as promised, I am sharing my experience for my first Marathon this year! I have uploaded a couple of photos below, but you can find some more on my facebook page: Facebook
Following a quiet Saturday, with a short and slow pre-marathon run, I went to bed early at 10pm. I was rudely awaken by my alarm clock at 6.45am. As usual, my breakfast consisted of oats, this time in the form of a muesli with chia to keep me full. Then it was time to get dressed and prepare.
One last check:
All required clothes ✔
Warm gear for after the run ✔
Timing chip ✔
Watch ✔
Drinks ✔
Froozeballs ✔
With German punctuality, my wife and I were sitting in the car, ready to head off at 7.30am. After a quick stop, to pick up my second companion, my mother-in-law, we were on the road to Kleve. We were a bit worried about the road conditions, since we experienced some black ice in large areas of Germany on Saturday, but seemed to be mostly gone as we left. After just over an hour of driving, we were guided to our parking space. After a short 300 meter walk, we arrived at our final destination. (pun intended)
I quickly grabbed my starter pack, which literally only consisted of my starting number and we headed to the large warm tent to rest for a few minutes. We were quite surprised by the number for signups. While I was preparing my final clothing, the speaker mentioned 419 signups, which is quite a decent number for such a small Marathon.
After finishing my banana and going to the toilet one last time, I was ready to head to the starting line. It started filling up quickly. It was only 3°C, but I didn't feel too cold. A few minutes wait, a countdown and off we were!
I quickly found a group who were running a pace that was around what I had planned for the early phases of the run at around 5 minutes per KM. I wouldn't be able to achieve a personal best with that pace, but I didn't want to overdo it on my first run of the year. It was very foggy, but it later became apparent, when the fog lifted, that I didn't miss much. Fields and trees in every direction. Every kilometer was signposted. Since I was running 7 rounds, each sign showed me the distance for each round and the longer the run went on, the more I got frustrated with seeing the high numbers on the signs! Each round had two refreshment stations, one at the start (0km/6km/12km/etc.) and one just before half way (2.5km/8.5km/14.5km/etc.). They offered warm water and tea, as well as cold coke and some fruit cake.
The first lap was relatively uneventful, I waved at my companions and continued on to lap two. After every subsequent lap, my wife handed me a froozeball, which was great, since I didn't need to carry them around with me. I continued on with the same pace, going between 4:45m/km and 5:00m/km. There was a slightly faster group about 200 meters ahead of me and I was feeling good, so I decided to catch up. I sticked with this group for the next 4 laps. I was slightly faster on lap 4, but they caught up again shortly after starting lap 5. This is where I had my first short walk of around 30 seconds and my calf started complaining, but thankfully it went away again in the same lap. After this point I had trouble keeping up with the 5 minute pace. I did manage a few more, but I also had some slower kilometers, so my lap average was above that pace for the remaining 3 laps. I did have a few more short walks, but I used the refreshment stations as excuses for short walks, so managed to force myself to the next station before stopping again. The last two laps were quite exhausting and my thighs were on the verge of cramping up, but thankfully it never fully happened. I walked about 10 minutes of the entire Marathon, so I'm not too unhappy about that. As many Marathon runners experience, you seem to have some energy reserves for the last two kilometers, so I managed a decent pace from KM40 until the end. In the finish area I was welcomed by a cheerful girl, who handed me a medal and, of course, my companions. After some painful stretching, we headed to the warm tent and sat down for a few minutes, before heading back to our car. The 300 meters now seemed like a terribly long distance and my feet were very much in pain.
Once we got home, I jumped in the shower and threw myself on the couch, that was about all I felt like doing at that point. I am already feeling much better today and should be able to do some slow recovery runs come Thursday, before doing some more training for my next Marathon in 4 weeks.
Short summary: The cold weather didn't really bother me much, I even got rid of my beanie and gloves after a couple of rounds. The track was quite boring, but at least it was flat throughout and the roads were in good condition. The short laps were a mental challenge, but a Marathon is never easy and this one didn't feel much harder than other Marathons to me personally. I am quite happy with my performance, but there is always room for improvement :)
Thanks to my two companions, to everyone who has donated so far and everyone who has wished me luck and supported me. I will follow up with an overview of all donations at the end of the month along with information on my next Marathon.
Stefan
Results: Here
| Platz gesamt: | 77 |
| Platz M/W: | 73 |
| Platz AK (MHK): | 8 |
| Zeit brutto: | 3:43:49 |
| Zeit netto: | 3:43:42 |
| Geschwindigkeit: | 5:18 min/km bzw. 11,32 km/h |
| Runde 1 (km 1- 6): | 29:16 |
| Runde 2 (km 7-12): | 28:49 |
| Runde 3 (km 13-18): | 28:57 |
| Runde 4 (km 19-24): | 28:32 |
| Runde 5 (km 25-30): | 31:48 |
| Runde 6 (km 31-36): | 36:47 |
| Runde 7 (km 37-42): | 38:34 |
| Zieleinlauf: | 01:02 |
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