On arrival in South Africa we first set out on a great adventure through Johannesburg where we were to tour Soweto, Orlando Stadium, Hector Pieterson Museum and the Apartheid Museum providing a valuable insight into the nations challenges of the past. There certainly have been some significant changes in South Africa with the country preparing to unite for the eyes of the world to be watching the Football World Cup soon to start.
Next we made our way by twin propeller aircraft to Pietermaritzburg so as to settle in and prepare for the Comrades Marathon start line. Now Pietermaritzburg certainly is a change of pace from Johannesburg and it feels more like a small country town in comparison. The first stop was to the Comrades Museum to offically register for the race and collect the race number and find out a little more about the history of the race. This was a magic experience although the scale model of the course sure did freak me out a little!
The next adventure was to Durban to check out the Comrades Marathon Expo. Following the N3 Express Way so as to avoid the majority of the Comrades course and save the best for race day we were greeted with traffic chaos with many streets closed around the city in preparation for the Football World Cup. The Expo was quite large and it was great to walk straight into a free massage area to have a rub down within minutes of arrival. It was nice to see a few familiar faces and meet Stephen Muzhingi who had previously won the 2009 event posting the second fastest time in history with 5:23:27.
Now as we approach the final hours the anticipation is building and the nerves really setting in with the realisation that the 90km adventure very close ...
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