessary salt and hydration tablets with me, but some proven ‘happy’ pills from my run through the desert of Morocco, they can make the pain disappear (for a while at least) and keep you going when it gets tough! The plan was working and when we reached km 59 and Winston Park cut-off, we had made up great time and were back on track and within our plan.

Everyone who had done the ‘down run’ knows that with 25 km to go the way you handle Field’s Hill will define your race. Everyone says that running down a hill of such length (about 3 km) and of such a gradient (it’s straight down), will tear apart an already weary and battered body. It does exactly that. 7 years ago this was the point where I was in tears and wanted to stop and go home, your legs start to tighten up and the feet reeling in pain with every step. Runners line the side of the road sitting on the pathways holding their heads and wondering why they can not get up again, for many this hill will be the end of their Comrades dreams.

Lot’s of people walk the length of the hill; some walk down backwards to ease the pain.

it seems wise to shorten the stride and shuffle down, putting as little stress on the body as possible. Here was the time for us to put those leg muscle of an Ironman like Francois to good use and we started to stride out down the hill and try and pick up time. The road was wider here and we started to overtake many runners we last saw 40 km ago when they over took us. It was tough on Francois and even I felt my knees and legs the first time, but luckily I still had some of those pills.

We both were glad to reach the bottom of the hill and I started looking for that ‘20 km to go’ sign, a sign which had become a significant mental milestone for both of us.

The flat road through Pinetown after Field’s Hill is welcoming for a while and gives the legs a little respite. We passed through that ’20 km to go’ sign and this lifted everyone’s spirits – less than a 1/2 marathon to go and with more than 30 min in the bank (ahead of cut-off) Durban and the finish line looked for the first time a real possibility.

Remember the saying – the last 20 km became now a battle with the mind. Our bodies had long given up but our mind was pushing us beyond our previous limits. Now was the time to think about all those hard training days, to think about all the sacrifice in the last 6 months and to think about all our supporters, who are ‘watching’ us on-line and waiting in Durban for us. It was the time to remember why we are out here doing this.

We were running for eyes! Running to help people who are needlessly blind and are waiting for help to see again. Running for Fred.

No sooner our legs found some rhythm again along the flats we were confronted with another famous heartbreaker - Cowies Hill.

Cowies Hill not only was normally the decider for the guys running for the win, but it became the mountain of truth for all of us amateurs. At the bottom of the hill we passed over another timing mat. We knew that each time we passed over one of these mats a SMS would be sent to Uli in Durban, plus a signal would appear on the computers of all of those following us on-line around the globe. Knowing that so many people were watching our progress in real time on the other side of the world was a strong incentive to keep going and I pushed Francois to find extra energy to conquer that last big hill.

Nobody around us is running any longer – everyone just walks and shuffles up Cowies. Everyone is within his or her own thoughts and fights off all kind of demons who want us to stop and sit down. We needed to keep going, there are people waiting for us in Durban!

From now onwards into Durban the race kind of jumps on and off the freeways into Durban and the crowds get thicker. There is nothing like the crowd support bringing you ‘home’.

People traditionally line the roads and have barbecues (or Braai’s, as they are known in South Africa). They have set up their tents, lounge suites or chairs on the side of the road and support the runners from early morning till the last runners passed them. At some points of the race the crowds converged along the road (like you see in the Tour De France) leaving us runners only a narrow gap to get through – unbelievable.

The last 10 km are excruciating; it truly is. The kilometre marks just seemed to take forever but psychologically I was trilled to tell Francois that we are now down to single figures (less than 10 km to go). With 7 km to go we passed the last cut-off point 27 min ahead of time, so we had just over an hour to finish, still a big task since our average speed was now over 7min/km. It can take some people over an hour and a half to travel this last section of the course, it is not over till the fat lady sings.

By now a small rise of the road felt like a mountain for Francois, a short down hills become an agonizing descent. I was very conscious of our increasingly tight legs and the potential for cramp, so more salt tablets and fluid to minimize the risk.

We were now on the fringe of the city and running down the freeway into Durban. As we came over the last bridge down into the poorer part of town, I saw through the city’s buildings the tall light masts of the Kingsmead stadium – we made it!

I knew that we will finish now in time and decided to walk the last two kilometre, to take in the atmosphere and enjoy the screaming crowds along the street, many blowing their Vuvuzelas and ‘bringing us home’.

500 metres to go, around the corner and here was the stadium. Turning into the stadium the noise, the colour, the music, and the emotion - this was the time to reflect and come to terms with what we both just have accomplished.

I saw Uli, the Fred Hollows staff and many of my Australian fellow runners along the side of the finish line. We stopped for a few photos and than I let go of the tether and let Francois crossing the finish line on his own - 11 hours 46 minutes and 32 seconds after we left Pietermaritzburg that same morning. I think he has not realize yet that he just finished the greatest ultra marathon in the world on his own.

Interestingly our finish time was exactly to the seconds 2 hours slower than my time in 2003 when I finished the race on my own.

The stadium looked like a war zone, people everywhere lying around, stretching their sore legs, laughing, crying, and proudly showing off their medals. We made our way through this mayhem and join the other Aussies in the International area. Exhausted as we were we did not take advantage of the food they served us there but the cold beer went down a treat!

13 minutes after we crossed the line that cruel moment of truth came, when the chairman of the race counted down the seconds and on the dot at 17.30 the gun went off and the finish line got closed off.

Of the 16’301 who started in Pietermaritzburg, 14’596 made it in time but sadly for many still running into the stadium it was too late, but we all know they will be back to beat that gun next year.

The emotion, the more than 12 hours on our feet, the pain killers mixed with the beer finally got to Francois and we had to make our way to the hotel for a well deserved hot shower and ice bath.

I asked the concierge to organise 6 bags of ice for us and true to his word within 10 min we received a huge rubbish bag full of ice (from the hotel bar downstairs) to relax our sore legs in. Francois was out cold within minutes and was unable to join us for dinner and celebration but I am sure he was celebrating his huge achievement in his dream while Uli and I enjoyed a famous South African steak with mash and a good bottle of wine with our Fred Hollows friends.

Next morning I went for a short jog along the beach to loosen up my tight legs a bit. Francois joined us for breakfast and even so we both had some difficulty going up and down steps, we both looked far better than many fellow runners we saw today.

I am happy to learn that Francois is already thinking about next year’s up run from Durban to Pietermaritzburg – I know he will be back with vengeance and finish next years run in a much better time than yesterday. Many fellow runners from his running club are aware of Francois goals now and he should have no problem to find a fit and willing guide to conquer the Comrades and that final gun without problem.

I hope that our effort has helped the Fred Hollows Foundation in South Africa to increase awareness of their big task at hand and that their great job at the runner expo the last couple of days has brought in some much needed donations to help the many needlessly blind South African. Sadly Uli and I did not have time to take the Foundation up on their invitation to visit their offices and the Sabona Eye Centre this time but I look forward to come back on day and attempt the apparently easier up run from Durban back to Pietermaritzburg and visit East London.

I would like to thank Francois for his trust to let him guide on this race, thanks also to the staff of The Fred Hollows Foundation South Africa – Mary, Belinda, Zanele, Tembakazi and Peter, who did a great job advertising our venture at the Expo in Durban. Thanks to Uli, without her I would not be able to do all this and of course a big thank you to all the generous supporters, whose donation for Fred Hollows are the reason that keeps me going.

Thank you

Markus

Africa here we come (again)

In less than a week and after 1'300 km of training, Uli and I are off to South Africa to run the best Ultra Marathon on the planet with my blind running partner Francois Jacobs from Centurion, South Africa.

First of all I like to thank to all of you who generously supported our efforts by donation to The Fred Hollows Foundation. I transfered over $5'000 to the Foundation, over 200 people will be able to see again, thank you!

The Comrades Marathon is the World’s oldest and largest Ultra marathon, run over a distance of 89 km (56 miles) between Pietermaritzburg (capital of Kwazulu – Natal Provence) and the coastal city of Durban, South Africa (www.comrades.com). The direction of the race alternates each year between the “up run” starting from Durban and the “down run” starting from Pietermaritzburg.

This year 2010 is a “down run”. 24’000 runners will make their way over a strenuous course which encapsulates the “Big Five”, the five hills to be traversed on the run. There is a 12 hour time limit to cover the 89 km’s. The “down run” is (sadly) known to be the tougher of the two direction due to the damage done to toes, feet, quads and knees as a result of the unavoidable action of having to running down hill for extended periods of time www.comrades.com/images/routeprofilemap.jpg

This will be the first time Francois ever ran more than 50 km or me guiding a blind runner over such a distance, together it will be quite a challenge to finish this race in time. As you know we dedicate our running to the Fred Hollows Foundation, which helps needlessly blind people to see again.

You can be part of our race by following the live link on the Comrades website which should show you our progress. My race number is 42197 and Francois is 58567. The start of the race is Sunday, 30 May at 1.30pm AEST and it will last a good 11 to 12 hours for the two of us.

Don’t forget to come back and check my blog - I am sure I will have time to update these pages while sipping a cocktail during my cruise along the Zambezi River after the race

Happy feet

Markus

Ben

Finally, after 8 weeks of hard training, last Sunday was the big day for Ben Philips. When I started running with Ben, he was able to run one slow round in Centennial Park before being out of breath. Yesterday he finished his first 1/2 marathon in a stellar 131 min - prove again that hard work and determination pays off. Well done Ben!

It was a fresh but beautiful morning when we both lined up at the start next to St. Mary's Cathedral. Ben was understandably nervous, not sure if he is up to the distance and wondering if all the training was enough.
We waited a few minutes after the gun when off, to get a few of the 10'000 runners out of our way. Once we started running we soon found our pace and thanks to the help of Doug and Ellis, who helped us clearing the way in front of us, we started overtaking slower runners.
Ben started to enjoy the run and got more and more confident to a point were I had to slow him down a bit, knowing that the hard part is yet to come.

We finished the first of two rounds in 66 min, well under the 75 min cut-off time, a time which was a daunting task to run a few weeks ago.

During the last half of the second round, especially going up Hunter Street a second time, the hard going got tougher and it was the first time Ben had to walk a few meters - getting his breath back. But true to the saying, when it gets hard the tough get going, Ben headed into the last few km with his head down, struggling around Maquarie's chair, fighting hard to keep on his legs with every step, but never giving up.

The last 1000 meters were helped by the great support of all the spectators and in a final sprint we crossed that finish, exhilarated and happy.

I am very privileged to have been able to share this journey with Ben, it not only helped preparing me for the big race in 2 weeks time when I will be running 89 km with blind Francois but more importantly it started a friend ship which I hope will bring us many more days of fun and races to run.

Congratulations Ben to a job well done!

Happy feet and see you soon in South Africa
Markus

Good weekend for running

Not only myself in Canberra enjoyed a perfect race day resulting in a new PB but also my friend Francois in South Africa had a great race thanks to his guide Co van den Raad from the Irene Club running the Wally Hayward Marathon in a new PB, beating his old time by 11 minutes!
Well done, guys and thank Co for your help guiding Francois. The Wally Hayward Marathon is one of the bigger races in South Africa and well positioned for that last test race before the Comrades end of the month

Myself, Trent (Marathon Man) and Doug went down to Canberra to have our last big race test before heading to South Africa. The 50 km Ultra is an ideal race with great support and crew along the way. A cold, 3 degrees
awaited us at the start and light fog hovered over the lake when we started at 7am. Doug and I started at the end of the field and within 3 km I found my race rhythm and started heading off - a slow 57min for the first 10km around all the public buildings and capital hill before we head off over the bridge to the city. Slowly my fingers warmed up and I started to feel more comfortable. I ran with a new bum bag / bottle holder to test as I feel I need to have some back up for The Comrades, as those races notoriously run out of drinks before the last, slower runners pass through. As the course is an out and back course and 2 loops one always gets a good idea where one is in the race and I could see Marathon Man, who races of like stung by a bee, slowing down. I figured I will get him on the 2nd loop and sure enough at km 25 I overtook him. I felt good all the way to km 40 when the first time I started struggling a bit and I was glad the route came back into the leave area with big trees give much needed shade as the sun now became hot.

Running the first time into the Manuka Oval finishing the Marathon in 3.48hrs I had to continue around the oval and out again to add the missing 8km for the ultra distance. That was the hardest, leaving the finish again running out on a bike path full of walkers, strollers and cyclist - not too comfortable and also badly marked last stretch of the race. Nevertheless I return on my second wind and sprinted into the Oval a second time overtaking 2 more competitors on the last 20m to finish in a new PB of 4hrs33min for 50 km.


South Africa and the 89km of The Comrades do not look that bad anymore now......not!

Happy feet

ANZAC Training day

Like true troopers Marathon Man, Michael and myself found ourselves at 6am standing in the dark and rain at the entrance of Ku-ring-gai National Park.
Our aim was to run for a good 6 - 7 hrs in preparation of The Comrades in 4 weeks time and Michael will do the 100km Wilderness Team Trail next weekend.
The first 10 km where a nice downhill to Akuna Bay before heading up again to the main route out to West Head. Rain was easing and by 9 am we had covered a good 25 km and started to dry out.
Michael and I started to get a bit too fast for Trent and we left him behind running out to the West Head, knowing that we will see him on the way back again, which we did 30 km into the run. On the way out we made great progress and soon Michael and I found ourselves at the turn off to Church Point and down to Pittwater. Michael for the first time ran more then 50km in 6 hrs and the last bit up Mona Vale Road back to Terrey Hills was a killer - not only because of the hills but also because the road was not really ideal to run on with all the heavy traffice - we survived and I managed to reach the car after 60.5km and 7hrs with Michael following shortly after. A quick stretch later and off we went to look for Trent, who we found only 5km short of the finish - we picked him up with the car and drove home to a well deserved cool beer and and ice bath......
Next week Trent and I will run the Canberra Ultra Marathon as a final test before tempering down till South Africa.

Francois qualified !

Some good news this week - Francois, my running buddy for The Comrades, has qualified for the race by finishing the Loskop Ultra Marathon with 10 seconds to spare. After 5hrs 59min and 50sec he and his guide Kero crossed the finishing line after a hard 50km race. This was Francois's first ultra marathon and a great introduction to what's to come end of May.

My week was busy as usual - two days preparing Ben for the Sydney 1/2 marathon doing our rounds in Centennial Park and on Saturday doing a big run with Trent and Doug moving for almost 5 hours. All in all another 100+ km week done, two more to go....

Today I jogged the route of the Sydney 1/2 marathon with Ben to give him an opportunity to memories all the corners, hills and other features of the run. We will do one more recon run next weekend to give Ben a perfect preparation for the race mid-May.

Happy feet