All Good Things Come To An End

After yet another long journey, not made easier by our entourage of four children all under the age of ten, we are back on Irish soil. I've had one week to reflect on the marathon; the pain has largely been forgotten, the warm glow is still there.

- Considering the type of shape I was in the weeks before the marathon, I basically underperfomed. All my training indicated that I was in 2:55 shape, on the day I had to fight tooth and nail for my 2:59. Having said that,

- I don't mean I did not perform in the actual race itself. As someone else said, and I entirely agree, I may run a marathon faster one day, but I'm unlikely ever to run harder.

- The main reason why I struggled was that a strenuous 12-hour journey to Vienna and a few stressful sightseeing days with kids had me worn out (at least that's my theory). I tried to relax, especially the day before the race, but it did not work nearly as well it should have. Therefore:

- If you want to run a fast marathon, don't fly a long distance to a destination marathon, especially not with four kids in tow. Having said that

- the Vienna marathon course is ideally suited to a fast time. Just as long as you don't have to travel to it. All if which leads to:

- If you want to break 3 hours, it pays to be in 2:55 shape. In that case you can have a bad day and still break 3 hours. And

- Running right at the edge of your abilities for 3 hours and then achieve your target by a margin of less than 1 second per mile is extremely satisfying. They will eventually have to surgically remove that grin from my face.


The training really came through for me, not only in the obvious way that meant that I was running faster than ever before. It did more than that, especially on the mental side. There was one particularly brutal 20 mile run on a Sunday, following an already exhausting tempo run on Saturday, that had me on the brink the entire time. For the whole workout I was convinced that I would not be able to do it; I just ran one more mile, then one more, then another one until I finally realised that I was almost done. The marathon was very much a carbon copy of that. Since I had been there before, I managed to hold on for the entire 26 miles.

Before the marathon I stated my regret of not having raced any 5 or 10Ks, knowing that I would have pulverised my existing PBs. I sure am glad that the coach did not compromise the training at all. I needed every single ounce of marathon specific fitness at the end.

I tend to hate racing photos of me. They make me look even uglier than I already am. But I love the shot from my previous entry, right at the finish. If ever there was a photo that contained everything about a race in one shot, that's it.

Chances are that it won't be, but during the race I could not help wondering if that would be my one and only shot at breaking three hours. I guess that's the thing that kept me going. The main reason why I managed to break 3 hours is that I wanted it badly enough.

22 Apr

8.4 miles, 1:04:43, 7:42 pace, HR 153
   Bad Aussee – Grundlsee and back. Ran too hard.

23 Apr

5 miles, 39:06, 7:49 pace, HR 146
   Bad Aussee – Altaussee and back. Better.