The Mazury Marathon (Maraton Mazury)

last minute camera instructions

Exhausted and thirsty, I crossed the finish line three hours and fifty six minutes and 42.195 kilometers after beginning the Mazury Marathon last week.  It was the third marathon finish in my life, but this time was by far the most challenging.   Despite being in one of the most picturesque regions of Poland in the middle of the famous majestic lake district, the marathon crossed many hilly parts that continually inclined and declined throughout the course.  Nevertheless, the shadiness and the abundance of water stops along the way made it do-able and in my opinion, fun.

Oblivious like Forest Gump, I am hiding in background at the starting corral not realizing man in soccer jersey is a famous Polish television journalist...can you spot me?

after about seven kilometers, lots of smiles at this point.

Coming out of the starting area and out of the village of Galkowo, the sound of cheering spectators slowly subsided as the village road gave way to a shaded path covered in pine and birch trees.  After a relatively flat 6 or 7 kilometers the path started to incline a bit and then around 10 or 12kilometers the short climbs started, and continued throughout the course, peaking at a modest 200 meter climb around the thirty-first kilometer.  Despite the moderate climbs, the challenging bit for an amateur like myself was the continuity of the course.  Training in a flat city like Warsaw before running in a hilly course was something new for me.

Despite the hilly terrain, as mentioned, I managed to finish without stopping –despite a bathroom break at around the midway point.  It was also quite a pleasant run as there were only about 250 runners on the course.  Around the 39^th kilometer though, I was starting to feel the pain of the whole ordeal and had to mentally deal with the pathetic quitting voice in my head telling me to give up.  After hearing the cheers about a kilometer from the finish lifted my spirits, however, the quitting voice vanished.   Coming out of the final turn and back into the village of Galkowo, the tranquility of the trails turned into cheers as the villagers, who were standing in front of their houses offering water and beer shouting "Dalej," along with  friends and family members of the runners stuck around to cheer on the finishers.  Despite finishing a small trail race, the cheers were actually louder and more supportive than any of the two city marathons that I had finished.  High fives and cheers--some for my name is always a pleasant surprise, but  more importantly, however, was my wife who was standing there cheering for the first time at the finish line of a race I’ve been in.  It's a good thing she came to a good one.  Needless to say, I was quite touched by all of it.  Despite what many people say about the unpleasantries of running, I consider myself quite lucky to be a runner.  Please check out the video and witness yours truly make it across the finish.

Crossing the finish line at 3:56, not  a record, but happy to finish