This is from a letter Jim Brewer sent me in June of 1977 just after his first attempt to complete the 56-mile Comrades Ultra-Marathon in South Africa. I must have given the letter back to Jim, because Vivian recently found it among Jim’s letters. Jim returned 4 years later and completed the race in 8 hrs, 49 min. I thought those of you who knew Jim might be interested in this account.
Grover Everett
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Two weeks ago, I ran alone, hard and fast, on the pavement with some hills to boot. The net result: the next day I had one of those “can barely walk” pains in my right knee. Previously, it had been my left. For a few days I kept on trying, even a little, but finally I laid out completely. I got some tandril pills and physiotherapy for a week, and last Friday we took the train.
The result was that by 6:00 AM at race time, I knew my knee was going to hurt. The only question was when. As for not having trained for two weeks, I wasn’t so worried about that. My other worry was the leg cramps I’d gotten in my previous marathon. So, what a tremendous race it is, 89.7 kilos in length. Clearly, the biggest most popular race in this part of the world. 2000 + entered, and 1976 started.
Tremendous crowds and traffic all the way. You had to make halfway by 11:30 (a.m.) or drop out. Those were the rules. Also, when 5:00 (p.m.) came, after 11 hours, you either had finished or you had to stop. Each bloke finishing under 11 hours gets a bronze medal or better depending upon placing.
I told you it was supposed to be a climb. What I didn’t know was that there is NEVER a flat stretch. Moreover, there are hills there that go on for miles; some very steep to boot. Of course, none so steep as KU’s Chancellor’s hill, but the length of them and so on made it tough. The typical grade is of some of those hills out toward Vinland. In any case, my knee came back at 1 hour so I took pain pills and carried on. At three hours, my first leg cramps came. Still, by a combination of walking till they went away and then running till they came back to stay, I covered 48.5 kilometers in 4 hours 52 minutes. By this time, I had risen to 2,000 feet, even with some considerable downhill. At least, I had made the cut.
Still, the cramps now were severe. They were calf cramps, and from here on in, I could only run a maximum of 50 or 60 steps. Moveover, the time required for the “visible” cramp to abate was lengthening. Also, during the two weeks when I couldn’t train, I had done some hard timed walking and knew how fast I would go. Not fast enough, but damn close. Maybe with the walking and jogging (stiff legged), I might make it. Never had I been on the road more than 4 hours, but at the end of 7 hours, with 4 hours to go, I was 29 kms from home.
With 2 hours to go, 15 (km); with 1 to go, 8 (km). By now, walking uphill only maintained the cramps, it offered no relief, and there was still plenty of uphill. With ½ hour to go, when I ran I “let it out”, but although I went faster, the cramps came quicker and more intensely. By this time they were up the lengths of the backs of both legs. With 5 minutes to go, 2 km to go.
At 5:00 PM I was at the 1 km sign and could see where the stadium was. Following the rules, I stopped and walked back to the car, peed solid red, sobbed, wretched, and lay down.
Jim