yesterday I successfully completed my 5th Marathon. I had high hopes building up to this one, since I've had my longest break between Marathons as of yet. Coming up to raceday, I wasn't feeling that confident any longer, however. That is mostly due to me doing a lot of renovating this last week and everyone knows that standing on ladders while scraping off wallpaper and climbing countless flights of stairs isn't the best way to rest for a Marathon. Hence, I rested pretty much the whole of Saturday, apart from my normal slow 5K run in the morning.
The Marathon was due to start at 9.30 and since we had an hour drive ahead of us, as well as having to still pick up my bib and not knowing the parking situation, we had to leave quite early. I prepared everything the evening before, so I only needed to get dressed and breakfast in the morning. This time I had some white toast with jam and chia.
When we got there, we found a pretty good parking spot, only 5 minutes walk away from the starting area. There was no queue to pick up my bib and so we actually ended up being a little early. After a quick run to the toilet, we enjoyed the sun for a little, while we waited for the run to start. At this point it was about 15°C, going up to 20°C in the next couple of hours. There were no clouds and only limited shade along the track, so perhaps a little too warm to be called "ideal", but compared to my Marathon on Duisburg last year, this was nothing, so I labelled it "OK" :) We are building up to the warm summer months soon enough.
A quick goodbye to my faithful supporters (Christine and mother-in-law Flori) and then I join the other runners in the starting area. I try to stick close to the 03:30 pacemaker, since I wanted to stick to that pace for the first part of the run. Olaf Thon (a well known German football player, who used to play for Schalke) was saying a few words as well. Normally he would be running as well, but he had a football game that evening to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the "Eurofighters", who won the UEFA cup 20 years ago.
The start was delayed by about 15 minutes, due to the course not being completely cleared, but then we finally got going. I saw Christine and Flori standing a few meters along the track, but with all the runners rushing past, they were not able to see (or hear) me. The track wasn't really suitable for supporters to cheer on the runners much, since there was no good place to stand to see the same runner more frequently, so I only saw them at the start and again at the end. After the first few kilometers, the field was spread out a little and I found a good rhythm. Even with the last week not being great, I still didn't feel that bad, although I did have some hamstring pains later on, which I usually don't have. My goal for this Marathon was to stay under 4 hours and I wanted to stay under a 5min/km pace for as long as possible. After about four kilometers we first ran through a coal mining compound, which was really cool, as I have never experienced anything like that before. We crossed pretty much the entire area before heading back towards the city. We then followed a footpath through a forest for a long time and crossed a few little bridges.
At KM 18 I let myself fall back a little. I knew I wouldn't be able to hold that pace and decided to reserve myself a little. I was on good pace to stay under 4 hours, so there was no need to risk anything at this stage. As I expected, the course was quite flat, apart from one steep uphill road that ran for about 500m. Even so, it did feel like most of the course went just ever so slightly uphill. It was hardly perceptable, but after 25 kilometers, you start noticing. The downhill parts must have been there as well, but those I didn't notice at all. My watch told me it was about 120 meters in altitute for the whole run, which is not really much, but it felt like more. At KM 25 we ran through another coal mining compound. While the other one was more of a museum, this one was in full action. Big piles of coal everywhere and sooted miners cheering on the runners.
My gameplan was to only walk at the drink stations, which were located roughly every 3 kilometers. There was plenty of choice, from water to an isotonic drink, coke and bananas. I managed to follow that pattern for most of the remaining course, only occasionally stopping for an additional short walk. My weakest phase was between KM 33 and 35. After that I mostly managed to run about 2 kilometers after each walking break. At KM 39 we ran through a really nice park and I even saw a bridal pair. Hopefully the Marathon didn't thwart their photo plans! At KM 40 I stopped for another last walking break. Looking at the watch, I knew I could afford it and still stay under 4 hours. I finished the remainder of the run in a comfortable trot. I probably could have produced a little more energy to run a little fast if I had needed to, but I didn't see any need to do so to save a few seconds. I have accepted the fact that I will not be able to get close to my best times while I am running so many Marathons, so I am satisfied with this time. I see and wave to Christine and Flori in the last corner, before I trot down the last 200 meters and across the finish line, where I am awared with yet another medal. After a little bit of stretching, I get myself a bit to eat and a drink and leave the finish area to join up with Christine and Flori and we head back to the car, which seems to be a 10 minute walk away now for some reason, very strange.
All things considered, it was a surprisingly enjoyable Marathon with a lot of green areas and some very unusual and impressive highlights. Performance was also acceptable and therefore a successful 5th Marathon. Duisburg is up next in three weeks and I hope it won't be as hot as it was last year, but it doesn't currently look like it at least. Unfortunately Christine won't be able to support me this time, so I have to see if I can find someone to support me or if I have to head there on my own, which wouldn't be the first time :-)
As usual, I have added a few photos below, go check it out.
My next update will be after the Duisburg Marathon.
Speak to you soon.
Stefan
Christine and I (before the run if that wasn't obvious)
My faithful supporters. Flori doesn't seem that excited, but it's only the sun bothering her :-)
Enjoying the sun a little before the run.
And a long skip to the end of the run, coming around the last corner.
Trotting along the last 200 meters.
Finished. Exhausted but satisfied.
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