Alicia's Comrades journey

It started with a simple statement after my first ever marathon in 2018; “You know you just qualified for Comrades”

I laughed it off. COMRADES? I barely just scraped though a full marathon!

Secretly though a simple seed of a dream had been planted and in 2023 I started my Ultra journey with Two Oceans. A little trial for the tenacity required for Comrades. I had a great day out at Oceans and decided that Comrades was the next natural step. At the time of entering at the end of 2023, i dont think i fully comprehended the sacrifice required to make it to Race Day let alone the finish line!

But i'd started on this journey and giving up was not an option. 2024 opened and I had entered myself into 2 marathons and an Ultra with the realisation that these would all need to be treated as training runs.

I've never been athletic but I love routine and discipline. Training for Comrades gave me structure and purpose. I didn't need to be fast, I just needed to be consistent.

What followed was nearly 6 months of sacrifice, early mornings, skipping out on work to fit in training runs and an incalculable number of gels.

I remember my first week of hitting Comrades mileage and being absolutely shattered, wondering how I was going to manage the distance in 1 day when trying to cover it in a week had already broken me. But I leaned into the familiarity of training, reminding myself that it was just time on the legs.

The last 2/3 weeks of taper before Comrades is a strange period, time seems to move in slow motion and you wake up every morning convinced you're ill. In those weeks though, nothing else mattered but getting to the start. I was laser focused and couldn't wait to get to Durban.

Something people don't tell you about being a Comrades novice is the power of anxiety. There were many times before race day my mind convinced me that I was not well enough to run. My husband was my pillar during these episodes and in the weekend leading up to Comrades.

Race Day arrived and I felt a sense of calm I hadn't felt in weeks. I was about to line up at the start of this race I'd been dreaming about since 2018.

Gels packed, water bottle filled, prayers sent up and I headed to the start line with my husband, mom and sister. I could not believe that this moment was finally here. I wanted to soak it all in. No phone recording, just me and tens of thousands of other runners ready to prove to ourselves that we can.

Just to get to that start line healthy and injury free was a blessing and I had crossed the first hurdle, hopefully the rest of race day would unfold as peacefully.

The start gun went off and then we waited, and waited and waited. After nearly 10 minutes I'd finally crossed the start line and began the journey to Pietermaritzburg.

The day was a blur of singing, tears, comraderie, Salticrax and bananas. The atmosphere of Comrades as a runner, is unlike any other run I've ever done. Consistent noise and support.

After over 10 hours and navigating that unknown place after 56kms I was grateful to reach the silence of Polly Shortts. I was absolutely exhausted. I'd never encountered a hill like Polly's before but I'd come too far to give up. At this point I'd been dropped by the 11h30 bus and when I looked up Polly's all I saw was a winding incline and people. All of us with one mission, to get to Pietermaritzburg. I was on autopilot for most of the day until that point. I'm not ashamed to admit that I walked most of that hill, again not fast just consistent, determined and encouraged by my fellow Comrades.

Arriving in Pietermaritzburg was a gear shift, suddenly i was back running at pace and a second wind had arrived! I couldn't believe that I was about to do this! I cried for that whole last kilometre into Scottsville.

Crossing the finish at Comrades in 2024 was a celebration of my running journey and a deep validation that yes I can do hard things!

I had no plans of doing a back-to-back. I was emotionally and physically drained after months of stress and training for the Up Run.

I took a few weeks off after the race and started training for the pure enjoyment of running and movement.

I found myself at MLH religiously; structure, discipline, purpose, community.

In the months which followed, I smashed my half marathon and marathon PB's and slowly built up a hunger to want to do something bigger. I'd secretly reasoned with myself that it seemed silly not to try the Down Run and boosted by an improvement in my running I once again found myself on the Comrades app.

Unfortunately something had happened between 2023 and 2024 and getting a Comrades entry proved to be harder than securing Beyoncé tickets! I took this as a sign that maybe I was only ever meant to do an Up Run, but if you know me you know I am persistent.

After hours of trying, I'd gotten a golden ticket.

Now having a Comrades finish to my name I decided to start my training earlier and also went into this training block with a bit more confidence. I had my training mapped out, I'd hit another marathon PB and a few weeks into my training plan I was reaching mileage I'd only seen towards the end of my previous training block. 

I was tired, but fulfilled and excited.

Three weeks out from Weskus Marathon, I had developed swelling on my left foot. A love of high heels and high mileage weeks had culminated in metatarsalgia. I was crushed. I saw my Oceans and Comrades dreams crumbling. And this wasn't to be the last hurdle of the new training block. I was forced to take a week off training, reset and swap out my Weskus Marathon entry for a half marathon entry.

I eventually found my groove and started refocusing for Oceans. Just another long training run which I barely scraped though. I took a week off after Oceans and then every Comrades runner's worst nightmare.

I fell ill. A deep cough, antibiotics. ECG and blood work to confirm that I could start running again. 3 weeks of training missed during peak mileage month. I was absolutely gutted, my focus and confidence had been broken. It was tough watching everyone on Strava clock up their mileage, taking advantage of the long weekends with marathon and back to back training runs. In the age of social media and accessibility, the hardest part of training is trying to stay focused on your own goals.

I eventually laced up with apprehension after being cleared to run, wondering how much fitness I had lost. I struggled to run 10km that first week. The next week I struggle to run a flat 8km on the prom. I came home and cried, convinced my Comrades dream was over. I was ready to cancel all flights and

This 2025 training block was proving to be a complicated dance, 1 step forward, 2 steps back.

That day was a turning point which forced me to reasses my approach to getting race day ready. I had to swap out my old routine for a new one. Shorter and more frequent runs replaced the longer solo ones. I dragged my husband on every run with me so that I'd have someone to talk to and distract me. Together we moved through the suburbs, slowly building back up again. I managed to squeeze in a 30km long run 3 weeks out from Race Day. It was nowhere near my best work, but I'd got it done. I felt a bit more comfortable and started to envision myself crossing the finish.

Taper period brought it's time manipulation, tears and immune system trickery.

Race day I was a bundle of anxious energy, doubts and nerves. The previous Year's calm had deserted me but I was there and had no other choice but to finish what I'd started.

The start gun went off and the nerves started to settle, one foot in front of the other.

The beauty of a race day is that anything can happen. Despite a relatively strong start, anxiety and doubt started to creep in and 10kms in I decided to time for a walk to regroup. A seasoned Comrades runner came up next to me and gave me a little pep talk, reminding me that it's OK to walk, every step forward is a step towards the finish. Yes some speed is required but you just need to remain consistent, calm and disciplined.

There were many moments in this 2025 run where I wanted to quit, but what kept me going was the power of community on the road. The surprise of seeing Coach Mikey on the road and my husband driving his heart out to meet me at nearly every 2 hours gave me the kick to keep pushing.

If Comrades 2024 was a celebration of my running journey, Comrades 2025 was a celebration of community. A community who has held and supported me, growing me into the runner who did the hard thing.