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| Working to get the job done |
I'm still working like a man possessed. Which keeps my mind off Sunday's 86.96 kilometre run. I'll worry about that tomorrow.
More importantly my brother, Alberto, needs to get his tenth consecutive Comrades on Sunday. This is a pretty big thing in Comrades-land. Just think how difficult it is to train for about 6 months and hope to be fit and healthy on one particular day of the year. It is an art, especially with a family, work and all the trimmings.
At the expo we did checked out a bit of the history which I found very interesting:
- There are three ways to get a green number at Comrades: win 3 times, run 5 golds or complete 10 Comrades runs.
- Guys who got Comrades green # by the 3 x win route: Robb, Fordyce, Kotov, Newton, Ballington, Mekler, Hayward, Muzhingi, Bagshaw.
- Women who got Comrades green # by the 3 x win route: Elena Nurgalieva, Bak, Lucre, Lettie Van Zyl.
I think I'll be happy with doing it by the 10 finishes route.
So the Bill Rowan plan is this:
- run 20 minutes, walk 2 minutes, the whole way
- be flexible with walk breaks on the hills
- do not nudge the pace until after Inchanga
- solid fuel (bananas, potatoes, etc) to half way. Simple sugars (Coke, sweets, etc) thereafter.
- 4 hours to half way
- 4.20 to the finish
- no crying
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| The three ways to get a green number. |
The numbers you will see on race day.
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| Stef trying once again to get access to the Green Number lounge |
Stef, brother#2, is our manager and once again got bounced from the Green Number club. He tried to convince the guard that it could be used as a smoking area.
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| Bruce Fordyce on the left. Alan Robb on the right. |
Bruce Fordyce, considered the best Comrades runner of all time, is commentating this year. Alan Robb is going for his 40th Comrades run. Both are exceptional human beings with impressive track records.
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| Past winners over the years |
The Comrades history boards resound with the carpe diem hauntings of past champions.
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| 9 Comrades finishes is not good enough for entry into the Green Number shop |
Next year with 1 more number under the belt, Alby will be allowed entry into the hallowed Green Number shop.
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| Lumo running shorts. All the rage in 1983. |
Alb showing out the lumo shorts. Overhead lighting was used to impress the ladies.
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| Hawaii 5-0 shorts |
Always thinking, never really posing. I'm sucking in the gut for the media. Very little airbrushing was used in the photo. And not bad for a vegan. Actually I'm a flexatarian - which means "a vegan with a proclivity to eat whatever is put on your plate". And I haven't even started on my weights program.
Never surrender,
~RobbyRicc
