Sport	Race
Event	Bonitas City2City Ultra Marathon
Date	30 September 2013
Where	Pretoria to Johannesburg, South Africa
Distance	50 Km
Finishing Time	04:56:40
Race Number	2665
Result	565/1936
Top %	29%
Pace	5:56 m/km
Speed	10.11 km/h
Click here for details about Bonitas City2City Ultra Marathon
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My experience at the event:

Unlike 2 years ago, where I completed the race mostly without a plan, this time I had something in mind to try to beat my personal record (and also try to stay under the 5hr mark)
The plan was to reach a cruising speed (5.30 per km) and then try to build up enough time so, when tiredness / pain finally arrived, I could slow down and still finish the way I wanted.
It worked almost perfectly. I started too slow, maybe because of cautioness or maybe because trying to accelerate with 2000 people around you was always going to be difficult, and it took me a while to get the average down to 5.30 (something I would have not being able to done without the Garmin Forerunner 910XT which has been my companion for the past 6 months. An amazing piece of technology, essential if you do multi sports or long distance runs).
I reached my desidered speed only around the 15km, when I passed the "under 5 hours" bus (with the intention of keeping it behind me). From there I had a very good run at least until the sun decided to pop out after a cloudy start. The sun changed my plan a little, and I ended up needing more and more liquids in the last 25km.

But by the time pain kicked in and I had the first cramps, I had only around 10 km to go. My pace was down to 5.35 per km, but I knew that I could slow down at 7.30/8 per km and still finish below the 5 hours. And this is exactly what happened, I finished with 5 minutes to spare to destroy my personal record by almost 30 minutes!

The best feeling was seeing Lindsey (and Andy, Kirsten and Campbell) at the finish line to support me for the last 100 meters. It was a nice run with a fantastic result!

You can find details about the race here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/382912156 or here: http://runkeeper.com/user/olafek/activity/249269138

Some pictures:

At the starting block by the Centurion station


Some hours later...


Here I am!


Done!


With Lindsey


My medal

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