Brad Brown

I don’t know if I am the only person who does this but as a year wraps up and we head towards the start of a new one I like to take stock of what has happened in the last 12 months and what I would like to happen in the next 12. I’ve had a really good 2011 on some fronts and not so good one on others. I set some big goals this year on the athletic side of things and have achieved them all. The biggest of them all was to go back and finish Comrades after failing to do so in 2010. Finishing my first Ironman was also a big milestone for me in 2011. Riding the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge twice was too.

One of my biggest goals was to run faster (and to be comfortable while doing it). I got a lot better in 2011. I improved my best marathon time to 4:17 at the Vaal Marathon and some change and managed to get my 10km pb down to 53:26 on a dirt road in the middle of the Karoo on the way to Sutherland as part of a run we did from Cape Town to Johannesburg in July this year.

New years resolution

Looking ahead to the new year there are definitely some changes that need to be made. I stopped making new year resolutions a long time ago because I never really took them seriously. If you want to change something there is no time like the present. I stopped smoking on a the 14th of February six years ago. I started running on a Wednesday in the middle of July in 2009. I’ve never been one for doing things on a specific day but the start of a new year is a great time to reflect and start again. I came across a blog post of a guy who wanted to do his first Ironman by the age of thirty (Which he did in 2011 btw) but his latest post is called Seven and I love the idea. Seven things to change or do in 2012. It has inspired me to set some goals and make some changes. The next seven posts are going be about my seven things. I’ve thought of a few already but over the next few days will think of some more.

I would love you to do this with me. What seven things would you like to do or achieve in 2012? C’mon, you only live once. Write them out and commit to doing them here. Post them in the comments section below, that way there is no getting away with not doing it. Let me know what you are going to do, go on DO IT!!!!

It has been two and a bit weeks since Comrades 2010 and although my work schedule has been pretty crazy I’ve had some time to digest the events that unfolded on the road to Durban on 30 May 2010. You may or may not know what happened but in a nutshell I missed the cut off at 60km (29km to go) and was pulled off the road. No excuses, I just wasn’t good enough on the day but will be back in 2011 fitter, leaner and stronger to finish off what I started.

In the meantime though its time to set a few new goals for the rest of this year and the first bit of 2011. I have been saying in the build up to Comrades this year that once it was done I would be keen to give a triathlon a bash. I still feel that way but obviously the long term goal is Comrades 2011.

So here is what I’ve come up with as goals between now and 16 June 2011:

1. Complete a couple of the Energade triathlons which start in October.

2. Run the Soweto marathon in November.

3. Ride the 94.7 Cycle Challenge in November (and at the same time try and raise R1 000 000 for the PinkDrive)

4. Complete the half iron man in East London in January

5. Run the Johnson Crane Marathon.

6. Swim the Midmar Mile in February.

7. Run the Vaal Marathon in March

8. Run the Two Oceans and/or Loskop Ultra’s in April

9. Complete the Comrades Marathon in June 2011.

Some of this list may change between now and then but at least it’s out there. I’ve learnt that unless a goal is out there you’re never going to achieve it!

My preparation for the 2010 Loskop Marathon was not ideal. A constantly niggly left foot after the Vaal Marathon 6 weeks earlier never allowed me to do the sort of mileage in the build up that I would have liked to have done. I also decided to change the shoes I was running literally one week before the race. This in hindsight probably wasn’t the wisest decision either. In the week prior to the race with the new shoes my tendonitis cleared up so I decided to risk running the 50kms in the new shoes.

We decided not to sleep over in either Middelburg or at the Loskop Dam the night before as I was on air until 7pm on the Friday evening. We woke up at 2am and were on the road to Middelburg by 2:30am. An early start to what was going to be a long day.

The Start of the 2010 Loskop Marathon

By the time we reached the start I was a bundle of nerves. As it started to get light the 4000 runners began the trek to the loskop dam. Earlier on in the week I had spoken to my good mate Dave Walters from MPower FM in Nelspruit and it turned out MPower FM was the media partner for the race. We were going to try and do a couple of live crossings from the road and the first one was as the gun went.

My goal was to go out until halfway at just under 7 minutes per kilometre until halfway and then take the rest of the race as it comes. It all went according to plan. About 5 km in I got swallowed up by Vlam’s sub 6 hour bus and decided to stick with them for as long as I could. I actually finished the Vaal Marathon in the bus and that’s how I qualified for Comrades 2010. That’s why it wasn’t vital that I finished under 6 hours in this one but the goal was to spend as much time as I could on the road to get a decent long one in the legs.
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I’ve been pretty slack with updating my blog in the lead up to Comrades 2010, but we’re heading into the final stretch and its time for some serious, focused effort. My qualifier has been done; I did a 4:56 at the Vaal Marathon on 7 March and am a week away from the 50km Loskop Marathon.

I came across this video clip online, which is a promo video for the Comrades Marathon that I think sums up the spirit of this great race better than any other I have seen. If you don’t know much about the race, have a quick watch and let me know your thoughts.