Race Report - Kosmos 3-in-1

The day came quicker than I could say Kosmos. For eighteen months I have been talking, dreaming and training, and suddenly race day was upon me, and I had to do this. We were 1012 entered into the 3-1, which is astonishing, as in my mind, I didn’t think there was that many crazy runners.

Race morning, we were greeted with a lovely overcast morning, every runners ideal day. I

did enter Comrades 2015, with the idea, if maybe I do qualify on this 42,2km, I would do the big C. At the start, I found the 5 hour bus, and thought, this is it, not only am I doing this, but Comrades here I come. With allot of anticipation in the air, a kiss good luck from Fanie and the gun went off at 6:00 for the 42,2km. The start was very slow, but once all the runners had their own pace, and I managed to get out of the crowd I caught my bus. My bus was doing between 6:20 – 6:40 a km, which in my mind was a little fast, but I am no bus driver and I have no knowledge of how fast or how slow they run. 21km into the run, my tour on the bus was over, I was cramping and feeling terrible, I had to make a decision. What was I doing? Running for a qualifier or running for 3 medals. A Hard lesson to learn all on your own, with still 21km to go, but lesson learned. I had 6 hours to finish, and I will use the 6 hours, if that is what it takes. The route was very flat, the only hill or downhill was the speed bumps. The water points were magnificent, and the highlight of each 2-3km, although I had to concentrate in not dehydrating or over hydrating. The best part of the 42,2km was the golden mile (the last km), next to the lake, hearing the music at the finish, and knowing I have finished the first race for the day. Fanie was waiting with a Steri Stampi, snack, big smile and a beer. I finished in a time of 5:28, and that meant I had to wait 1:30 before my next race.

After a powernap in the car, we heard the announcements and saw runners shuffling to

the start of the 21,1km. Nervous, me and Fanie walked/shuffled to the start, this will be the first time that I ever go further than 42,2km in one day, brand new territory for me. This is the only race that Fanie and I decided to do together as I was scared that I wouldnot make the cut off in 3 hours, and “Vinnige Fanie” will not allow for that to happen. The first few kilometres together on the road were awful, I hated every second with him, and he was not enjoying the race or time together, he was checking his watch every second, and putting me under pressure. We were bickering the whole time. We were running extremely slowly for Fanie, and I think that caused a groin pain for him, the best moment in the 21,1km for me, now I liked running with him. No checking time, just running. Now that we were running happily together, we realised we are not going to make the 3 hour cut off. A fellow runner heard us talking and gave us the best news ever, the cut off was 3:30. We just thought we found our “mojo”, when 6km into the race, it started to storm. Wet, cold and knowing my feet will never be the same; Fanie just kept keeping me positive. Fanie found a new breath; he suggested that we run 5 poles and walk one; we still had about 12km to go. He would run ahead of me, and as he passes each pole, put his hand in the air and show me number one, number two and so on, when he reaches number 5, he waits for me, we walk together, and off we go again. Before I knew it, we were in the golden mile for the 21,1km, he waited for me, and said he wanted to finish with me; we finished in a time of 3:21.

Only 30 minutes, and the last race for the day started. We started the race, still wet and cold from the rain in the 21,1km. From the word go, I decided I will run two lamp poles, and walk one, and I stuck to my plan, every step/run of the way. Each meter, was one meter closer to my goal, when I saw the 9km marker, I felt like 900m to go. Fanie did his own race, and he said he expected me to come in just before the cut off (which was 2 hours). At 1:38, I finished my race, and never in my life, have I had such an accomplished feeling, never have I done anything as hard or awesome, this was probably the best day of my life.

Mirandi Bekker