Racing Qatar - Ooredoo marathon Doha

          I finished 2013 with a running race and I started 2014 the same J Mountain bike championship scheduled originally for the week after the marathon got postponed again so I thought: “Why not to try going under 3 hours?” and signed up.

It was just at the beginning of my Christmas week at home and the weather couldn’t be better for some training. Temperatures above zero, no snow, no ice…it was not even raining or windy. Just super calm, grey and moist weather perfect for running. So I went out almost every day, including the Christmas Eve, and was doing medium long runs around the house experiencing what hills and mountains are. Felt so great and the confidence was growing…

          But when I came back to Qatar, I immediately started using my new mountain bike I brought with me and started to train for the upcoming MTB championship. I did some runs too of course, but just as a part of duathlon training. I took a four day rest before the race and I was ready to try something, what wouldn’t have ever though I would be ever able to do in my life J

           The race morning on Corniche was rather cold so I changed to long sleeve last minute to increase comfort, but unfortunately I drank too much and had a slight urge to pee, so it was far from perfect! The goal was to run 4:15 min/km for 42k. That would put me just in below 3 hours. Simple as that!

          And I started exactly like it. Watching my Garmin not to run slower or faster than this. But straight from the start I felt that is it not going as smooth and effortless as I was expecting…and doubts started to crawl on my mind. Anyway, I tried not to get distracted and tried to focus solely on my body and pace. But at around 12k it was not possible anymore, because I really needed to pee! I had to make a difficult decision to lose 45 second and gain the cost comfort or try to hold it, struggle, but save time. I chose comfort. “No point to try to recover the lost time now! “ I decided. “I’ll just run 10 s/km faster at the last 5k and I have it back! If I cannot, everything is lost anyway J” and I went on.

          Feeling better I finished the half in time, put on the music and went for the second lap, the lap of truth. And it didn’t start well, because I started to feel my legs already after like 25k! And that was not looking good L But again, as it is in all sports, there is so much more in your body that it seems. It just has to be unleashed with the mind! And I somehow new, actually I was almost sure, that I have the strength to just keep going and finish it. “Muscle pain is just pain! It can’t slow me down if here is still power left inside the muscles” I though and pushed forward, closely watching my speed not to drop below 4:15. And I was really confident that there is enough strength to get to the finish like that…and even faster!

          Sighing, talking to myself, sometimes shouting and screaming I got to the kilometer 35 and I had to start thinking about paying for my pee break ;) I remember my last marathon where in over-confidence I sped up too early and just ran out of energy 5k before the finish! But if I wanted to keep my dream on, I had to try. So I sped up gently first to 4:10 and when I saw it working I gave it all out for the last 3k running at around 4min/km. I didn’t feel my legs anymore. I was screaming and making painful faces. It was not that bad, but it somehow help me to get over it like that ;) But I was still going…

            42k lap beeped on my Garmin, but the finish was not there yet. It was there even after another 300m where it should be! I had to run almost the whole 1k more to end it. 3:00:10 was the official time, if it was the real 42.195km marathon, I would be at 2:58…so securely sub-3!

          I did it. I managed something I would never thought it would be possible. I was happy, I was enjoying the accomplishment, I felt strong…but still…”I think I could try 2:50 next time! And that would be something J”