Comrades Marathon / Running Comrades, the ALSORAN way!

Running Comrades

the ALSORAN way!

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Stories and other interesting stuff!

Hello, my name is Nikki Campbell. Welcome to “Comrades, the ALSORAN way” running web site! I am very glad you have found my site and I hope that you will find it helpful!

This site is about my personal journey to a Comrades Green Number. It is written in simple “runners speak” and is an informative testimony to 20 successive and successful years at Comrades Marathon. This is a work in progress and I am posting new pages on a daily basis. I have barely scratched the surface. While you may not agree with my perceptions and techniques, I have proven them to work, time and time again. My Comrades record attests to it.

Why “the ALSORAN way”? Well, if you have ever met me or seen a picture of me you will realise that I am NO athlete! Unfortunately for me I have no inherited genetic talent, you will realise that God had a sense of humour when he designed me. What I am trying to achieve with this website is for you to realise that there is a place for the ALSORAN runner. If I can do it, so can you!

Nikki Campbell
Double laurel - June 2017

Where does the term ALSORAN come from? Well to my knowledge it is a horse racing term. Where races are reported in the press the first four horses are mentioned by position followed by the word ALSORAN after which the rest of the horses in the field are named. What I am trying to say is that I have never been in the prizes, and that I have always been one of the other participants (or alsoran’s) in the run. Actually, this is not entirely true, I have won prizes anyhow but that is another story that I will tell later on in the website!

This site is specifically about training for and running the Comrades Marathon. Now that you know you don’t have to be specifically athletic (because I’m not) I hope that you will think about and consider training for and running the Comrades Marathon!

Let me just say that I am passionate about the Comrades Marathon. I ran my first Comrades in 1998 and haven’t looked back since. In 2007 I completed my 10th run and earned my permanent number (also referred to as a green number). The number 18595 is mine in perpetuity! Receiving my permanent number was one of the proudest moments of my life. I have thirteen bronze medals and eight copper medals (Vic Clapham). I am also one of the very few that have run negative splits on this run (I’ve managed this feat five times!)

You will discover as you read through my site that I subscribe to the teachings/advice of two specialist Comrades runners namely, the late Dr Lindsay Weight and the legendary Don Oliver, both of whom I count in my special circle of friends. Both Don and Lindsay are/were passionate about the Comrades Marathon. Don, a veteran Comrades runner with 19 medals to his name, equally famous for being the Comrades coach and getting thousands of novices through Comrades by virtue of his Rocky Road Runners Comrades programme and Lindsay, my dear friend, a physiologist, sports writer and winner of the ladies races in 1983 and 1984, with a number of top 10 finishes, eventually running a total of 11 Comrades before her untimely death in 2006!

Following the ALSORAN theme, my belief in running and finishing Comrades came from watching Fish Hoek Athletic Club member Margaret Harrison, a fellow ALSORAN runner who pursued a dream to run the Comrades, in the process kicking some serious butt on race day. She made it believable for me! There is hope for the ALSORAN runner!

Key words: ALSORAN, Comrades Marathon, running
Internal links: permanent number, Lindsay Weight, Nikki Campbell, medal, negative splits, Comrades Green number
External links: Fish Hoek Athletic Club, the official Comrades Marathon website