So yesterday I finished my first marathon ever in the time: 03:51:10 (according to the official timing at
The event was marvelous and I had a great time - even though I made a huge tactical mistake.
Anyway I misunderstood the concept of the times on the balloons attached to the pace-keepers to I went looking for a balloon with the writing 5:20, which should be the minutes/km. I wanted to stick to. So I located the balloon saying 5:00 - and they announced that the times on the balloons was the finishing time in hours - damn.
The start of the race only being minutes away I gave up making my way through the more that 8000 runners attempting to locate the right balloons. So when the race began I just ran a bit faster to make it to the next balloons - I was so lucky as to run straight past my family :)
At some point I reached the balloons saying 3:45, but I was going at a quicker pace, so I just passed them. in retrospect I should probably just have have stayed with them.
The first mistake of mine was probably to attempt to catch them at all since I was running somewhat fast from the beginning and as a beginner you should run slower in the beginning until you get a good pace and rhythm.
So at about 36 km. my legs were wasted and I had to walk. I had been walking through all of the depots where you could get fruit, water and powerade, but it got harder and harder for me to get back to a good pace in running with the stops after 36 km. So eventually I was passed by the 3:45 pace-keepers - but I was able to get running for the last 3 km. thinking that I wanted to attempt to finish in less than 4 hours.
So I succeeded, but in general this is one of the toughest things I have ever done.
When I got home my stomach went crazy, I was pretty tired in the legs, but I could walk - the stomach problems went on all night
and just before going to bed I got sick and emptied my stomach contents into the toilet. There is no doubt that my body suffered from serious physical exertion.
Today my stomach it better, I have eaten some yogurt and I feel much better - it is faster for me to walk backwards down the stairs however - but I should be walking normally when we get to NPW next weekend.
I have considered going to Berlin to run the marathon there in September, but my physical condition taken into consideration - I think I will skip this, since being sick like this in a hotel room is not fun, I would much rather be a home, so Iceland and Berlin will have to wait. And I have a 5 day marathon coming up for the first week of my summer holiday :)
But I am sure this is not my last marathon.
Re:wow!
jonasbn on 2008-05-20T05:11:06
Well the whole thing is sort of ambivalent - I now I should be exited and somehow I am, but the feeling is more like when I finished reading 'The Lord of the Rings', you so much want to finish, but when you do. you are left with an empty feeling.
The feeling is not as strong as back then though, but I would imagine I have hardened a bit since school:)
Anyway I just need to get running again and set my self a new goal - after all this all started out with a simple wish to do something physical, when w0rk is sitting in front of a computer all day.
But I finished a marathon and that surely is fantastic
Re:Great work!
jonasbn on 2008-05-20T04:52:09
Thank you, personally I had higher ambitions, but with my new found respect for the marathon distance I am very satisfied.
