Forty days until Comrades Marathon: Rory reflects on his decision

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. 

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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:

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