MY COMRADES STORY BY ZELNA KLAAR

“Sometimes we need a reminder that we are someone's hero!

It was an eight-year journey since my last Comrades Marathon, but with grace from above I lined up in 2024.

If you have ever run the Comrades Marathon, you know that you go through a bundle of emotions the day before, including being scared, thinking you could possibly die (lol), sudden niggles that appear out of nowhere and a good shot of doubt that you did not train enough.

My family (my hubby and two adult sons) saw me withdrawing that day and in an effort to take my mind off things, they started chatting about all the superheroes of the Comrades Marathon, names like Gerda Steyn, Vladimir Kotov and many more were mentioned by all, except my youngest, 25-year old son, Christopher.

Christopher came to sit next to me and said: "Mom, I hear about all these people, but YOU are my hero!"...and of course my insides just turned around and the tears welled up in my eyes.

Back to Comrades race day and referring to the dark place that all of us experience during an endurance event: my dark place was just after Harrison Flats at around 60km in and I was SO TIRED.

I turned my palms up and started praying for help, and God reminded me that I was my son's hero...and my focus shifted away from my own troubles, and I started remembering that we run for much more than just ourselves.

When I looked up, my mood lifted and I noticed my heroes of Comrades: my Saviour, the helpful volunteers, our faithful supporters, our loving families, loved ones and friends, our club mates and fellow runners - you did us proud! ”

The winner of this month’s Mr Price Sport voucher is Zelna Klaar.