Amsterdam marathon 2011

Sunday, 16th October 2011

It has been long enough since my first marathon in Chicago 2005 to forget all the pain. I just remember from 2005 that, apart from not having done enough running in preparation, I started much too fast, so that I lost a lot of time towards the end of the race and finished in 3:50. So, after months of, for me, quite a lot of running, I felt more or less ready to face it again and hopefully do better. Recent 5 and 10k results indicated a time of 3:15. However, these calculations didn’t really work for my half marathon time…

So, this is how it went:
1) One day before the race: Saturday morning in Amsterdam. Sunshine, 18 degrees. Perfect day for walking through the city. At the end of the day … sore feet.

2) The hours before race: The night before, I managed to leave the alarm on UK time! Just realised it during breakfast and had to rush to the start. Made it in time!

3) Moments before the start: Again beautiful weather. Sun, no cloud to see, no wind. All the runners are in the Olympic stadium. Great atmosphere. Cannot find the 3:15 pacing team. Because of 2), not even written down the splits. I am standing towards the back of the field. So, sure the pacing team must be ahead of me. Some quick calculations tell me what my pace should be for my target. Will catch up with them.

4) Start of the race: Good pace at the beginning. This seems to be so easy. Great! So, sure I can run faster than my already (very ambitious) target… Perfect part of the race. What a wonderful feeling to run with fresh legs.

5) Middle of the race: Passed the half way point with just a 1 and a half minutes slower than my PB for a half marathon. Excellent! By the way, where is the pacing team?

6) Kilometre 29. Strange, cannot keep my pace up anymore. What’s going on? Seem to be getting slower and slower. Maybe my watch does not work?

7) Kilometre 33. The 3:15 pacing team flies past me, as if I am standing on the spot. I try to keep up with them. But no chance.

8) Last kilometres of the race. I feel as if only walking could be slower. Loose more than a minute per kilometre. The last water stations are a welcoming excuse to walk for a bit. I never felt that tired during a race. People feel sorry for me and shout my name as I pass them.

9) Finish: 3:23:49. Almost 9 minutes slower than my target, but just happy to have done it. Just relax among the other runners, eat and drink as much as I can. What a race. Made all the mistakes again. From the faces around me I can see that others feel not much better. More training is needed, but maybe no hill reps on Monday.