I’m sitting in the lounge at JFK T4 now waiting for my 11.20am fight to Dubai, where I’ll connect to a 9-hour flight to Durban. 21 hours of flying to arrive in time for the Comrades Marathon 2023. 88km of running over 12 hours, from Pietermaritzburg (inland) to Durban (on the coast), on the east coast of South Africa.
If I make the finish line in time, this will be the fastest ultramarathon I’ll have run.
I’m a little nervous: I’ve never done an ultra distance where I’m running the whole time. The last time I tried to run a marathon+ distance was at Burning Man in 2022, and I had to walk the final couple of hours.
Game plan is to start slow, target a 7min/km pace overall. The pace would give me a 10.30 finish time, so really I have an extra 30 minutes if I want to complete it within 11 hours. I think that’s a Silver medal… but really I’m mostly hoping not to DNF.
Gear:
- Melin Pace Hat
- ROKA GP-1x prescription sunglasses
- Either: Tracksmith tank top or Patagonia Capilene Cool hoodie
- Naked Running Band
- Ten Thousand Interval Short
- 2XU short tights
- Injinji Ultra Run Crew socks
- Nike Vaporfly 3
- Lots of body glide
- Precision Hydration PF 90 Gels (maybe 5?)
- 250mg salt capsules – not my favourite setup, but I’ll be drinking water off the aid station on the course, and won’t be able to make my regular drink mixes
- Whatever else they have at Aid Stations! Gotta be sure to grab myself a potato…