Seville 2016
Back to the index
My marathon number eight happened in beautiful Seville:
The course of the marathon goes through most of the important parts of the city:
According to the organizers, it's the flattest marathon in Europe.
But before we went to Seville, my wife and I stayed for a few days in Malaga:
We also did daytrips to Cordoba and Granada.
We visited many places, like fortifications...
museums...
Roman ruins...
art centres...
churches...
mosques...
more Roman ruins...
the Alhambra...
culture centres...
museums on top of Roman ruins:
and architectural marvels...
Wow!
--------------------------------------------------------
On Saturday afternoon it was time to go to the FIBES...
... to get my bib and other goodies:
I find it impressive that every participant received this beautiful blue wind-breaker...
--------------------------------------------------------
On Sunday morning I was ready to roll:
The day started cold:
I must have crossed the start line five minutes after the elite runners had started their race.
The first kilometer is always easy:
While I was running, my wife went to see one last museum, this one dedicated to ceramics:
Back at the race, I passed a group of singing marathoners:
They passed me back by km 20...
We went by some of the landmarks of the city:
I did my 10K in a little more than one hour, I was quite happy with my performance.
I passed by the half-way mark in 2h10m, one of my best performances for a half marathon (my PB for the half is a little more than 2h07m).
But the happiness was short-lived, right after the pain in my legs started and I had to slow down quite a bit. I had done the first half at a pace of six minutes per kilometer. Right after that I slowed down to seven minutes, then eight, then nine (between km 30 and 35). It was an ordeal.
During the race I met a Briton and an American, we stayed together for a few minutes talking about marathons and trips and the like. The Briton told me that he goes to marathons while on vacation as well; the American told me that he was born in Spain, so he has relatives in the city, that is why he was running this one.
After a few minutes together we departed to each do our own thing.
The last ten kilometers were hard, I was mostly walking. I had done the run/walk during the first 25 km, but that didn't save me from having to walk a lot in the end.
I even stopped by the ambulance crews to get my legs sprayed with some medicament to help the pain. I saw a runner having their legs sprayed like that, I joined in. The first time it helped a lot, I didn't feel pain for a few kilometers. The second time didn't seem to help as much, but it was good as well. I'm thinking of buying that product and carry with me in my next event.
By km 35 I started suspecting that a sub-5 was not in the cards for me today. I tried to push harder, but my legs would just not comply. I had one hour to do seven kilometers, which normally would be a walk in the park, but after 35 km seemed like an impossible task.
We finish the marathon in a stadium, which is always nice. Here is the South Gate of the Olympic Stadium, less than 500m from the finish line:
Getting into a stadium is always a fantastic experience:
As I knew I wouldn't get my sub-5, I took the time to take a picture just before the end:
My total time was 5h11m11s, but my real time was 5h05m32s:
And here is a picture just after the finish:
My wife and I walked slowly back to our hotel (three or four kilometers), I took a long bath and slept for two hours. Then we went to the bar at the roof of the hotel to celebrate:
Here are my splits:
Up to km 25 I was doing well. I definitely have to do something about those last 17 kilometers. It took me as long to do the last 18 kilometers as it had taken me to do the first 24. Sad...
But well, I finished another marathon, so I'm happy anyway. The course was great, the weather helped a lot, it was a fantastic experience.
The course of the marathon goes through most of the important parts of the city:
According to the organizers, it's the flattest marathon in Europe.
But before we went to Seville, my wife and I stayed for a few days in Malaga:
We also did daytrips to Cordoba and Granada.
We visited many places, like fortifications...
museums...
art centres...
mosques...
more Roman ruins...
the Alhambra...
culture centres...
museums on top of Roman ruins:
and architectural marvels...
Wow!
--------------------------------------------------------
On Saturday afternoon it was time to go to the FIBES...
... to get my bib and other goodies:
I find it impressive that every participant received this beautiful blue wind-breaker...
--------------------------------------------------------
On Sunday morning I was ready to roll:
The day started cold:
I must have crossed the start line five minutes after the elite runners had started their race.
The first kilometer is always easy:
While I was running, my wife went to see one last museum, this one dedicated to ceramics:
Back at the race, I passed a group of singing marathoners:
They passed me back by km 20...
We went by some of the landmarks of the city:
I did my 10K in a little more than one hour, I was quite happy with my performance.
I passed by the half-way mark in 2h10m, one of my best performances for a half marathon (my PB for the half is a little more than 2h07m).
But the happiness was short-lived, right after the pain in my legs started and I had to slow down quite a bit. I had done the first half at a pace of six minutes per kilometer. Right after that I slowed down to seven minutes, then eight, then nine (between km 30 and 35). It was an ordeal.
During the race I met a Briton and an American, we stayed together for a few minutes talking about marathons and trips and the like. The Briton told me that he goes to marathons while on vacation as well; the American told me that he was born in Spain, so he has relatives in the city, that is why he was running this one.
After a few minutes together we departed to each do our own thing.
The last ten kilometers were hard, I was mostly walking. I had done the run/walk during the first 25 km, but that didn't save me from having to walk a lot in the end.
I even stopped by the ambulance crews to get my legs sprayed with some medicament to help the pain. I saw a runner having their legs sprayed like that, I joined in. The first time it helped a lot, I didn't feel pain for a few kilometers. The second time didn't seem to help as much, but it was good as well. I'm thinking of buying that product and carry with me in my next event.
By km 35 I started suspecting that a sub-5 was not in the cards for me today. I tried to push harder, but my legs would just not comply. I had one hour to do seven kilometers, which normally would be a walk in the park, but after 35 km seemed like an impossible task.
We finish the marathon in a stadium, which is always nice. Here is the South Gate of the Olympic Stadium, less than 500m from the finish line:
Getting into a stadium is always a fantastic experience:
As I knew I wouldn't get my sub-5, I took the time to take a picture just before the end:
My total time was 5h11m11s, but my real time was 5h05m32s:
And here is a picture just after the finish:
My wife and I walked slowly back to our hotel (three or four kilometers), I took a long bath and slept for two hours. Then we went to the bar at the roof of the hotel to celebrate:
Here are my splits:
But well, I finished another marathon, so I'm happy anyway. The course was great, the weather helped a lot, it was a fantastic experience.
Back to the index
Comments
Post a Comment