Sport	Race
Event	RAC Tough One
Date	24 November 2013
Where	Randburg, South Africa
Distance	32 Km
Finishing Time	02:55:28
Race Number	4803
Result	1152/4865
Top %	24%
Pace	5:29 m/km
Speed	10.94 km/h
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My experience at the event:

I knew this was a good year for sport. After demolishing my previous 50km record in September in the city to city (I completed it almost 30 minutes earlier than my first attempt in 2011), and improving by 45 minutes in the 94.7 cycle challenge, the RAC Tough One was the last obstacle to complete a good 2 months of hard training.

The final result speaks for itself: race completed for the first time under the 3 hours (and they even give you a nice medal for the effort), and PB smashed by almost 30 minutes!

I knew the race was going to get me a new PB after I realized that in the first section I was running was faster than expected (keeping a pace of just above 5 mins/km instead of the 5.20/5.30 I planned for). When the second half of the race started, with the crazy long hills and quick descents (which are a killer for quads, especially after the cycling effort the week before), I had enough time to relax, still keeping a pace of around 6mins/km in the last few stretches.

For once the second half wasn't completed under the sun, we had clouds and some breeze, which helped. Andy finished just before the 4 hours mark (after getting injured in the last 5km), and Jill improved her personal best by almost 20 minutes, finishing 10 minutes or so behind Andy. Great team (family) performance!

Even my Joburg Duathlon's (94.7 cycle challenge + RAC Tough one in the same week) record was improved, from 7 hours and 50 minutes this year I went down to 6 hours and 40 minutes!

And now, with 3 races out of the way, it's time to focus on the last race of my personal calendar: the Rockman XTRI offroad triahtlon in the Vaal Dam next sunday... 

Some pictures from the race:

At the start line at 6am

With Andy

A nice medal

Duathlon completed!

Andy arriving

Jill arriving

Team power!

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