My Easiest Comrades Marathon

By Bruce Fordyce

The 1972 Olympic marathon champion Frank Shorter once famously said; “There is no such thing as an easy marathon”.

I know what he meant. If you run 42 kilometres slowly it hurts for longer and if you run it quickly it hurts more. He added that you have to forget your last marathon before you can run another.

However all of us have experienced easier marathons and races where we were left with the feeling we could have run faster and even further if necessary. I suppose golfers return time and time again for more pain and frustration because every now and again they hit a perfect shot or sink that difficult putt. Similarly we runners return because from time to time we run a fast time or earn that elusive medal.

In complete contrast to this year’s Comrades marathon which was a long and bitter struggle I have, on occasion, had a faster, “easier” race. In 1979 and in 1983 I finished the Comrades very strongly and was left with the feeling that I had had more to give if necessary. Of course I must have hurt and I must have struggled at times but my memory of both runs was of their being relatively easy happy runs.

Both were barrier breaking races for me and both had similar ingredients. In the build up to both races training and racing had gone exceptionally well with liberal sprinklings of PBs. I started cautiously in both races and ran much faster in the second half. The weather conditions were mild and cool and conducive to faster running. Many of the runners ahead of me at Drummond had started too quickly and I experienced the mental boost of moving through the field rather than vice versa.

Perhaps the Runner’s World readers have their own ideas as to what helps to make a race easy?

But difficult or easy I know I will keep coming back and enjoying my running and racing. Perhaps I am quick to forget or perhaps I remember the good times too easily.

I do know that whatever the triumphs and disappointments that lie ahead I will keep on running and because of the fun and enjoyment I get from the sport.