Maraton PB: Advice, Keep Running!

Being snowed under with work and a bit of procrastination to boot on my part has kept me from updating this blog. To my disappointment I've been avoiding the work of posting information about my running life over the past few months.  Despite my inability to check in recently, I still managed to rack up a PB at the Warsaw Marathon in September of last year.  At three hours and thirty-four minutes, it was not a time that would qualify me for London or Boston, but it was a huge improvement in my own running ability, and an for me an incredibly efficiently run race. The key for me was to carry out a simple action that one should do in  any other marathon: to keep running.  If you can just keep that pace for 42 kilometers, (26.2 mi) then you can sail across the finish line with your own best time.  It is, however, easier said than done.

They say (and you know they say a lot) that the third time is a charm.  For me though, it took me four marathons to earn a respectable result.  The first three were all learning experiences that painfully illustrated the fact that there is always room for improvement.  The first marathon, in Warsaw in 2012,  was all about getting over the hump of actually completing that first marathon.  I dutifully prepared myself for it and was really careful about staying hydrated during the race.  By keeping a steady pace, I finished in under four hours.  After completing the first marathon, I traveled to Lodz in Poland a few months later thinking that since I had a marathon under my belt, the second one would be easier.  Unfortunately, this was not the case.  Lack of preparation in the run up to this marathon left me tired and lethargic during the last ten kilometers and I ended up having to walk between the thirty-ninth and fortieth kilometer.  I managed to trot the last two kilometers to the finish, but crossed the finish about twenty minutes later than my first time.  

Taking the previous disappointment as a lesson learned; I took advantage of the warm spring weather and trained diligently for my third marathon which was an off road marathon in the lake district (Mazury) in Poland.  This was a fantastic run.  Scenic and warm, it was a blissful run with a small group of runners.  Despite the enjoyable experience, my technical fault in this race was my overly conservative pace.  I was really prepared for this off road race, and I could have clocked in with a better time.  Still,  at 3:56 for a rather hilly off-road race is nothing to frown at.  Anyway, in the end, I made sure I had prepared enough, drank enough water, and trusted myself a bit more to continue to the finish line.  Looking at the first three marathons as learning experiences, I really set a higher standard for myself with the fourth finish last September.

With this knowledge, I hope I'll be ready for the next one in May,  in Krakow.  Remember, listen to the boy scouts when they say "be prepared," drink a lot of water while you run, and trust your legs.  They won't fall off.

Check out a short video of the 2013 Warsaw Marathon.