Sport	Race
Event	Varsity Kudus
Date	05 January 2014
Where	Johannesburg, South Africa
Distance	15 Km
Finishing Time	01:19:43
Race Number	n/a
Result	277/2237
Top %	12%
Pace	5:19 m/km
Speed	11.29 km/h
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My experience at the event:

The Varsity Kudus  race is a favorite of mine. It's always the first race of the calendar year, and with the unusual distance (15km) and the difficulty level (it's a tricky race, especially with the massive hills at the 9th and towards the arrive), it's a good punishment for the gluttony experienced over the holidays.

I tried to compared the time to last year's (when the weather wasn't as crazy hot as today), and they were very similar. I finished 40 seconds behind my best on the course, but I suffered the heat in the last 5 exposed (no shade) kms. I started strong thanks to the first long downhill (which, once completed, makes you realize that you have to climb the same distance you just breezed through since the arrival is close to the start line) and I didn't have many problems until in the mid part I simply got too hot.

I slowed down dramatically on the 9km hill, but regardless of what my body said, I managed to not stop for the whole course, even if I wanted to rest for few seconds.  

At the last uphill I tried to sprint but was simply too tired to do it, and the extra kgs accumulated during christmas didn't help! Also the lack of medals (we got a stupid yellow bag with nothing inside...) didn't help, but I guess it was all part of the punishment experience...


Some people arriving after me


Relaxing by the university buildings


First race of the year done!

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