The 2020 Comrades Marathon was supposed to take place on Sunday 14 June, but lockdown restrictions obviously meant this was impossible.
ASICS FrontRunner Admire Muzopambwa was not deterred, however. The Comrades was one of his main goal races for the year, so when the Comrades Legends Virtual Run was conceived he knew he was still going to put 90kms into the legs.
“There was a choice between 90km, 45 km, 21km, 10km, and 5km and deciding on what distance to do was quite tricky,” Admire admits. “At first I had my mind on a fast 10km, but five days before the event a friend shared a link on how to map a route, so I played around with it and constructed a 90km route,” he says.
Admire then enlisted the backup of two of his friends to run with him and one person in a car for seconding support. This backup would be crucial and the nutrition plan had to be carefully worked out.
THE NUTRITION
“Everyone organised their own nutrition during the days leading to the run,” Admire says. The plan was to take on nutrition every 10kms (the water tables at Comrades are typically 3kms apart).
“We had labels on the bottles for each section. I had an isotonic sports drink mixed with a teaspoon of creatine bottled for every 10km.
“Some of the bottles had whey protein as well and then I also snacked on oranges and bananas and took a Biogen Gu every 15km.”
Admire’s nutrition plan also included boiled potatoes mixed with butter for carbs and fats, with a bit of salt to taste. “For additional sugar we had wine gums,” he says.
THE RUN
“We woke up at 3am on Sunday morning and left home at 5am. To get into the real Comrades spirit we played some of the official songs in the car.”
According to Admire it was really cold at the start so their only option was to run fast. “Kennedy ran his target 45km, while Gerald and I carried on. Gerald had his mind focused on his good friend Thabo who had recently lost his battle with cancer,” Admire says.
“We did that second half for Thabo…The cold made me keep my long-sleeve shirt, buff and gloves on until 65km.”
According to Admire they were both mentally strong but towards the end started to suffer physically, especially from cramp. “90km is not a game and that kind of distance demands a lot and, whether you’re going slow or fast the last 25 is always tough.”
“The last 10km were the hardest. I had to push through by power-walking then running and power-walking again, but I was very happy with how it played out. The goal was a silver medal and I managed to finish in 7:22.”
“So, all things considered 2020 has not been such a bad year after all... It came as a lesson for me: With teamwork, dedication and effort you can achieve a lot.”
