My experience at the event:
Yes, you are reading that right. In order to complete the (in)famous
Comrades Ultra Marathon I had to run almost 90km, staying on the road for more than 11 hours. Yes, it was insane. Yes, it was painful (especially after the first, good, 50km when I had a vomit attack). But luckily I managed to find my brother in law in the middle of the running crowd and together we finished and accomplished one of the finest results in our lives.
The race started from Durban, at sea level, to finish in Pietermariztburg, after, according to
my Garmin (some data at the end were corrupted, probably too much information!) 2400 meters of ascents in total. The hills were a killer. The slow start and the humidity in Durban were killers. The crowd was great, but on the tough hills you could easily smell the food they were cooking, or the smoke they were inhaling. It was so hard. We basically stopped running 20km from the end, knowing that even at a walking pace (10mins/km) we would easily finish within the 12 hours cut-off time (after that you finish, but get no medal - all for nothing). The pain was insane. But, arriving in the cricket stadium after yet another major hill, the relieve was incredible, and seeing our families waiting for us helped a lot.
Some pictures from the race:
![Zero no more](https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8854/18529418762_ea3f5c3191_z.jpg)
My number, with a "zero runs" that soon will be erased
![The start of the Comrades](https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8864/18345911790_6582fa6994_z.jpg)
The start in Durba at 5.30
![Not sure if we want to do this](https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/311/17912928893_855f704194_z.jpg)
Andy and I
![When I had still legs...](https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8844/17911418434_689dc1065f_z.jpg)
Running Drummond
![Pretending to run for the camera](https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8834/17913369403_59baa3c3eb_z.jpg)
Catching up with Andy
![Running with Andy](https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8840/18346178150_1d1ce06f10_z.jpg)
Pretending to run
![After more than 11 hours, we are here!](https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8884/18347744279_666c41aa23_z.jpg)
Almost there!
![With Andy at the finish](https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/301/17911293514_033f41b9f2_z.jpg)
We are dead, we we have finished!
![My hard-earned medal](https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/275/18533877595_ceff5db3a6_z.jpg)
My medal
(the whole set of the fantastic weekend is here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/olafmeister/sets/72157651793824474)
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