A Vienna Slice...
Language student and Wallsend Harrier Tony Carter is currently living and studying in Europe, and using the time to city-hop competing in various races. He sends this report - tinged with the disappointment of unfulfilled ambition - from Austria...
The Vienna Half Marathon 2010
On Sunday 18th April I was in Vienna having an absolute stinker of a half marathon so this race report will be brief…
Hoping to run a good race, I tried to replicate my pre-race preparation from what I did in Paris, mainly walking around and having a look at the sights. I was with one of my course mates who is currently based in Vienna. I was also eating and drinking as much as I can. In retrospect, perhaps I should have drank still, and not carbonated, mineral water and should perhaps have done at least an hours run on Thursday and Friday instead of doing nothing.
As it was, at the start of the biggest marathon in Austria my race was already over before it began as I knew I would die somewhere on the course.
I did take the first 9k fast - at least 5 seconds faster than the 3.25 per km split I was aiming for - even going past the elite women’s marathon group at 5kms (elite runners had a 1 minute head start before the main field), but then it just got worse after that. I did recover a bit of pace between 10 and 13k thanks to some loud music and the crowds, but it just went downhill after that.
At 14k I said to someone next to me I was done in (in German of course) and he lent me an energy gel which I reluctantly accepted, knowing I was not lacking in energy but lacking leg strength. At 15k I was still faster than what I was at Paris but that only lasted until 16k, where the leading elite women overtook me and where I announced my dissatisfaction live on Austrian national television!
Then on I just wanted the race to finish and I was counting the kilometres down. People were shouting something like “Up! Up! Up!” I was grumbling “Nein! Nein! Nein!” I was even ignoring the cheerleaders in my desperation to finish.
My time was 1hr 16mins and 41secs, and at the end I did not know whether I wanted to cry in disappointment or curse in anger at what I had done, only knowing I wanted to get home as soon as possible. When I got there, I did go for a short ride on the bike to try to forget things.
My next half marathon is in Bonn on the 25th April, the former capital of West Germany.
A report will follow after it.
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