Glen from The Parlotones conquered the Comrades
‘Mentally it was a lot tougher than I thought it would be’
“Two years ago, you’d never have thought I would be able to achieve this. But, here I am – I have run the Comrades – and, if I can do it, anyone can.”
“I finished in a time of 11 hours, 44 minutes, and I loved it. Luckily my body held up and there were no problems physically.
Mentally it was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. Also, the beers offered by strangers along the route definitely saved me. In hindsight, I really did love every moment,” said the 35-year-old Glen Hodgson.
Also Read: The Parlotones rock the Barnyard
For many people this achievement will come as a surprise, as Glen is a member of The Parlotones, and running is definitely not part of his stage repertoire.
“I started running two years ago when I ran my first five-kilometre race at the Jackal Creek Night Run. And, even though I have always wanted to run, I just never had the drive to go ahead and do it.
That is until my fiancée, Morgan, provided the much-needed motivation,” he explained.
He added that, since he started running, he has always pushed himself to go longer distances, and said, “First it was one kilometre, then two, then 10, then 15 … I think it’s only natural to have your sights set on the ultimate road race, so I decided to sign up, and once I’d signed up, I started training with Comrades as my goal.”
Glen said that he experienced quite a few highs and lows during the race, including thinking of quitting the race at the 60km mark. “Morgan and I had been running together from the start and were climbing up Inchanga, doing three minutes running followed by 30 seconds walking. During the walks, I became dizzy and a little delirious, so I told her to run ahead of me. I sat down on a rock and asked myself if I wanted to quit or carry on. I decided to push on. The second low came when I thought I did not have enough time to finish the kilometres I had left, meaning my race would be over. Luckily, I had done the math wrong, and I realised I could still finish in time,” he said.
For Glen, the highlight of the race was coming onto the overpass and seeing the stadium on his left, knowing that he was almost finished. “Running into the stadium was amazing, and, thinking about it now, makes me very emotional! It got even better when I turned my phone on after the race, and saw how many people were following my progress on the Comrades app, and the excitement that was going on during my run, that I never even knew about,” Glen said.
He laughingly said that he would run the Comrades again, even if it is just next year’s up run. “I want to thank Morgan for gently pushing me to this crazy achievement,” he said.
His message to other runners wanting to conquer the ultimate road race is simple, “It is a good idea and totally achievable, but you have to make sure you put in the correct number of kilometres before reaching the start line. I clocked about 2 500 kilometres, which included four marathons, one ultra-marathon, and many, many more smaller races and training runs, before even getting to the Comrades starting line.”
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