So here are my impressions of the marathons that I've competed in. For those who have already run long distance, many of the experiences I describe will be familiar. For those that have not yet competed in endurance events, hopefully it will give some idea of what life as a serial marathon runner is like!
I’m not an elite athlete, my average flat marathon time is a little under four hours. Many resources available online focus on runners who excel at what they do, Instead I’ll talk about my perspective as someone who is in the end a pretty average guy who likes to run. As I really like trail running, special focus is given to the Jungfrau Marathon, as it is one of the most memorable events that I have been lucky enough to participate in.
I’ll start from the beginning, a false start many years ago long before my first marathon attempt. If you want to know the whole story of my running history and all of my other reports, then they can be found below that, and you can tap on each section to open and read it. If you just want my latest race report, scroll to the bottom.
- Prologue: Road to Lausanne, Summer 2003Open or Close
Road to Lausanne, Summer 2003
I don't recall the exact moment that I decided to train for a competitive long run. However, it was in Spring 2003 and my target became the Lausanne Half Marathon scheduled for late October. This would be a long race and I did not even think about the full marathon distance at that time. I was not a competitive runner. Just 3 or 4km around the park with my girlfriend at most. But the idea popped into my head so I searched online and found a beginner training programme for the half marathon distance, downloaded it, and proceeded to follow it.
Well, I failed to reach the finish line. In fact, I failed to even reach the start line!
And not because of injury… I trained for awhile but a combination of being unused to running long distances, long work hours, the unusually hot and humid Summer… and if I am being honest: less mental strength, made everything seem like a struggle.
Reaching 11km one day in training around our local park close to our apartment (a half marathon is 21.2km), I recall a dual feeling of both admiration and dread: "Wow! That's 11km, that's a long way…. yet it's barely half of the full distance of what I am training for.” I was reaching my perceived (perception being perhaps the key factor here) limits and shortly thereafter I just let it go, giving up on the whole endeavour and returning to normal life.
Many months later, I was at home in bed on a Sunday morning when I received a text message informing me that I would be starting the race in an hour, and reminding me of my start details. I was several hundred kilometers away, it was cold outside and I was nicely tucked up in a warm bed (it was a cold October Sunday after all) and hadn't thought about the race in months. We had a laugh about it and went back to reading the Sunday newspapers.
7 Years pass would pass before I would try anything like it again…
- Marathon 1: Lausanne 2010Open or CloseWhat made me decide to try again, so many years later, and this time try to run nearly four times further than my previous training had gotten me to? This I do remember: it was a mountain, and not any old one at that: It was Mount Everest. In the Spring of that 2010 I undertook a personal adventure: trekking in the Himalayas to the base camp of Everest, a long time dream of mine. Furthermore, I had planned and completed the trip totally independently, and had found that I had enjoyed not only the trip, but the planning and organisation needed to arrange it. Both aspects certainly gave me a sense of empowerment. Hey, I can trek for twelve days straight to over 5500m above sea level. What's next? The marathon idea hove back into view.
Signing up was next. Then choosing a training programme. A sixteen week programme. I began to use the fairly new at that point Nike+ system to record and analyse my runs. I started training. Some weeks later, Ursula grumbled begrudgingly onto the programme as well.
Lots of first time experiences followed. Mainly this meant every Sunday when the weekly long run normally exceeded that of the prior weekend (that's a feature of all training programmes). For example, I recall getting to 19km around a nearby lake (my longest distance at that point) and barely being able to summit a tiny hill that was not more than five meters high. I often recall this in light of my later runs which definitely included some bigger hills!
Now quite suddenly, I was being asked to run further than a half marathon every single weekend. If you are committed, then mental expectations adjust upwards, and you just do it. We found a route along the river from Zürich to Baden, around 25km, which was a great training run.
Following the river meant that the scenery was nice, the route was easy to follow, it was neither too hilly nor too flat, and traffic was not a problem. These are all considerations that you think about when choosing training routes for long runs, and I saw that as part of the fun and a great way to explore the hitherto murky backwaters around my City. Of course, I could also have simply run on a treadmill but gym’s are not really my thing. I like the open air, and see it as a real plus of running. The outdoors really is a free gym you know.
My mantra was (and remains) that being prepared was the best preparation. That meant, we should experience a race before the race. So we signed up for the Greifenseelauf (a half marathon) which was to be our first competitive event. Ursula felt sick on the day but ran anyway after being inspired by watching James Cracknell (an ex-olympic rower who occasionally took part in extreme challenges) push himself in a documentary on TV the night before while he was also sick. Taking account that Ursula was not in tip top condition, we ran together and came in shortly after two hours.One thing however that I couldn't prepare for was running the actual marathon distance: 42.195km. The longest training run in marathon programmes only gets to about 34km. The idea is that the full distance is too stressful for the human body in training (it takes weeks to fully recover), so you keep it for the race day only.
Not long afterwards arrived the Taper. No, that's not a wise mythical figure or a kind of worm. It's the point three weeks out from the big day that you start to wind down the training so as to be in peak condition on Marathon day and not overtrained. Once you are tapering, you know that you are on the cusp.
We arrived nervous and excited in Lausanne the day before race day. First stop: the first Marathon Expo. Here you pick up your bib (like the one above) and timing chip, which normally comes in a goodie bag with race details and things that the sponsors give away like little boxes of cereal, and a voucher for that other institution of the marathon experience: the Pasta Party. Lausanne has one was the best (they vary), as it's a nice meal with a cool atmosphere and its on a big boat parked in the harbour.
Up at 5am for a small breakfast and the first of several nervous bowel movements. Before I know it, we are on the start line, checking for the third time that my laces are tied properly… but not too tightly (that would be a rookie error). BANG went the start gun! I felt like I was flying through the first 25km thinking, oh wow, I am going to be faster than I expected…. The training must have really paid off!But I was committing a cardinal sin of marathon running: racing much faster on race day than in training. And I was about to pay for it. Around 30km suddenly I was beginning to feel sick and nauseous. Lausanne is an out and in course: they close the major lakeside road just for you and you run up to Vevey where you turn and head back to Lausanne. The scenery is spectacular: steep vineyards on one side and the great expanse of lake and the Alps on the other. The return leg has quite some uphills to rolling hills to traverse: nothing much really but still enough to hurt. By 34km, which I had run in training without incident, I was feeling increasingly nauseous. After 38km I had to stop and walk occasionally.
Before the race, Ursula and I had decided to run the course together, and although she was in good shape and could have gone much faster, Ursula stuck by me when I said I needed her and we limped over the line in 4H:12M. Afterwards I began to shiver uncontrollably from my body cooling, and decided to visit the medical tent. They told me that I was suffering from mild hypothermia, and they put a saline drip into my arm and got it somehow wrong because in the coming weeks my vein inflated like a bodybuilder on too many steroids, and looked very ugly indeed.
What I know now is that the medical tent was also cold and I was cold and all I really needed was a warm blanket or something, and this is what they failed to provide. Anyhow, after twenty minutes on a gurney, I felt a little better and limped away. Marathon complete.
Nevertheless, I was happy I did it, proud of the finisher medal that I wore all the way back to Zürich on the train. I'd aimed for around four hours, and by and large had achieved it even though in a very ragged state. I was also recipient of my first marathon finisher shirt, made by Switcher and perhaps the best single piece of sports clothing I possibly have owned, it still looks like new four years later after hundreds of wears.
- Marathon 2: Lausanne 2011Open or CloseI clearly recall towards the end of my first marathon, during the actual race as nausea swept over me, thinking: "Never Again!” (In fact, I shouted this out loud around 40km!)
Indeed, I never had ambitions past completing one Marathon. Well, never say never again as I signed up for a second attempt a year later. Although I had completed my objective of completing a marathon, it had left a sour taste in my mouth that I had crossed the line feeling so ill. I had hit the wall, which could reasonably be expected… but I had hit the wall at a distance where in training I had avoided it. Why?
My first suspicion was that I had not worn enough clothes during the race, my core body temperature had cooled and I had gotten mildly hypothermic. Running 10km in that state is truly horrible I can say first hand. We all know the feeling when our stomach churns and we think we might soon throw up. Well imagine having that feeling and then needing to do a ten kilometer run. Decidedly unpleasant.
Last year it had been 13 degrees Celsius. So this year I decided to wear more clothes: long trousers, a base layer, and thin gloves. That would sort me out! Aside from that, I incorporated some different training techniques and worked on nutrition. Once again we ran a half marathon during training and this time I achieved 1H:54M, not bad, not bad. How would I fare on the big day. Weather conditions indicated essentially the same conditions. Once again, 13 degrees and sunny.
The end result was, I had pretty much the same experience as before. Nausea, wanting to vomit, exhaustion. I clearly recall momentarily sitting down on the pavement around 38km, and an old lady with her little bulldog came to inspect me, and the bulldog licking my arm because it was salted with sweat. Then the little old lady admonished me, telling me it was time to get a move on. She was right, so I did.
That year I coped slightly better though, and got over the line with 4:05. Still above four hours, but seven minutes better than the previous year. Prior to the start, I had told Ursula that she should run her own race and she came in around 3:55. Sitting down after the race, I was again shivering but not so much. I recall downing a cold bottle of Coca Cola and for whatever reason this momentarily sent me to the very precipice of physical collapse for a minute! Still, I reigned myself back in and with a warm jacket on, soon recovered. Hey, I was faster than before and had avoided medical attention! A good result.
- No marathons at allOpen or CloseGiven that Zürich is my adopted ”hometown" and has it's own marathon, why hadn't I aimed for that? Well, when I first decided to attempt a marathon in Spring and the Zürich marathon is in Spring so the timing was off. In endurance running, you really need to think ahead! So I chose Lausanne because it still sounded exotic, being on the other side of the country, but was relatively easy to get to, and was in Autumn.
I've not yet run a major marathon like London. I like the vibe of slightly smaller events, and enjoy being able to get home easily enough afterwards… that's worth taking into consideration after making a supreme effort like a marathon requires.
Finally, I've heard that waiting times at the start line in major marathons can be horrendous, like three hours. Most of the marathons I have done have had between one and four thousand entrants. At some events these numbers are swelled to perhaps ten thousand because marathoners run with half marathoners and with a simultaneous team relay event.
Anyhow, Zürich was always in the back of my mind. I'd trained for it the year before but had to pull out half way through training as I'd suffered knee problems which wouldn't go away. This year, I trained again but a month out from race day I'd been having a lot of pain in my achilles area of the ankle. I went to the doctor and she diagnosed Achilles Tendonitis, making me squeal like a stuck pig when she squeezed the relevant bit of my anatomy. She strongly suggested that I shouldn't attempt the marathon in that condition. I took a moment then listened and pulled out.
Indeed I gave up all sport completely for five months to let them heal. Nothing healed. I still have achilles tendonitis today, as I write this, but I live with it and it seems to live with me.
- Marathon 3: Zurich 2013Open or CloseHeres where things definitely heated up for me, though not as a result of a conscious plan. Registering once again for Zürich would mean my third attempt just to reach the start line, let alone the finish. This time I would do more training alone, as work commitments ruled out Ursula from this race. I would try to train intelligently and attempt to run in under the magical four hour mark.
It's worth pausing on that for a moment. A marathon is race. It is a competitive race. But more than many sports, a marathon is a competition against oneself. The so called PB, standing for personal best. This depends entirely on the runner, but since I was hovering just above the four hour mark, I really wanted to see if I could get my finish time to start with a "3". I would not base my sense of self worth on achieving this, but I really wanted to try and make it happen.
I would also try to finish the race without feeling as sick as a dog, and considered this at least as important as the finish time. I had been plenty warm enough during my second Lausanne attempt and had felt almost as bad as the first one, so I pinpointed that the cause must be to do with nutrition. Adequate fuelling is crucial in marathon running. I've always been sporty, but it is only since I became a long distance runner that I really began to see my body in the same way as a car in terms of servicing and fuelling. In endurance running this means liquids AND solids, for example sports drinks and energy gels. Finding the right mix that works for you can be problematic and is largely a case of trial and error over time. But the subject must be mastered because the human body has enough reserves to last a couple of hours of running, but not for a full marathon time.
Fail to take on enough liquid during a marathon and you will dehydrate to the point where your body is exhausted and cramped. Take on too much and you can become bloated, even feeling the water sloshing around in your belly as you run. Isotonic drinks are helpful because during sport you don’t simply sweat water, you also lose salt (lick your arm while sweating if you don’t believe me). Isotonic drinks generally help to replace everything you lose, not just water.
This raisin demonstrates dehydration.On the food side, the human body has enough reserves to last a couple of hours of running. After that, in simple terms it starts to dig into its emergency reserves and when it does that, lets be clear: your body starts to eat itself, you are going to feel that and it is going to hurt. You are hitting the wall. But if you have a sensitive constitution like me, then eating the wrong thing can cause terrible bloating and itself bring on nausea.
To achieve my aims, I made a number of changes to my training. I trained even more like I would race (this is generally always a good strategy). So I started my long run on a weekend at the same time as the marathon would start. I began getting up three hours before this and eating the same breakfast I would eat on race day. This meant that I was often rising at 4:30am for breakfast on race day and then go back to bed for a couple of hours. I ran different parts of the actual Zürich route in training (this being an advantage of training for a home town marathon where you tend to know the route already and intimately). I studied the route and found out where the water stops would be, for example after 5km, 11km, 16km etc. I wrote these numbers on my arm with a felt pen and would drink and refuel at the same time on my long training runs to get my body used to the rhythm. I practiced drinking out of plastic cups while running…. note, this does not really work for me, so I still use a bottle which I refill en route.
Basically, I took it seriously. Of course, I could just have naturally been a faster runner… would have been easier… but I had to work with the tools I had been given!
To cut to the chase, my preparations paid off and I shaved 12 minutes from my PB, to come in at 3:56. Around 35km I had a battle with my old nemesis the wall, with the feeling of nausea creeping in, but somehow this time I was able to push it back down, and as the final km ticked by I knew I would for the first time finish feeling in good shape. Both these things translated into a great runners high. I was literally singing and dancing as I ran back through town and up the main street Bahnhofstrasse towards the end, and in fact my final km was the fastest of the entire race! Over the final kilometers I easily passed at least fifty other runners. - Marathon 4: Geneva 2013Open or CloseMost doctors do not advise to run more than two marathons in a year. 2013 would see me run four. The Geneva Marathon (for Unicef) took place less than a month after Zürich. My friend Ahmet had signed up for his first marathon, that being Geneva. Ursula had felt some remorse after failing to join me in the Zürich race, so I suggested to try Geneva with Ahmet, and we booked a hotel and registered her. A secret plan started to ferment in my mind: could I run two marathons in the space of a month? Hell, lets try.
Our two matching shirts, hung the night before the race, with bibs already attachedThe answer is, yes I could. And my result was only 30 seconds slower than Zürich. Not bad, considering Geneva has a less flat course than Zürich. It is surprisingly picturesque, and the route travels through ten back country villages on the outskirts of the city. A really nice route.
The final 10km wheel back into town, running down from the countryside and then by the lake. I was mildly disappointed to see that they had failed to turn on the big water fountain. A late cobbled street and unexpected hill made final progress a little impeded. To my surprise, as I rounded a late corner I spotted Ursula up ahead and flagging. Turns out her lack of training had stunted her a little too. I sped past, checked that she was ok, and went for the finish. It would be the first time (so far / probably ever) that I would beat her in a marathon. Ahmet came in a little after that. A nice race, a good success. - Marathon 5: Jungfrau Marathon 2013Open or CloseThe Jungfrau is a special marathon, for people who are just a little bit crazy. The kind of people for whom a normal marathon is just not enough. The kind of people who think that it would be fun to run up a mountain for 42km rather than a flat course.
How did I find myself on the start line of this monster? Simply put, a guy at work who had completed it and several Ironmans told me, "It had the most special atmosphere of any race that I had ever done." This sentiment lingered in my thoughts and I found myself registering. I actually told myself, I'll probably never make that start line, but lets give it a try.
Here's the headline stats: The start at Interlaken lies at 600m above sea level. The route would bring us up to 2250m. So more than a kilometer and a half of vertical, the vast majority coming in the second half. It's a so called "Mountain Marathon". At least until recently, it was ranked as the third hardest marathon on Earth (Pikes Peak in the USA with about the same climb but starting at a higher elevation, and some Volcano in Hawaii are the other two). It is also ranked #1 worldwide for having the most spectacular scenery of any marathon.
Once again, a lot of my memories about the Jungfrau marathon are actually about the training. Instead of training on flat courses, we now had to find hills, and lots of them. Zürich's local little mountain, the Uetliberg, is a 9km run from my back door and has a steep climb of around 350m from it's base. Before very long, this became too little, we needed more, so we would run to the top of that and then back through town and end with another climb back to our apartment. Soon this too was not enough, so we began to run there and back and then run up the hills on the other side to Zurich Zoo (it's a nice zoo, visit it if you get the chance).
These were seriously, seriously taxing runs. But none of this was enough, so I planned two special training runs in the Alps themselves, but first some info on the Jungfrau course. In simple terms, the route of the Jungfrau marathon is basically like this: you start at Interlaken and run about 26km on a slight uphill route. The final 17km are steeper, culminating in the steepest part at kms 40 and 41. The final one kilometer is downhill, the only downhill of the race.
So I had the bright idea of running the final 25km of the actual route in training, so that we could see what we were up against. Starting in Lauterbrunnen, we would run through the steep flanked valley, and then hit the steep uphill, following the exact official course. This was a smart move, because we then knew what the hardest parts of route would really be like. In order not to get lost, I found some gpx files which I could load into a gps program on my iPhone which basically showed us the way all the way up… very useful. When we reached the top about four hours later (i.e. our training run took as long as a normal marathon would take us!), we were exhausted, but had done it. Just the tricky problem that on race day, we would have to run more than 17km further than we had just struggled to put behind us! Here is a picture I took of Ursula around the midpoint of that run.
Training run in the Jungfrau area of Switzerland
A greater challenge lay ahead in training. For our longest training run of 33km, I had decided we would run up the Rigi mountain outside the town of Zug. It would be a climb of about 1400m, so altogether substantially less and shorter than the Jungfrau itself, but still a great test. The Rigi loomed large in the distance as we set off more than 20km away from it’s base in the little town of Baar. We would run to Zug, along the whole Zugersee (Zug Lake), through some other villages, and then hit the ascent button.
It's fair to say that the Rigi practically broke me. Once we got to the base, it was a relentless and energy sapping climb. By the top, I was literally crawling (and by this, I repeat, I was actually crawling on all fours), and because it was colder than expected and I had underdressed, my old friend hypothermia paid my a little visit. I remember ending that run saying to Ursula, "It's no good, I should quit, there is no way I can climb further than this for another 10km at the Jungfrau."
It genuinely did seem at that moment to be an exercise in futility (there is some kind of pun in there). Ursula, though, in her wisdom, counselled me to keep trying… it could get better, it's not worth giving up yet. This was high summer, a month out from the mid September race date. I decided to persevere, with a lot of reservations.
Arriving in Interlaken the day before the race was exciting. We booked into our hotel and took care of the usual admin. As we normally did, mid afternoon we changed into our race gear, attached the race bib and timer, and ran a few km through town to freshen our legs and make sure that the kit and layering was in order. You never ever want to start a race and then realise for example that something needs adjusting: your bib is pinned on uncomfortably or you definitely underdressed, say.
Anyhow, in the evening we found a lovely little Italian restaurant which served very nice pasta. I recall not sleeping until a little past midnight. Race nerves were definitely present and correct. Rising early for a small breakfast, I found it impossible to go back to sleep and soon enough it was time for the off.
Race report: Ran the first 7km with Ursula, looping through Interlaken a couple of times before heading up the valley. I noted that comparatively, I wasn't feeling particularly strong already even after just the first 10km…. perhaps my poor sleep and nerves? The initial 25km of the route were an unknown to me, but I was pleased to find that it was a very nice route, often following a whitewater river up towards Lauterbrunnen. Passing a shooting range, some of the locals came out to view the strange specimens that had descended on their town for the day. I noticed one old shooter who was still wearing his special shooting spectacles, and smiled to myself that he seemed like a bit of a character. After the race, I learned that Ursula had seen him and thought the same. Such are the things you remember.
After a great reception from the locals at Lauterbrunnen at around 25km, the route continues up a stunning valley with absolutely huge sheer cliffs each side, with a number of waterfalls cascading from the top. This played havoc with my GPS watch for a few km's which meant that I could no longer rely on the distance measured: in other words, I had no reliable indicator of how far I had run and how far I had left to go. Still, I was prepared for this because I had encountered the same problem during the training run.
And bam, here comes the first of two super steep uphills. As we made our way up, I passed someone off to the side of the trail already vomiting. With 17km of the decidedly hardest part of the race remaining, I doubted that he would be making it much further. At the top of this hill, things evened out for a little while before we entered the town of Wengen (famous for it's downhill ski race), with another great atmosphere - it seemed that the whole town had turned out to applaud us through and ring the occasional cowbell.
After that, it was all up all the way, until towards the end, we made it to the final steepest 2km climb, scrambling over rocks and muddy mountain path. As is usual for the Jungfrau, there was something of a traffic jam at this steepest point which slowed us to a hurried walk. On the one hand, it's frustrating to have to slow down. On the other, it's a secret blessing along the lines of "Oh damn I have to walk here, what a shame, thank you God!"
Nearing the finish line, T shirt and medal almost in sightCresting a verge, the landscape fell away to the right to reveal an incredible vista of rock and ice the other side of the nearby valley, a helicopter swinging overhead as it filmed the runners on this spectacular part of the course. Suddenly, we were treated to the guttural roar and sight of a spectacular avalanche speeding down the cliff, luckily at a safe distance away. Talk about atmosphere, even the mountains were applauding us! Drifting down to me was another sound. Bagpipes. Traditionally, a lone bagpipe player serenades runners as they reach the highest point of the race. Upon climbing another hundred meters or so, I'd be on the final kilometer down to the finish line, and it dawned on me that I had the finish line in my sights. A tricky rock to be negotiated, several helpers grabbed our hands and hoisted us safely over, and I tasted a short negative incline for about the first time in five hours. Up through a tunnel to a high mountain reservoir and then a final short downhill over rocky path to the finish.
Ursula, having come in more than twenty minutes before, waited excitedly at the finish. She was very happy too see me, I think primarily because it meant I was alive! Proudly collecting my medal, I took a rest at the verge and appeared a TV reporter wanting to interview me about my experience. In case you want to see my brief interview, here is the link, you can forward to me at 5 mins 20 seconds (because the video does not in my opinion capture the truly epic scale of this event) to see me looking incredibly thin, having lost around 4kg DURING this race alone. That isn't a typo, I lost 4kg during that five and a half hours of exertion (However, just to be clear, a lot of that is water not fat, and is soon replenished).
I’m in this video at 5 mins 20 seconds :-)So, overall it's not hard to see what makes this such a special race full of fond memories. I had just turned forty years old one week before. What a great way to start the forties! There is really only one Jungfrau Marathon. Do it if you dare!
- Marathon 6: Lausanne 2013Open or CloseFour seemed like a fitting number for the year in which I turned forty so I signed on for my fourth Marathon of 2013 - Lausanne - to see if I had improved. Hence far, I had run marathons in various temperatures but this would be my first proper soaking…. it rained hard for almost the entire race. The course also hadn't gotten any easier, even with my increased mileometer and experience.
Apart from being wet as well as cold, I recall some big waterfalls on the route which had appeared just because of the rainstorm. As I said before, the route follows steep hilly vineyards along the Lausanne side of Lake Geneva. The downpours had to go somewhere, so we were treated to a few great displays of the power of water.
I finished in 4:05, the weather and course edging me up over the four hour mark. I wondered, and continue to wonder, if I am capable of a sub four Lausanne. I'm not sure I will do it again, time will tell, but I guess I will not make it under four. No worries!
- Marathon 7: Zürich 2014 Open or CloseMy second stab at Zürich, and Ursula's first attempt. I achieved my all time personal best of 3:54 (at the time of writing this!). I recall another great runners high. There's just something great about doing your hometown marathon. This may sound presumptuous since I grew up in rural England but I do now consider Zurich a home town. Anyhow, a great run and perhaps my best ever flat Marathon performance. Also a nicer finisher shirt this time around.
Looking surprisingly good after 42km - Marathon 8: Geneva 2014Open or CloseHaving enjoyed Geneva last year, I did it again. For once I do not recall that much, except that the fountain still wasnt running!
Ahmet (Blue neckband) and Josh just above the pace runner. - Marathon 9: Grand Union Challenge 50km (31 miles) 2014Open or CloseThrough work, I had come to know an American broker working in Geneva named Josh, who was a keen Iron Man competitor. To cut a long story short, he decided to run a massive 100km ultra marathon and I helped him find a suitable race which fitted his schedule. This turned out to be an event called the Grand Union Challenge, which started in central London close to Paddington Station and followed the canal network north to Bletchley. I decided to run the first 50k (31 miles) with him, which would after all, be my first Ultra Marathon (defined as anything longer than the standard 42.195km).
I didn't do any specific training except than to slow down my pace a little bit so that I had higher energy reserves. The day turned out to be a nice success, as we basically stuck together and gossiped through the majority of it. I recall at one point there was a large plastic alligator situated in someones garden on the far bank and as we approached I pranked Josh by pointing it out and saying thats a big one, even for these canals. I didn't expect him to take the bait but he stopped stone cold with the thought that he was running next to a canal filled with 15 foot long killer alligators. "You get THOSE in Europe???" Err, no, not really Josh. Still, can't be too hard on a guy that doesn't give up, even after close to 15 hours of competing.
At the start line, fresh as daisies.After 45km, I felt unreasonably fine and decided to leave Josh to his plan while I sped to my finish and enjoyed a good meal and decent massage in the finisher tent. Meanwhile Josh soldiered on and eventually collected his first 100km finish late that evening. Amazing!
A small detail but the other memorable thing about the GUC was that this was a privately organised race whereas all the other events I have competed in have the feeling of being organised by their respective cities, with a sort of heritage that city Marathons bring. I’m not saying that this was better or worse, but it certainly felt different somehow. The catering at this event was easily the best I’ve seen with a great selection.
Also, the field of entrants certainly felt smaller. Less than 1% of the western population have attempted to run a Marathon. Ultra marathons are even much more than this the province of the rarefied few. The troposphere to the marathon atmosphere. While there are always a few in a race that don’t really belong there (and inevitably also some who look like they dont really belong but then summarily leave you in the dust!), everyone here was in good shape and you felt that. - Marathon 10: Jungfrau 2014Open or CloseHaving clearly not had enough punishment the year before, I signed up again for the great hill climb. I suppose the truth is, I enjoyed the atmosphere and experience and sense of achievement so much that I wanted to recapture it. And… I did! Luckily we got good weather again, because if there is one marathon I've done where weather could conceivable make or break your day, I think this is probably it.
And of course, with the Jungfrau marathon comes the training for the Jungfrau marathon. More than any other, you have to respect this one, and put the effort in. Get up those hills. Having been battered and spat out by the Mt Rigi training climb one year ago, I resolved this year to hit back. And I did… sort of. At the top, I was in much better condition than the year before (well, I was still on two legs rather than four!), and declared aloud how I this year I had beaten the Rigi! How I gloried in my audacity!
Over the next two evenings in bed I woke up repeatedly throughout the night with weird feelings in my chest and body which worried the hell out of me! Mt Rigi clearly hadn’t been on board with my audacity, and had decided to have the last laugh. I suspect it always will.
Anyhow, I recovered, and went on to run the race day a couple of minutes faster than the year before with 5:37. I had wanted to shave off a little more, but by the end was so happy to finish that it didn't really matter to me.
Recently I've thought back to the Jungfrau Marathon and to some extent I genuinely marvel that I have completed them. Even now, small hill runs in training can remain very painful. It's really about mentally accepting what you have to do and simply doing it. - Marathon 11: Lucerne 2014Open or CloseFor whatever reason, Lausanne and Lucerne are run on the same day of the year in late October. Although they are on separate sides of the country, it does mean that one must pick and choose. I always chose Lausanne because it has great atmosphere and scenery… but there is something about Lausanne which is simply tougher than most "flat" (by which I mean not mountainous) marathons. So, to try something different, this year I enrolled for Lucerne.
Lucerne is a two lap course, essentially running two half marathons one after the other. This was something new. So far all the marathons I had done had been a single loop, or a sort of out and in course. I did think that the repetition would count against it. I won't say that it did. Still, it is interesting to me that even after so many marathons, each is a new experience in some way.
I won't call it classic but It's a nice enough route, also rather tougher than Zürich, but I ran it in a leisurely style with 4:11… for this run I had intended to do it this way to simply enjoy it. At the beginning of the second loop, you saw the half marathoners finishing while you turned the corner and went for round two. On one hand, this is demoralising as it seems like a long way to go. On the other, I could secretly tell myself, the pussies are finishing now, lets show them how its really done. Oops, did I say secretly?
Ursula was nice enough to crew for me (keep my bag, give me support from the sideline, and look after me at the end), and it was enjoyable enough. Season finished. Now, I would take my traditional winter rest under the spring of next year….. well, or so I thought at the time……
- Marathon 12: Zürich New Years Marathon 2015Open or CloseMost Christmas's I spend with Ursula in the UK seeing family and then we tack on a few days in London to shop and see a show, that kind of thing. On 27th of December I was sitting in the lobby cafe of the Hoxton Hotel in Holborn (it's their second hotel which was just a few months old at the time, I recommend it) having a coffee after a decent fry up breakfast. Ping, an email from Datasport, nothing special, but my eyes browse down it before I delete it when I spot something called the Zürich Neujahrsmarathon (New Years Marathon). Upon further investigation I found out the following:
* There would be a marathon in Zürich on New Years Eve.
* It would start at precisely midnight as 2014 became 2015, and run overnight.
* There seems to be no other event like this in the world, and it's in my home town!
I chewed it over in my mind for some minutes, and decided to mention it to Ursula, though without much expectation. I was sure she would look at me like I'd lost my mind, but a slightly resigned look just came over her face as if to say, here we go again with another adventure that she was about to be roped into. Reading this look like the expert negotiator that I am, I suddenly saw that the race might be a real possibility. By the time our coffee cups were empty, it was happening.
A few things to note: normally I train for several months before a marathon. This one would be happening four days from now. Secondly, there was snow on the ground and more forecast. It would be cold and dark. Very cold. To hell with it. We cancelled our New Years plans and got ready to race. Game on!
It’s 3am Eternal at the KLFUrsula, with a lot more common sense than me as usual, decided to just take part in the half marathon. We would run that together. Yet again, a new marathon course would provide a new experience. This time, it would be a 4x 10.5km loop along the River Limmat. I knew most of the route well enough from training there many times. Starting in Schlieren, we would run towards Zürich and turn at the Werdinsel weir. We gathered at the start line inside a gym, just five minutes remaining in 2014. At the stroke of midnight, we kissed and congratulated each other. And off we went, each runner with their head torch ablaze. Just about 150 marathoners were signed up, but several hundred more for the half and a 10km. As we came to the river, there was a heavy fog of little ice particles kicked up from the snow by so many runners ploughing through it… it was truly a surreal thing. Later on as the numbers dwindled the air cleared but at that point it was very special.
For the first half hour, we were treated to various fireworks being set off by the locals to celebrate New Year. We passed some houses with parties in full swing, nicely dressed looking people inside sipping champagne and wondering who the crackpots running past their windows were.
By the final leg of the half marathon, both of us were starting to tire. That was not a great sign for me. Still, I soldiered on, through the snow and ice for the second half. I did not dare stop, as I knew that at the best of times that would leave me open to becoming hypothermic, which quite honestly could have been dangerous at that point: the temperature was -9 degrees Celsius.
With the final 5km remaining, I was very slow indeed but kept going. There was a lot of ice on the course by this time which made slipping another real danger, and I came perilously close to falling on at least three occasions. Progress was painful and painfully slow. I crossed the finish line with 4:54.
Certainly my slowest flat marathon by far (an hour off my personal best!) but without training and in the middle of the night in those conditions I had no real complaints. I suspect that now I've done this one, I won't be signing up for it again!
My podium finish, by myself except for the prosecco
I normally never drink alcohol after a race but since it was New Years and a bottle of bubbly was handed to me at the finish line, I sat shivering in a gym at 5am drinking out of plastic cups with Ursula, and then went home and drank some more, collapsing into bed around 8am.
A lightweight drinker at the best of times, it was very easy to get drunk following all that exertion. After a decent rest, we also had some good wine later that evening to make up for missing the actual NYE celebrations. Thats why I can say, already on the first day of 2015, I had run a marathon and been drunk on two separate occasions. Quite an interesting way to start a year!
As I said at the beginning, a lot of endurance running is about adjusting your perceived limits to the event at hand. Train for a half marathon and you will put your perceived limits there. Train for the full and your perception will adjust upwards. Then just put the work in, follow a programme, and see how you go. At least, that's how I've generally experienced endurance running so far.
As for the rest of 2015, I have no fixed plans so far, though I do have a few things in mind which I am keeping a low profile about. Anyhow, I’ll update this site if I do anything else that is interesting. Thank you for taking the time to read about my running life! - Marathon 13 & 14: Two in a week - Brighton & Zürich April 2015Open or CloseThis year I have decided to train for an Ultra marathon, the Rennsteiglauf in May in Germany which is 73km. If that goes according to plan, I’m thinking about the Biel 100km in June. Training for an ultra brings things to a new level, with back to back weekend long runs rather than one long run per week. At some point in my training I would be called to run pretty much marathon distances on a weekly basis, so instead of trudging around in the forest on my own somewhere I decided to try to run two competitive marathons in a week.
I had already registered for Zürich and as luck would have it Brighton, which is the major town where I was born and grew up, would be the week before. Brighton is quite a beast in terms of participants. Zurich tends to have about 3000 marathoners while Brighton has about 18k. Much bigger than anything else I have run. Why not?
Brighton, however, was sold out. Luckily, I secured a very late charity place for the World Wildlife Fund. That was good as it would be cool to try and raise some money and I hoped that the novelty value of running two in seven days would help attract sponsors.
Brief race report. Due to the ultra training, I had upped my weekly training mileage somewhat, and had also been doing some treadmill running and gym work for core such as rowing. However, I had no particular result expectations for Brighton and just hoped that I could do a sub four if possible. Weather was nice, crowd support was superb, atmosphere was excellent, and I was feeling unusually strong in general by the half way mark.
This being the case, I decided to push the gas pedal for the last 10km. I realised that I was on for a PB and hoped for a 3:52. With 2km to go, I pushed even harder with 5min per km pace. With 1km to go, I looked at my watch and saw that my elapsed time was 3:45. Suddenly, the prospect of a sub 3:50 was there. I sprinted as fast as I could and crossed the line with 3:50:03. Nearly four minutes better than my previous PB yet just 4 seconds away from a new frontier. Brilliant but bittersweet.
With big sister, Norks.How would I fare in the second race one week later?
Seven days later, on the start line for Zürich, my legs were still clearly not feeling 100% but I concocted a plan to try and run the first half at a 3:50 overall pace (i.e. 1:55 for the half marathon) and just see how I felt for the second half. To be brief, I went for it, and even pushed a little harder than my plan. This could have been foolhardy, as in the past it has led to disastrous nausea and general wall hitting.
By km 33, I was suffering but could live with it, and pushed on. I began to realise that if I was ever going to do a sub 3:50, it would probably be today. The remainder of my running this year would be ultra training or mountain training, where fast times are not the focus. So I resolved to try my best and pushed on with a mounting sense of elation as the kilometers ticked down and I found myself back on the outskirts of the city.
I’m pleased to say that it worked. I once again surprised myself by crossing the line with 3:46:31. A great result for me, of which I’m really proud. I had expected to be slower than Brighton after only a week to recover, and in fact I posted my best ever time!
In addition, I raised about £750 for the WWF, something I’m also proud of. - Marathon 15 (Training Marathon #1): Lake of Zürich May 2015Open or CloseThis was notable as being the first training run that I did (as part of my ultra training) which matched or exceeded official marathon distance, i.e. I ran a marathon, but not as part of an organised event.
My ultra training had by this point simply prescribed that the time on feet would be above four hours, in this case 4:36 for 43.2km (I added in an extra kilometer to account for potential errors on my GPS watch). - Marathon 16: Geneva May 2015Open or Close
Completion of this meant four marathons in a month, one per weekend.Conditions blustery and sometimes wet. I had a good first 20km, following the 3:45 pacer, with distant dreams of a third personal best in a row. Twas not to be. By 28km my legs began to suffer and the pacer became a rather distant figure ahead, although still in sight.
Wind and rain did not help, and my legs began to tighten badly.
This time Geneva FINALLY turned on the water fountain for us, visible once coming back into the city. In my pain though, it took forever to get to it and was more of a bane than a tonic. By the time I crossed the line, in 3:53:31, my legs were truly worn out, and more stiff and tired than I can ever remember after a race.
For the next several days, my legs remained quite useless. I’m not sure if this was because of the wet colder weather, or because I did not stretch after the race, or failed to eat something appropriate to recovery, or because of overtraining.
Whatever the cause, my shattered legs remain the defining memory of the marathon, even though it was my best Geneva time!
I went through the following week in a state of mild panic. After all, the big test… a 72.7km Ultramarathon in Germany on Saturday coming, and my legs more or less in pieces.
- Marathon 17: Rennsteiglauf Ultramarathon, Germany May 2015Open or CloseThis was a big milestone. 72.7km mainly trail running, with 1400+m of climb and 900+m of descent. Starting at 6am in the town of Eisenach, about an hour north of Frankfurt.
Luckily weather conditions were good and the race well organised. It’s the biggest Ultramarathon in Germany, with about 1500 entrants (contrast that with the 100 or so who did the full Grand Union Challenge in London last year).
The week before, my legs had been quite useless, but by the Thursday (2 days before the Ultra), they had slowly started to feel a little more normal again, and by the time of the race I actually felt ok.
Overall, the event took me 9:06:26
In such a time there were bound to be a lot of ups and downs, not just the crazy amount of hills this route presented. Toward the end, I think I had my first running induced hallucinations, as trees beside me took on an almost human form and seemed to run beside me at one point. Did I reach some level of Nirvana?
Well, after the finish line, the bratwurst sure tasted like Heaven! Biel was now in my sights, just under a month from now….
Looking surprisingly good for 72.7km! - Marathon 18 (Training #2): Zürichsee Gold Coast May 2015Open or CloseAnother week, another training marathon. This made six marathon distances in six weeks. To be honest, without the emotional and visual hooks of an organised event, this is the point in my running career at which I can say I have ran a marathon but can barely remember it.
This time, my programme called for a slow run of five hours duration. I ran 46.2km with a time of 5:06:23 - Marathon 19 (Training #3): Overnight Greifensee May 2015Open or CloseWelcome to the toughest weekend of Ultra training.
Because the Biel 100km starts at 10pm and runs overnight and into the next day, I decided to do my next 5 hour run overnight to simulate those conditions.
That meant, eating a pizza at 5pm, and starting my run at 10pm. Ursula gamely joined me by bicycle, and we headed off into the night cross country, headlamps blazing, towards a local lake about 10km away. The Greifensee is the route of a popular half marathon each September. Around the lake is 19km, so I trundled around that, then back to the area of my apartment, and then a few extra km on top, finishing around 3:45am all in all and climbing into bed straight after.
This run was tough. My body was not used to starting at that time of night after a healthy dinner. I spent the first few hours fighting off some mild nausea due to eating a few pizza slices too many (I cannot help myself!), and probably recorded my slowest flat marathon time ever.
By the end of the night I had covered 45km and took 5:29:15 to do it, including a couple of toilet stops and a little bit of vomiting. Brutal.
Not only that, but my training plan called for me to have a few hours sleep and then get up and run another marathon that same day! - Marathon 20 (Training #4): Limmat and Zürichsee May 2015Open or CloseSo, it went like this. The previous night I had run from 10pm until 3:45am, gone to bed around 4am, and slept until about 9am. I had breakfast at 9:30am, and headed up for another 4 hours+ on my feet at 1:30pm that same day.
In fact, despite feeling quite tired from the night before, I recorded 43km with 4:18:30 time, which was really good, all things considered.
For the sharp eyed among you, that means I did two marathons in two days (or actually, in one 24 hour period).
This marked the most intense point of training for Biel, and now I am entering the taper, so reducing my running to be better recovered and ready for the race. For posterity, I have now run 8 marathons in 7 weeks, with one per week except the last week where I did two marathons on consecutive days.
Now, I will be winding down with maximum 2 hour runs until Biel in mid June. I’m very much hoping that the taper will put me in good stead and trying not to put on too much weight in the next few weeks! - Marathon 21: Biel 100km June 2015Open or CloseThe day of reckoning for the 100km Ultra had arrived. This race starts at 10pm on a Friday, and runs overnight and into Saturday. We arrived in Biel by train around midday and checked into the Mercure Hotel. I had already had an early lunch so that I would be ready for an early dinner and still have time to digest before the start later in the evening. After picking up my race bib at 4pm, I had pasta at a neighbouring restaurant. I made a conscious effort not to eat too much because of the limited time left for digestion, and headed back to the hotel to try to get a couple of hours sleep: although not feeling overly nervous, I could not sleep at all.
Just after 9pm we headed to the start area. Soon enough, the starting pistol sounded and off I went, waving Ursula goodbye. Around 1000 people had signed up, making this potentially the biggest ultra event for this distance in Europe.
The first part of the race wends its way around the city. Almost immediately, I noticed that my water bottle, filled with a sticky sports drink, was leaking all over my arse and legs: bad preparation, and far from ideal! I carry a phone on Ultra events, in case of emergency, so I called Ursula while running to see if she was in the area because I had given her my spare bottle. Unfortunately, she was already out of the way. So I spent a bit of time trying to repair my bottle while running. It continued to leak, but less, and when I replaced it with water I decided to just live with it.
After passing the river at about 6km, the route leaves the city proper and there begins a 2km uphill slog through more residential areas. Gradually, you head into the countryside and it is soon time to switch on the head torch, which will be used until the sun comes up. The route is rather up and down, passing through countryside and small villages, with large expanses of cross country trail running in between. I had thought that given it was now the middle of the night, crowd support would be minimal at best, but actually it was surprisingly good: the locals decided that tonight they would party, so we got to see a fair bit of drunken cheering at the crazy nuts running through their domain.
Unfortunately, on this night I was not feeling my strongest. Time and again, I have felt that the tapering before a race does not always benefit me that much. I can say with certainty that I felt much stronger during the Rennsteiglauf a month before, and that came six days after the Geneva marathon and weekly marathons before that. The Rennsteiglauf also has even more brutal climbs and descents than Biel, though of course it is a third shorter overall.
Somewhere around 3am, the 50km marker appeared. Almost exactly at this point, a female runner next to me took a big tumble and smashed her (rather thick) glasses to pieces on the the ground, scuffing her arm quite badly at the same time. I helped her up and asked if there was anything I could do to help, but she said she would be ok. I hope she still made it.
During a normal marathon, I quite often find that by around 38km, I am really looking forward to finish (this being a euphemism for “suffering like hell”) and get it done, so it’s hard not to start counting down the kilometers as the markers pass. At Biel, my clock watching started already by this 50km mark! Not encouraging!
Eventually, I settled back into rhythm and I focussed on meeting Ursula, who was riding out the reverse route on her bike to meet me at the 70km mark, where she would support me on the way in (moral support, carrying my water bottle, etc). That would mark the first time I had had support en route from anyone during an event.
The overall route of this 100km roughly resembles a massive rectangle. We head south out the city, then make a left turn and head to Kirchberg at about 55km Here we head north to Gefahrlingen (just South of Solothun) at about 70km where I hoped to meet Ursula, and then make a dogleg back onto the banks of the River Aare and then follow it all the way into Biel.
Right now I was beginning my northward leg, which follows a different river and includes about 10km of truly tough off road trail through a forest, with lots of rocks and tree roots underfoot. You really need to take care on this part of the race, it would be very easy to fall or twist an ankle. It’s also super hard on the legs. On the flip side, it was at this time that the sun began to rise and the birdsong in the forest was astoundingly lovely. A real cacophony. Crowd support from the avian locals.
Eventually I met Ursula, which provided a great boost to morale - and after that distance, even being able to offload a small water bottle onto her makes a tangible difference. Sounds crazy but try it and you’ll see. I had worried that it might be a bit tough on Ursula to support me, not only because she had had to get up at 2:30am and ride 30km to meet me. By that time, I was tired and didn’t have a lot of energy for chit chat, and was not feeling great anyway, but it worked well enough most of the time. We made the final major turn left and aimed at Biel, 30km away.
Soon after, another substantial hill arrived, which was too steep to run up, so I power walked it as best I could. Because I had previously biked the whole route in training (over two days in fact!!), I knew that there would be another few km of more gentle uphill and then, I would see a break in the road, flanked by trees on either side, which would mark the beginning of an extended beautiful downhill lasting more than 5km. I also knew that the route after that into Biel would be long but relatively flat along the river. Hence, I was looking forward to see that shining milestone where the downhill would begin, even though I would still have at least another three hours to run, with nine behind me.
Cause for celebration, though in general I was not enjoying myself much at all - honestly it was just a struggle. There were some bright spots where I could take pleasure, and when passersby give you support, it genuinely helps, but it was also a slog. In terms of nutrition, I had been eating gels once an hour every hour. I had promised myself a Cliff bar white chocolate energy bar as a “treat” at around 6 hours in (meaning 4am), but in the end it was too sweet and sickly and I had to throw most of it away. So I squirted in another gel. After ten hours of gels, you really don’t want to eat any more of them!
One positive note: I had set a target of beating 14 hours and at my current rate, I was looking at a sub 13 hour time. I had also somehow convinced myself that I would be finishing in the afternoon, but I realised that if I kept it up, I’d finish before 11am. This really helped boost my flagging spirits.
Slowly but surely, we began to edge closer to Biel, even though I still had a few hours to go. At this point, I was able to increase my pace again to a slightly more sprightly level. Eventually, the city limits came into view. Now I could begin to count down the kilometers left to go, but with an actual finish in sight. I asked Ursula to join me in riding over the finish line. It had not been easy on her either to crew me, as at some points I had just had to basically blurt out my needs to her, but she had been a great help, as she always is.
Kevin and Coach at the finish!My finish time was 12 hours 32 minutes. Afterwards I found a spot to lay down on some concrete in the shade for a few minutes. Never in my life has being flat felt so good. Later, I hobbled over to collect my finisher shirt from an adjacent building, ate a sausage and limped back to my hotel a while later. It was now Saturday afternoon and I had not slept since Thursday night. Even so, I only managed about an hour of sleep back at the hotel. I am not really sure why I could not sleep for longer. We then got up and went to a very nice Thai restaurant in the old part of town. Before eating, we stopped for an aperitif in a local bar. Proudly wearing my finisher T Shirt, I had two drinks and was immediately pretty drunk!
Physically, I was clearly exhausted after the race. However, while some had speculated that a 100km would ruin my feet and that I would need to tape them up like some kind of Egyptian mummy, I correctly predicted that in my case I would be fine on that front: I ran with normal shoes and socks only and did not even suffer a single blister. Thank you feet! And the day after, I even felt “relatively” fresh, all things considered.
I suppose what is left to say is, would I do it again? All during training for that Ultra, I have said that it is a one off thing. Ultra training is really brutal, there is no two ways about it. Running marathon+ distances week after week, and back to back long training runs. And there was a lot of the actual race that I just could not enjoy as much as I wanted, because it was of course hard and I was not in peak form. Nevertheless, I am writing this two weeks afterwards, and once or twice I had the merest flicker of a thought that perhaps I could revisit it to see if I could enjoy it more next time. - Marathon 22: Jungfrau Marathon September 2015Open or Close
Probably my favourite picture of myself during a runOn Sep 12th 2015 we participated in our third Jungfrau. I felt quietly confident that I would have a shot at a personal best, having completed so many races this year. Additionally, our traditional summer training runs on the Rigi and the upper part of the Jungfrau course had gone well.
With perfect sunny weather, we started quickly off the line, perhaps a touch faster than I should have, at about 5:25 per km. As usual, Ursula was a bit of a rocket and I paced her but thought to myself, lets see where this goes, perhaps I can handle it.
The course loops around Interlaken before heading gently up the valley, following a mountain river, until Lauterbrunnen at 22km, by which time Ursula had pushed ahead. Arriving there, my stomach was feeling unsettled. I told myself not to worry, I would have time to loop around the valley and then would come the 2km super steep power walk, where perhaps I could recover a little. Many people find this power walk to be very demanding - it is, and I have seen people drop out of the race there - but personally I sort of see it as a rest from running. At the top of the walk, I gave myself a full minute of standing still to try to recover. From there, it is about 11km of upward running until the steepest 2km of the course looms above you.
Profile of the race, with power walk shown at the first steep part.
Unfortunately, my nausea increased to the point where, above Wengen (around 32km into the race), I decided that my best course of action would be to try and make myself throw up. I’d like to point out that I have never properly vomited or made myself vomit in a race before! In fact, I had not felt quite like this since my first ever marathons.
Fingers down the throat produced retching and a cold sweat, but try as I might, nothing came up, so I decided to race on. The next km felt slightly better, so I thought perhaps it had helped. Annoyingly, it came back strong and while I could run, I could only run quite slowly and in suffering.
Lets just say, it’s not much fun to run 20km in that condition, especially when it is all uphill! I did what I could, even still forcing down a few gels, a strategy which had helped in the past, but to not much avail.
The tremendous, kilometer high north face of the Eiger on the left, and Ursula with her medal below
Before the race, I had been quietly hoping for 5 twenty something. Ursula made 5:20 exactly, very good as usual. I crossed the line with 5:48, so eleven minutes slower than the year before. In some sense, that was a victory considering how I was feeling.
What went wrong? As typically seems to be the case with me, the cause is difficult to pin down. Perhaps I went off the line too fast (though I have run flat marathons at that pace before without issue). Perhaps I drank too much too early (this is my current favourite diagnosis). Perhaps my running belt was too heavy or too tight (I carried quite a lot of gels to see me through). Perhaps the meal the night before had not been ideal. Maybe I did not pay the mountains enough respect. Perhaps, it just was not my day to shine. Fair enough, considering my other achievements this year.
So on the one hand, disappointing. On the other, at least I made it and did not give up. By tradition, we had a very nice Cafe de Paris steak with some Ripasso in the evening, followed by one of those post marathon nights of twisting turning uncomfortable sleep, that seem especially prevalent and related to running up mountains!
No matter what, the Jungfrau marathon remains my favourite race. The combination of training beforehand, the scenery there, alphorns playing beautiful soulful music at the start, the crowd support, helicopters swinging overhead to film you, a bagpipe player at the peak of the final climb to serenade you. The whole majesty of it. It is Switzerland’s #1 marathon for many reasons.
and now a video from the race, this time showing Ursula….Next up…. IWB Basel, 27th Sep!!!! :-)
- Marathon 23: IWB Basel September 2015Open or CloseI spotted that Basel runs in late September, and figured that by doing it, I would be able to cross off another Swiss Marathon from my list, so I figured, why not? After the difficulties of the Jungfrau two weeks before, I wanted to regain a bit of confidence.
I was never under the illusion that Basel would have high hopes of producing any personal bests, but I went out relatively quickly (for me) with a pace around 5:25 per km, just in case. Nevertheless, by the half way mark I could tell that I was in reasonable but not great shape, so from then on I just did what I could do.
The Basel course is a 2 lap route through the city, around the Zoo (which you cannot see into unfortunately) and up to the harbour. It is not particularly scenic, and Basel is somewhat industrial in nature, especially with it’s ties to the pharmaceutical industry. I do not know the town too well, although I used to commute through it for a year or so, back in the day.
So I would not rank it as a beautiful course, and as in Lucerne, I have found that two lap courses do not suit me particularly well. Perhaps it is because you see the half marathoners finish halfway through, while realising that you have to do it all again? This can be a little demoralising. Additionally, there is less to see in general. On the plus side, you do get a visual cue when in the late stages of the marathon as to how far remains.
Around 30km, I started the fight to cross the line sub four hours. This time, I was able to do so, with 3:56. I was very happy with this time and overall I am happy to have completed Basel. Ursula did the half marathon and achieved a personal best for herself of 1:46, so I was also very pleased about that! She also scored in the top 20% of women doing the half marathon… quite an achievement given that she does not train very seriously. She professed to have liked the course and said she might come back for it again. In my case, I’m not so sure - it would more likely be if I am hungry to run and the date fits.
As an aside, it’s quite a small marathon. Only 300 people did the full, although a few thousand more do a half and some relay thing. Organisation was top notch (except it is the only Marathon I have done where a finisher shirt is not included). Changing rooms are located really close to the start, and they had those wonderful showers in a truck that I have only seen at the Zurich triathlon. No kidding, it’s a truck, with great showers in it (they even have a “Rainforest Mode”), better than in most hotel rooms! It’s the opposite to the cold dripping shower at the Zürich Marathon a couple of years back.
In a few weeks I’ll give Lausanne another try - my fourth - and then will take my traditional two month break from running, in November and December, to allow rest and recuperation. - Marathon 24: Lausanne October 2015Open or Close
Just great scenery on the Lausanne Marathon
Over the last few years, I have come to treat my late October marathon as a sort of end-of-the-year-run to bring my running season to a close. Normally, this meant Lausanne, but last year I decided to try Lucerne instead - both are always held on the same day.
Both are also rather on the harder side for “flat” courses, making personal bests unlikely. So that is why I treat them as events to try and enjoy, before taking a well earned few months break from running in general.
Lucerne was good to try and had it’s own highlights, but Lausanne is hands down one of the most beautiful routes I have done, with wonderful views of steep vineyards, Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) and the Swiss and French Alps beyond. And of course, it also holds the distinction of being my first marathon - and you never forget your first marathon!
With this in mind, plus the fact that Lausanne made a big effort to advertise itself throughout the year, I decided to head back and support it once more - making it my fourth Lausanne. Ursula had signed on for the half, but when she found out that it did not start until mid afternoon (and started 20km outside Lausanne) we had a discussion about whether perhaps she could think about doing the full, even at such short notice. Because she had completed the Basel half four weeks prior, and ran a few longish distance fun runs in between, we jointly decided she would be in good enough shape to try the full distance, so she changed her registration at the expo.
The expo itself is always quite well put together and the goody bag stuffed with some useful items. We made the traditional visit to the boat moored in the harbour for the pasta party in the evening. I’m ambivalent about a lot of pasta party’s - for a start I am not convinced that the actual pasta that they use is good quality, so I generally look elsewhere for carbs on the night before a race, but Lausanne has such a nicely located party that I like to join in. Migros (the supermarket) sponsors this race and they always do a really good job with the organisation and food available. Tasty apple for dessert! After that, we retired back to our hotel, somewhat up the hill at Riponne for a long evening of watching TV and relaxing. We were also treated to an extra hour in bed due to the clocks changing that night.
The route follows the lake along to Vevey and then broadly turns back on itself. Weather conditions were fantastic for the time of year, hovering around 14 to 15 deg C and sunny, making a change from the continuous torrential deluge we had slogged through two years ago.
In brief, I ran with Ursula for the first 7.5km and then she edged ahead in typical fashion. I enjoyed the running and felt reasonably strong, but was under no illusion that the second half of Lausanne is always tough. The statistics say that it is just a few hundred metres of climb, but I don’t know - Ursula and I always talk about how tough the second half seems. Lots of rolling hills, nothing steep, but continuous, and draining.
At 26km though, I was thoroughly enjoying myself. My legs felt reasonable, my stomach was behaving, the sun was shining, crowd support at Lausanne is always pleasing, and I had a few good songs playing on my iPod nano. I experienced a really decent runners high, triggered in part by a great song and by looking back at what a fantastic running year I have had this year - 13 marathons, my two personal best standard marathon times, and two successful Ultramarathon’s at 73km and 100km respectively.
I’ve never run a sub four time at Lausanne, either because I got sick or because the return leg sapped my strength. This time though, it looked like a possibility so I aimed for it. Around 34km, I had an average time of 5:36m per km, which was under the 5:42 needed for sub four.
I figured that this time I felt reasonable and I had a good chance. This confidence was increased when I looked back every now and again to see if the four hour pacemaker was in view behind me, and could not see him. I was dimly aware that I was slowing with every km, though….
Listening to music and pushing on I reached 37km - with 5km left. Suddenly I heard a noise behind me… the sound of a lot of footsteps. Even before looking around, some part of my brain already knew what it was… the block of people who follow the pacemaker, meaning that he must be close by. Yes, I looked around and there he was, surrounded by people and almost close enough to touch. Shit! Where had he come from???
Well, I sped up because I did not want to get behind him, and realised right there that I had a fight on my hands. I was losing energy, but would have to up my pace for the whole remaining distance if I was to come in ahead. This coupled with a developing stitch in my side and my stomach starting to feel quite unsettled in general. On the upside, around 39km I saw Ursula up ahead, and while I knew that I would not catch her this time, it still gave me some added energy.
Well, I fought the good fight and this time came out ahead. I had hoped to have done the hard work earlier in the race and cruise in smoothly for something just sub four. In the event, I had to battle for 5km but kept ahead and crossed the line with 3:59:12. Ursula was one minute ahead of me. After recovering with a bouillon and water, we headed off for a cheeseburger at the port entrance … very tasty it was too.
When I wrote my last race report for Lausanne, I wondered aloud if I would ever reach a sub four time for Lausanne, and I had. While 2015 has been a challenging year personally, this was a fantastic way to cap off an incredible running year. Time for a rest.
- Marathon 25: Zürich New Years Marathon, Jan 2016Open or CloseDeciding to see once again how painful a marathon without preparation can be (one forgets, perhaps like childbirth), I signed in for the fist marathon on planet Earth that takes place in 2016. Luckily this happens to be more or less on my doorstep. To remind you, the starting gun for this race goes off at midnight on New Years Eve, so you run into the small hours of the new year. Being an official IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) event, it means that whoever wins is the worlds fastest marathon runner for that year at that point. Of course, in my case, I am just happy to get around the course.
Last time, I ran it in the snow, this time in the wet. It was hard work. It was also at one point terrifying. Chugging along slowly at the 36km mark, I was suddenly held up, physically stopped, by three guys. This being me, running on my own with a head torch, at nearly 4am by the river in the dark. Things got worse when I realised that the guy who stopped me, by putting a hand on my chest, was shouting at me and carrying a pistol in his other hand. For a moment, I realised that this could be really really bad, and my stomach felt like it was dropping out of me somehow.
Anyhow, he ranted a bit about why was I paying 60 Swiss Francs to run in such a stupid race. I mean, he had a point when I later thought about it, but at the time I told him that I just like running and its a hobby. He never expressly pointed the gun at me, and instead told me to give him a high five… ok yes sir, but he was rattled and it was threatening. I mean, who knows, maybe they were high on who knows what. One of the other three then stepped in to say hi, was not that unfriendly, but I asked if I could continue with words to the effect of “Well, I must continue the race, is that ok?” and they let me go.
Before this encounter, I was really struggling with the running, at times forcing myself to keep running and not to walk. Suffice to say, once I escaped from my new friends, I genuinely could have given Usain Bolt a run for his money. When I finished the race about 30 minutes later, I reported it to the race leader and asked him to report it to the police. He took my details but I heard no more about it.
Once again, I had a drink or two after the race… this time more to calm my nerves, went home, slept, got up and had a decent bottle of wine that we had saved for that evening. Like last year, I like to say that already on the first day of the year, I ran a marathon and got drunk twice, all in the same day.
However, this time, I can add…. and got held up at gunpoint. Not to be recommended. - Marathon 26: Paris Marathon, April 2016Open or CloseI am not really a marathon tourist. In other words, I do not particularly seek to tick off marathons in far away countries. However, my wife wanted to run the Paris marathon, partially to try a famous big event, and partly so that she could do shopping afterwards I suspect… so we booked ourselves in and made space for it.
Six weeks out from the start date, she had a fall down some stairs and hurt her right foot. She immediately went to her local doctor, who said it was sprained and not broken. After a few days, the pain was still severe, so she went back and was told the same thing. Not happy with this, she went to a specialist who also said it was not broken but that an MRI should show what up. What was up was that her foot was broken in three places! She was out of the race.
However I was still in and alone. Arriving in Paris, there was a huge expo before the event, the largest I have attended, and I bought some tiny hot pants from Asics there which barely covered my dignity!
A brief race report. It was really thrilling to line up on the Champs Elysee with so many other people awaiting the start gun! The Arc de Triomphe not far behind me… the whole of Paris ahead of me! I’d been to Paris three or four times before the race, and was surprised how much of the city I covered in the race that I had previously covered as a tourist, even outside the centre in the parks region where previously I had rowed aimlessly with the Wife on a summer afternoon. Another memory is one of the tunnel underpasses was given over to ambient music which was quite atmospheric.
It was not to be an historic performance, coming in at 4:04. The last couple of miles had a lot of cobblestones which were not conducive to a rapid finish. I think it’s ticked off the list now. - Marathon 27: Brighton Marathon, April 2016Open or CloseBack to Brighton for a second time. A large muddy field served as the staging point for the start. Zoe Ball, a local celebrity (and former wife of Mr Fatboy Slim) sounded the starting klaxon and I gave her a high five as I passed the start line. The first km has a few hills, and I was recovering from a cold. In fact, I remember blowing my nose as I climbed the hill… not a great sign, and I suffered a fair bit in the later stages.
The route initially takes you further east from Brighton in the direction of Eastbourne. It’s really nice up there, you really feel out of the city quite quickly and you great great sea views and feel the sea breeze. For a little while, it feels more like a countryside marathon than a city one. It was a pleasant sunny day which added to the allure.
The second half of the marathon swings back and heads through and out of town in the other direction, with a trip to Shoreham, where you swing around what used to be the old power station, which is a familiar sight to anyone growing up in this area. On the way back, you can see the finish far in the distance around Brighton pier, but it seemed to take forever and never came closer, something of an optical illusion, or perhaps I really was running that slowly!
Luckily I had some support from the Murgatroyd family, old friends of mine from growing up in Sussex, although they had to scream at me so that I actually noticed them all! Sorry guys but thanks so much for turning out!
A slow finish compared to the year before (4:16), where I had 3 hours forty something in my sights, but hey…. try running a marathon with a head cold, and you’ll see it’s far from easy! - Marathon 28: Zürich Marathon, April 2016Open or CloseHard to believe, as I am writing this in an injury prone early 2018, but just seven days after Brighton I found myself on the start line in Zurich. My head cold had cleared, and I broke sub four again with a 3:56. This would be my fourth time running this marathon, my adopted hometown, and most likely the flattest route of all the courses I have run. That is why a lot of people aim for a personal best time on this route, although I have heard by a few people that they find it a rather boring route.
Well, that may be for some people, but I adore it. I always have a lovely sense of pride running down the main street Bahnhofstrasse, and have it now just by remembering it. As I write this, it is March 2018 and the next Zurich Marathon is six weeks away. Just now I had butterflies in my stomach… if I make the start line, it will be my first marathon for more than a year and a half. - Marathon 29: Geneva Marathon, April 2016Open or CloseTwo weeks after Zürich, I’m back in Geneva with my friend Ahmet, who I got to know from playing football together. We always stay at the same hotel, which purports to have a special price for marathon runners but never seems to in practice.
I must admit, the sands of time have erased too many memories of this one… but it was memorable for being the moment when Ahmet broke the sub four barrier with a cheeky 3:59. Nice work!
I suppose I need to say that at this time I was nominally aiming to try the Biel 100km again, and that’s why I was working up to it by participating in multiple marathons again in a short time. But I realised that niggling injuries were starting to come to the fore and that it just was not sensible to attempt it this year. Instead, let’s run up some more mountains, this time in France…. - Marathon 30: Marathon du Mont Blanc, June 2016Open or CloseBecause I so enjoy the Jungfrau Marathon both in concept and in practice, I decided that I should try an alternative mountain marathon. Having snowboarded in Chamonix before, I know how absolutely stunning the mountain scenery is in that area, so I was intrigued by the Marathon du Mont Blanc, which is in the same valley.
A steep hill climb section, poles coming in handy
The key differences between this and the Jungfrau race is that this one has 2500m of climb instead of 1850m at the Jungfrau, and also that this one has significant downhills in the middle, dropping about 700m during one stretch, whereas the Jungfrau is all up (apart from the final kilometer).
That means, this is one tough mofo of a run. Although downhill running sounds great in theory, with the gravity assist, I’ve never much liked it in practice. As hard as uphill is, at least you can plod it out, whereas steep downhill gives the body a lot of jarring impacts. For this race, most participants carry running poles (basically thin trekking poles), so I would do the same. They would be especially helpful in the downhill sections to maintain balance on rocky terrain.
There are some other differences compared to the Jungfrau. The Mont Blanc requires you to submit medical certification prior to the race to demonstrate your race fitness (this is often the case for French Marathons). One must also bring some mandatory equipment : a survival sheet, whistle, minimum liquid requirements and so on. Hence, I would be running this race with a backpack…. I suppose, the first and only marathon where I have done this… as well as running poles.
I enjoyed this run but there was a strange disconnect between my perceived performance and the actual results. The winner came in with 4:04… stunning really for the terrain. The median time was 7:31, I ran it in 8:48 and the slowest finisher crossed the line with 9:48. That placed me in 1788th out of 2045 finishers. Normally in marathons I place close to the median (so if 2000 runners run, I am normally around the 1000th over the line). By contrast, the best time ever recorded at the Jungfrau is just under three hours (again an incredible feat all things considered)… Ursula’s best was 5:03 and my best 5:37, much closer to the median in that race.
So today I finished towards the bottom of the pack. And yet, I never had the feeling during the whole race that I was particularly slow. There was a queue during a thin path section about one hour into the race, where we had to plod along at walking pace for several minutes, but apart from that I always thought I was performing pretty well in context.
I enjoyed the race, the scenery was excellent, although Mont Blanc itself was obscured in cloud for most of it. But those downhill sections are genuinely really tough and not that enjoyable. On one awkward step, I just narrowly avoided screwing up my ankle. Thankfully I was saved by my poles, but managed to damage one of them (which remains a little bent to this day as a reminder) - a little annoying as I had only bought them the day before and they cost about EUR 100!
An Alpine Ibex watches the proceedings… my favourite spectator!
Still, nearly 9 hours is a long time to run by anyones standards, and I sure was happy to cross the finish line. The last 5km was a slog over large boulders and uneven terrain, with the finish line taking a long time to inch closer. Even Ursula was surprised, perhaps a little annoyed at having to stand around at the finish line for so long, and asking why it took so long. I’m glad I did it, but haven’t thought too much about returning. One pretty cool detail… before the race, they make a temporary tattoo of the route onto your forearm! It looked good as I proceeded to drink a bottle of wine that evening!
Race Tatoo! - Marathon 31: Jungfrau Marathon, Sep 2016Open or CloseMy last marathon prior to my enforced injury related break. I’m not really sure why, perhaps my injuries were catching up with me, but it was also a fairly weak performance. It was not my day, and I made a 6:35 finish compared to 5:45 the previous year. I was pooped, and had to lay down on the side of the course twice after the initial power walk. This, with quite a bit of walking rather than running in the final third.
A pink finisher shirt came my way, as well as a large block of free Lindt chocolate, but it wasn’t the way I wanted to finish my mountain running career. I still hope I can get back to running this race for a fifth time in September 2018. Whatever the case may be, it’s still an awesome event and I encourage anyone who has an interest and thinks they are capable, to give it a shot.
- 2017: No Marathons, Injuries.Open or CloseMemory fails me as to why I did not attempt my usual end of season marathon in 2016, either Lausanne or Lucerne, but I’m guessing it is because my hamstring injury had become debilitating by then and I decided to let it rest. In fact, it didn’t go away so I tried a bit of training in early 2017 without success and then sought the advice of a sports clinic in Zürich. Concurrently, I visited a chiropractor for the first time. Attack the problem!
Previous injuries had led me more to a general practitioner than sports doc, so it was good to feel taken care of by people used to sports injuries. My doctor works with some of the Swiss olympic competitors, so he knows his stuff. As well as my hamstring, I also developed some lower back pain from my L4 facet joint, which developed a protrusion. He instructed me to stop all sport except some front crawl and light cycling, for a period of 6 months, and to engage in some painful physio called cross friction physiotherapy.
This I reluctantly did. I hate to give up sport, it’s terrible for my state of mind. Many long distance runners enjoy a healthy appetite as well, and stopping training doesn’t always equate to careful eating. At exactly this time, I also lost my job as well. So I was unemployed, unable to do sport, getting painful physio, and still eating too much. A shit combination to be honest.
I did break the rules by doing some downhill mountain biking, which when I look back on it was entirely the wrong sport to do for my injuries. Gotta admit, it was good fun though… Laax, Lenzerheide, and so on, have some amazing downhill bike routes that you can access by bringing your bike on the ski chair lift.
The hamstring slowly got better but persisted, and still persists today. I’m pretty sure it was caused by overtraining for the Biel 100km. Ultra’s are hard on the body, the heart, and the mind.
Still glad I did it though :-)
- 2018 and BeyondOpen or CloseThe lower back injury went away in Summer 2017 but came back at the end of the year. It’s no longer acute but I’m still being treated now, by my chiropractor and a different physiotherapist…. one of the team responsible for physio for the Zürich ice hockey team (the ZSC Lions). They seem optimistic, and have told me I can continue to run. The hamstring injury lingers in the background. It is not as bad as it was, but it’s background presence is threatening. Hey, at least the achilles tendonitis went away!
Well, there are practical considerations. I am now 44 years old. Sure, some people are doing endurance running twenty years down the line, but others had to give up ten years before with knee injuries. I know people of both types. I’m the middle ground, and I cannot see the future.
Since early January of this year, I decided to cautiously get back into a running programme for the Zürich marathon, scheduled April 22nd. As I write, it is early March 2018. I’m on target in the programme, somewhat slower than before, but if I can complete the marathon in 4:15 or under, I’d consider that a victory. I had gained 12kg in the space between my last race and now, so I went on a diet and have lost 9 of those in Jan and Feb of this year.
I’m a bit achey in the back, getting older, but feeling slim and fit. After a 29km run last weekend, I felt thigh pain in my muscles the day after… which is totally normal… but I realised that I hadn’t felt that for many years, which I think is a testament to just how in shape I was between say 2011 and 2016, when I could run a half marathon at any point with basically no real recovery time needed.
One cannot expect to continue sport into old age without any issues. I am more fastidious than ever about stretching, and do some frequent exercises to strengthen my core. I think however that the time may finally be arriving to hang up my soccer boots. I and a group of friends participate in a friendly 5 a side football tournament in Amsterdam every year. The next one is in three weeks. I think I will likely make this my last one, or at least take an extended break, even though team sports brings my a special joy which is different to the pleasure I derive from running.
Let’s see how it goes! - Marathon 32: Zurich Marathon 22 April 2018 (5x)Open or CloseBack in the game… and the first marathon that I have run five times! Re-reading my last entry, my target was to beat 4:15. I just squeaked through with a 4:13:54. I was on for a sub four until 30km but unfortunately my old nemesis of nausea was back.
In addition to the nausea, I also ran this marathon with a broken right hand!! I was previously musing about my football tournament in Amsterdam… during some particularly vigorous defending I managed to break my right 5th Metacarpal. Therefore I ended up tapering and running the marathon with a broken hand in a cast… hardly ideal, but, well, another story to tell!
Temperatures were around 25 degrees Celsius by midday so the conditions were also suboptimal… around 11 degrees is probably ideal… and I consequently drank more than I should have, because I was burping shortly after 20km, which is never a good sign.
I kept the dream alive with a 1:55 half marathon time, but then started to flag on the return leg after the turning point at Meilen. My legs also started to seize up, my hamstring and lower back were playing up too in minor ways but all of which contributed to a punishing final 12km. Around 34km I had to walk for a brief time, but as I neared the entrance back into the city I could trot along again, albeit slowly.
Ursula was waiting in the wings to cheer me on, which was helpful as always. The broken hand did make eating and drinking more difficult I must say. Still, another experience to look back on :-)
In the immediate aftermath, I was shivering again, even though it was a warm day. I also couldn’t really eat … I managed a third of a burger and then waited for my nausea to cease, which this time took a couple of hours.
Post run, I also had some strange feelings in my chest for a couple of days. I tried a recovery run on the following Wednesday, three days after the race, and could only manage a slow 4km. The following weekend, I also got a very stiff neck and shoulder…. I basically could not look to the left. Ah, the unalloyed joys of marathon running. I also convinced myself that this was marathon 33 instead of 32, and thus when I updated my results spreadsheet, I felt a little cheated. Silly man. It’s 32!
Still, got through it and glad that I am back, one way or another. About to start hill training for the Summer, hopefully this time a smoother path ahead!
Incapacitated Eating and Drinking! - Marathon 33: Zermatt Ultramarathon 8 July 2018Open or Close
Next up…. Zermatt. This is what my hill training has been about. Over the last few months I have been slogging up the local Zurich “mountain” called the Uetliberg, time and again. It is a 10km round trip from my front door, and it’s about 350m of climb, with a great view over Zurich. Now and again, I would run up and down it twice in one run. I also did my usual training run up Mt Rigi near Zug, the classic 33km training run from Baar, to the top. I learned that the famous artist JMW Turner liked to paint the Rigi, which is known as queen of the mountains. That Rigi climb has 1400m of relentless climb in the last 10km. It’s really hard actually, but I did it nicely.
Onto the race itself. I arrived in the area of Zermatt the day before, about 20km down the valley from Zermatt in fact, close to St Niklaus which is the starting line. We took a hostel a few km up the hill from there. Arriving, the expo was rather small and we had a lunch at a local restaurant where they messed up the order. Still, our hostel had great views. Zermatt is the home of the Matterhorn, though from where we stayed it was not visible. That would have to come during the race itself. The route winds up through the valley to and through Zermatt itself, starting at 1100m over sea level and climbing about 500m in the first 20km. They the upward profile increases, until the end at Gornergrat at 3089m. All told, the amount of vertical climb is about 2300m, about 500m more than the Jungfrau. The distance is 45.5km, so 3km further than a standard marathon and a punishing 500m of climb in that last 3km alone.
Race report: Parked the car and managed to scrape the side of it against a concrete wall, leaving some nasty scratches. Damn! Weather was great however, I was feeling reasonable though nervous as always. Setting off led to an immediate bit of climbing, and a traffic jam through St Niklaus. Shortly after, up into the hills around the village and a pleasant, if hard, first 20km into Zermatt, past the helicopter base and the glorious Matterhorn itself welcomed me with a lovely view of it’s summit.
There in town Ursula was waiting for me. I had texted her at 18km (from my apple watch) and asked her to tear out the route profile (showing the gradient throughout the race) from the race booklet, because I had not studied it enough and it was giving me angst about what was ahead. With a kiss and some encouragement she handed it over. This was great, because I could now see clearly what was ahead. It was super helpful for my mental state. Unlike the Jungfrau, where I practiced the upper part of the route as part of my training, here in Zermatt this was my first time over this ground. Zermatt is actually quite remote from Zurich, so I had not had the chance to visit it beforehand.
I could see now that the route would wend it’s way through Zermatt, then a hard 6km long climb, followed by a flat and then gently descending 6km of uneven terrain bringing me up to km39. Finally, then a monster climb of about 1100m over the last 6.5km. In actual fact, the hard climbs turned mostly into power walks, and this was the case for 9 out of 10 of my fellow athletes.
Yet again, I had to keep an upset stomach at bay. The 5km power walk following Zermatt did help in this regard, and then I was then able to mostly run until km 39. I did ok from km39 until 42km, the traditional marathon finish (there is a finish line here for those who signed up for a marathon only)… and then a second finish line for about 700 people who signed up for the ultra distance, including me of course.
From km42 until 45.5 was fairly hellish because my nausea kicked back in. A few of the helpers checked in on me in case I had altitude sickness …. I did not and did not find the altitude much of a burden to be honest… one told me I needed to drink half a litre of water with each gel and that I had not drunk enough perhaps. By this stage I was drinking quite a bit at every stop, including some coke and a bouillon.
Nevertheless, I slogged my way slowly up the hill, relentlessly, to the finish line, where Ursula was cheerfully waving. How lucky I am to have her support! Thanks darling! After the line I was handed a golden reflective warming blanket with my medal. At that altitude, it was mid afternoon and 8 deg Celsius. Pretty warm for up there! Still, I shivered uncontrollably like I have on several other occasions - my core temperature rapidly falling after stopping race effort - until Ursula arrived with a hot soup which slowly warmed me up again. The view from the finish line was stupendous…. high above even some glaciers, and way above any altitude I have ever run at before!
FINISH LINE VIEW!!!!!!!The result was 7:04:19, and I arrived ranked as 330th out of 440 for the men taking part in the ultra. Not too bad considering how I felt towards the end. My marathon ranking (i.e. 42.2km) was somewhat better, but had to be estimated as I didn’t cross an exact finish line for that. That was at approximately 5hrs and 55 minutes. Clearly the last 3.5km cost me a number of places as I slowed up a lot during it. But I am happy to have taken part and completed it. Saying that, I don’t think I would do the ultra here again. It felt like too many parts needed power walking and I prefer a race where there is more running involved. One never knows though.
As can happen with mountain marathons, the next day my legs felt relatively fresh, so we took the funicular up to Suunega and hiked around and back down into Zermatt, with even better Matterhorn views, and feet resting in a nice mountain pond. A great hike, I recommend it.
Speaking now 10 days after, my lower back has suffered a bit and I am definitely still in a recovery phase. I am planning to take part in another race just ten days from now, which should be slightly easier, but I am happy to have some more days to recover. Marathons really do need some recovery time.
Matterhorn.
- Marathon 34: Davos Swissalpine K43 28 July 2018Open or CloseA mere twenty days after my efforts in Zermatt… along came Davos. I am constantly surprised by the fact that even after all these marathons, I still encounter very different experiences from time to time. This would be the first off road mountain marathon where the route profile is essentially, first half climb, second half descend, in a loop.
The others I had done tended to be climbs all along the way, finishing at the top of a very big hill… this one skirted around and climbed a large block of land, then descended back down to the start line. Roughly speaking, the route follows a nice valley gently upwards for a little more than 10km, then climbs proper and loops to the right, climbing about 1400m in total by the 25km mark. The rest is rather downhill. That does not make it easy. Try running up a 1400m hill and see how you like it. And people tend to think that running downhill is easy… it’s not, it pounds your joints and you can’t run as fast as you think unless it is a very gentle incline.
I started well, having carefully appraised the weather situation the previous day: warm weather expected, no rain, with a temp of about 14 deg at the top. That’s really hot for this kind of terrain, so I decided to go as light as I have even been. I had even bought a new lightweight Salomon t shirt at the expo. I know that you shouldn’t really try anything new on race day, but since time is less important on mountain marathons, I figured i’d throw caution to the wind. I also left my waist pack in my training bag, as well as my wrist warmers. This was verging on reckless because avid readers of my reports (of which there are none!) know that I am prone to cooling down and even hypothermia. What am I thinking!
So, as soon as I hit the step climb of about 700m, rain sweeps in up the valley in a way that was certainly not forecast! By the top of the first big climb, there is rain and wind and I am cooling rapidly. Luckily this event is sponsored by Migros, the supermarket chain, and they tend to be the best of the sponsors. At the top, helpers are handing out temporary rain jackets! I’m saved, and run the next few km in the big binbag or with it stuffed down by backside. Still, I’m really grateful. What follows is a lovely run across the valley on a very thin single track path, but with superb valley views. Confidence returns and I ran this section at a pretty fast clip. Throughout the race, I must have stumbled at least ten times, twice very nearly toppling over, but managed to save it each time. There were a few patches here where a stumble off the side would have led to a pretty long slide down the hill, but I was fine.
Next up was the second major climb, of about 400m. By this point my usual nauseous feelings in my gut had arrived. I had heard from Ursula that they would serve some risotto at the top, so I resolved to have some. In fact, they had a little tent and a bench, and had made an open fire, so I decided to hell with it, I’ll take five minutes and have a bite of risotto (tasty), a little bouillon, and some extra water, and take in the best views of the race. This was a special moment and I really liked it, instead of piling on more pressure on myself to get going, it was great to simply take it easy and drink it all in. This was the highlight of my race, right here.
After that, a small climb to crest the ridge and then a really steep descent over broken rocks followed by a general descent and starting to loop back round the hill towards where I had started. At this point, I realised that the dimensions of the hill I was running around and the terrain itself, was quite similar in a lot of ways to a trek that I had done a few years ago around Mt Kailash in remote Tibet. Eerily so in fact. All except that I was worshipping the running gods, not the Hindu ones.
After a prolonged gravel and then asphalt trail, I entered more forest style track which winds it’s way up and down through the woods above Davos. Very pleasant running, except for me feeling a little sick. I finally overcame my nausea at km39, when I think my body decided it’s ok, I can see Davos now in the distance. Arriving back into town at the local running track near the ice rink, Ursula was on hand to wave me in and give me a high five. Another finish line crossed. After cooling off, getting some lunch and coffee, the winner of the 127km race came in, a Swiss guy. He had covered the distance and +/- 6000m in fifteen hours. Some hell of an achievement that, and two hours faster than the second place finisher! A 34hour time limit for that one.
Results: out of overall men, I came 300th out of 482. For my age group, Men 40, I came 69th out of 114. My time was 6:07:56. An hour faster than Zermatt, which has more climb and distance. Checking out the comparison with my Jungfrau times, they seemed to equate, although I had thought that the Davos track would be faster than the Jungfrau, it seems not to be.
Note: Ursula ran the 23km event from Klosters and, without much training, came 78th out of 257 overall women with a time of 2:34:04 (with 600m climb, 350m descent), and 18th out of 57 for her age group… really impressive.
Arriving back in Zurich one day later, the legs and everything felt reasonable… once again, the mountain marathon, although much longer in time, does not seem to quite impact the body the way a flat race does. Four days later, I even hiked up the Santis mountain, with another climb of 1100m. Great trek by the way, though not for the completely faint of heart. It is now 9 days after the event, and I now have a painful lower back, but a 7km run today did not seem to aggravate it.
Next planned run is the Jungfrau Marathon in exactly one month from now.
30 minutes after finishing - Marathon 35: Jungfrau Marathon 2018 5x 08 September 2018Open or Close
I recall my preparations for my first Jungfrau Marathon, wanting to reach that finish line and earn the right to wear that particular finisher shirt… the only time I have actually coveted a finisher shirt. Back then, I certainly wouldn’t have imagined that I’d be lining up for a fifth attempt at this beautiful, terrible, wonderful beast of a race.
I also had some payback to give. My last time here, in September 2016, had been difficult. I was reasonably well trained on that day, but I was weak. I think my injuries were catching up with me as well, and indeed it was my last event for a year and a half. I had felt sick and tried to make myself vomit (the only time I have done that - and without success). In 2016 I struggled to the finish line at 6:35, which was considerably slower than the 5:45 of the year before. I hoped it would not be how I finished my mountain running career. How would I fare today?
On the one hand, I knew that this year I had a fighting chance of doing ok because I had never done so much mountain running in a summer prior to this one. Two times up the punishing Rigi run of 33km, along with the Zermatt 45km and the Davos 43k, a training run on part of the Jungfrau route, plus runs up my local hills too numerous to mention. On the other hand, I also knew that once my nausea kicked in, it was hard to control and stop it derailing me completely.
These were my thoughts as I stood in Interlaken on a beautiful late summer morning, thankful for the weather and listening to the alphorn players after hastily sneaking into the Victoria Jungfrau hotel for some pre race bowel emptying.
As the gun went off, we did our our first loop around Interlaken (this year, it went the opposite way than before, not sure why the change) and I controlled my pace at the off pretty well, not becoming flustered or tempted to shoot off too quickly. Up and along the valley we went, snaking along by the river, reaching close to the halfway point at Lauterbrunnen. I had expected to see Ursula here, and indeed wanted to hand off my running belt to her, but we both got a bit confused and missed each other. The race goes on.
From Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen is a steady but gentle climb over a half marathon distance. After this, runners along the valley, running in the shape of three sides of a rectangle over a further 5km, with towering cliffs either side. And then begins the serious gradient, starting at about 26km. There is a 2km long super steep part that most everyone power walks, and then further up to Wengen, and then further up and up and … you get the picture.
After that initial power walk finishes at km28, the climb continues until the steepest part of the race between km 39 and 41, which again almost everyone power walks. Between these two points, I successfully ran almost all of it, though I have noted over the years that more people are walking parts of this inbetween as well. I do not know if the culture of the race has changed, or just that more people are entering who are not fully trained, but there it is. One really needs to be careful not to be lulled into a false sense of security, along the lines of thinking that, “oh, they are walking so I can walk.”
Eventually I found myself at the bottom of the final steep ascent which ascends several hundred metres over 2km. I knew that I still had a shot at a personal best, which was 5:37 from my second attempt some years ago. Nausea was present, but it was one of those races where I could keep it on the sidelines. Getting towards the top of the steepest part (which is sometimes steep enough that you can use your hands to climb up!), I passed the bagpipe player that always serenades the climbers over the final rocks. As always, at the very highest point of the race, you climb over some actual rocks and some members of the public give you a helping hand over. So wonderful.
What lay before me now was the only downhill kilometer of the race. Checking my watch, I figured I had a chance of around 5:31 but decided to fly and see if I could come closer to 5:30. Fly I did! I pulled out all the stops. It was now, or it was never. I sprinted like Usain over the rocky ground and around other competitors and lunged across the finish line. Not until the final few hundred metres did I realise that I there was a shot at under 5 and a half hours. Digging pretty deep, I sprinted as fast as I could… and I made it… Result: 5:29:45! Awesome.
I was 45 years old, and had gotten my personal best at the Jungfrau Marathon on my fifth attempt! Honestly, three weeks later as I write this, I am still incredibly pleased with this result. I suspect that this will be in my top mountain memories, alongside completing my first marathon at Lausanne, completing my first Jungfrau, getting my first sub four time, and also getting my personal best in Zurich.
Here is a video of me running this year, it kicks in after the first 45 seconds….
Yes I know I look slow!
I have said it before and say it again. The Jungfrau marathon is a magical event (as long as it has good weather - which I always luckily have had). I think the route profile is superb. Gentle up, steep up, medium up, steep up, then a final little descent to enjoy. Comparing the Mont Blanc Marathon… nice but a bit too much downhill. The Zermatt Ultra: varied interesting route profile but relentless up (and down), even the last metres are steep and one crawls over the finish. Davos 43km… This is a fun route that has good scenery - it would qualify as my second favourite mountain marathon route so far - but it does not compare to the majesty of the Jungfrau: Amazing scenery, interesting and varied terrain. Excellent crowd support. Lots of atmosphere. Brilliant official support too.
Ursula photography masterclass. - Marathon 36: Zürichseelauf Ultramarathon (Self Organised) 06 October 2018Open or Close
Directly after my nice experience in Interlaken, I started to wonder about fitting in another event before the last of the season (Lausanne at the end of October).
An idea had been gestating in my mind for a while…. why not attempt to run around the Lake of Zurich (called the Zürichsee in the German language). After all, I had cycled it plenty of times on my road bike. On the other hand, it would be 66km… the third longest run I had ever attempted. And yet, if I was going to do an ultra distance again and if (as I currently do), I consider 100km to be too taxing on the body… it had a certain allure.
The logistics… there is no organised run around the lake. As far as I can tell, I see no record of anyone ever doing this route at all as a run. That’s not to say it hasn’t been done. Probably it has. But it is not documented.
So, a 66km run without any support then? Sounds like a challenge!! I frequently use a forum called Englishforum.ch which supports expats from all over the world working and living here in Switzerland. So I decided to advertise on it to see if anyone would be mad enough to join me. I decided to capitalise on my Jungfrau strength and set a date three weeks down the line, right in the middle between now and the Lausanne date.
To summarise, a guy knew a guy who was training for an even longer 100km race in Spain. His name was Ander, an aircraft mechanical engineer, and he decided that my little jaunt would be a good training run for him. We met for a 10k the week after, to eyeball each other and talk about the race. I agreed to cycle around the lake the following week to make a note of the logistics… were there enough fountains, kiosks, garages, etc, to guarantee our nutritional needs? My benchmark was, that there should always be somewhere to get liquids within 5km of any point on the route. Turns out, there was. Good for us. Race was on.
We met up at the ferry quai at Bürkliplatz at 7:30 on the chosen date. I scoffed down a croissant and a coffee while Anders was en route. Weather was good. Chilly first thing but predicted to be warm later in the day. No start gun, but with a press of a stopwatch button, we were off. I had told Ander several times that I was not out to break records, and intended to run the distance at a pretty slow pace to help my chances later in the run.
With that, we ambled along between 5:40m and 6:00m per km (5:40 being an approximate pace for a four hour marathon), stopping to drink every 5k and eat and drink every 10k. I have no doubt that Ander would have gone quicker without my explicit wish to stay slow. However, he was very friendly and cooperative and we chatted happily for the first half of the race, up to Rapperswil. There, at the top of the lake, we had ran around 31km if I recall. We chose that to have a rest stop and snacks.
After that, we crossed over and continued, getting slightly waylaid by a public footpath, prompting me to suggest that we stick to my known cycle route. It would be closer to traffic but the chance of needing to backtrack would disappear. When running 66km, trust me when I say that turning back on dead ends is something that you are keen to avoid!
Mental expectations had done their thing and adjusted upwards, so that mind and body no longer counted down to the usual 42km finish. Around 36km though, I noted that my legs were getting pretty stiff, and I was slowing down from what was, honestly, a pretty leisurely pace already. Ander had pains too, especially in the legs, but was basically was still strong in terms of energy and we talked about him potentially going ahead.
We decided to push on together until the 42km mark and then take a break for liquid and a snack. We sat in the shade at the side of the road as the temperature had now really heated up. It was on the way to soon be over 20 deg C, which was really quite warm for the time of year.
Around this point in the race, a switch in our relative conditions occurred… I started to regain some strength and yet meanwhile Ander started to flag…. increasing amounts of pain in his legs and feet started to give him real cause for concern. We switched from continuous running to a 8/2 split… run for eight minutes, power walk for 2 minutes, and repeat. It was clear that Ander was starting to suffer badly, because he kept asking when the 8 minutes was up! Fair enough.
At about 50km, we stopped for our “lunch” break and I ate a sandwich picked up from a garage. Shortly before, Ursula had caught up with us. She had cycled around the lake and the idea was that she could provide a bit of support in the last third if necessary. Super helpful as always!
Sitting there, Ander contemplated to abandon the race entirely. It would not have been unreasonable at all, because he was after all training for a longer and more serious 100km event just a few weeks from now. On the other hand, if he was quitting at 50km, then how would he survive a 100km event (with massive climbs involved)?
My advice was - if continuing todays run would put him at risk of an injury that could screw up his 100km, then he should quit. But, if he thought that completing todays run would not cause a serious injury, he should continue, even if slowly…. because time on the feet would still be good preparation for his longer run.
I think he felt the same. With approximately 15km to go, he decided to try and finish the race but by walking. I felt this was the best solution, and suggested that I should go ahead as I still had running power. We agreed on this. Stopping for a drink at the Wadenswil ferry stop, I ran on, leaving Ander behind.
The next 15km turned out to be difficult but doable. I was anything but fast, but I somehow had some resources. I immediately dropped the 8/2 split in favour of a continuous slow run, still stopping when needed for a drink. From 55 to 62km was particularly difficult - it just seemed to take forever - but seeing Zurich city in the distance did provide at least some respite.
Eventually, reaching the city borders, I caught a last wind and jogged more quickly towards the finish. At the end, I celebrated with a cold sparkling water - my usual tipple after a marathon and which I always massively look forward to - and did some gentle stretching before slumping onto a bench and happily chatting to Ursula about our endeavours.
I thought of Ander and wondered how he was getting on. Turns out, not badly! Ursula spotted him walking nonchalantly past us on the bench. He ended up finishing approximately 15 minutes after me. I shouted… Ander!! Handshakes and smiles. He got back some energy and ran it after all. A great result. It took 8 hours and 17 mins. Neither of us were particularly strong that day. I think in good form I could definitely do it in under 8 hours and possibly around 7:30. Who knows, maybe next year!
From my own side, I do think that running it with someone helped me out - it’s just fun to chat and not be in too much of a hurry. Conversely, Ander’s natural pace would be a bit quicker than mine - he is ten years younger as well - and perhaps that didn’t help him. But it was and is clear that he is a really strong guy and capable of great mental and physical exertions. He went on to run his 100km, with about 5000m of vertical ups and downs, in 21 hours in foul weather. That shows character!
Finally, to say, I enjoyed it immensely to devise and then complete this challenge. Another great chapter in my running career.
17km left. Fresh as daisies! - Marathon 37: Lausanne Marathon 2018 5x 28 October 2018Open or Close
Back to where it all began. Coming full circle, I closed off my 2018 running season with the Lausanne marathon. Compared to 23 degrees and sun on my run around the Zurichsee, today it was 4 deg, wet, and windy.
We lodged in the Hotel Fassbind (a nice find and good value, in a lovely quarter of Lausanne). When picking up my bib at the Expo, I was saddened to find that the pasta party on the boat is no more. A shame - that was the best pasta party I know. Oh well, things change!
I’ll keep this one brief. For clothing, I layered up so as to remain toasty. So, long thin trousers, an odlo vest, long sleeve T shirt, and Nike storm running jacket (my new Salomon jacket just doesn’t do breathable as well as I need). Yeah, probably overkill, but hey - if you read about my first ever marathon (this one, but in 2010) you might recall that after that one I landed in the medical tent with hypothermia in warmer conditions then today.
So, the clothing was a little much, I could have lost the vest or gone for a short sleeve t shirt, but whenever there was wind I was happy to have the jacket, as typical running shirts offer little to no wind resistance. I was aware also that while on the move I would normally be fine, but in case of needing to slow down and stop, I would cool really quickly, so that was another reason for the layers.
Even with all my experience, I still sometimes find it tricky to strike the right balance of clothing for the conditions, and you only really know it once the run has started and it’s too late to change anything.
Crowd support was still very nice, as it always is in Lausanne, and while clouds precluded us from the usual stunning views over the lake and Alps beyond, we still got nice views of the vineyards on the Lausanne side as we wound our way up to Vevey. There really is something about this route that is quite magical. I don’t know if it’s based on nostalgia because it was my first ever marathon, but even so, it feels special. The views, the road closures, the official support, and the crowd support combine to make it more than the sum of it’s parts.
So what about race strategy? This would be my sixth and final race of the year - after Zürich, Zermatt, Davos, the Jungfrau, and the lake run. Only the first one was a normal flat marathon, and there I had suffered pretty badly with nausea. As usual, the sub four question was in my mind. On the plus side, I had ran a lot this summer, so should be in shape for it. On the other, I had mostly done trail running, which is somewhat different. Back to the first hand… Lausanne was flat, but as Ursula and I have discussed several times, it isn’t really that flat. There are a lot of long rolling inclines on the way out and on the way back. On the way back, they have a habit of destroying me.
I had a plan. I would take huge care to not overdo the first half of the race, and then see if a negative split would be possible on the return leg (negative split meaning a faster second half of a race). After the usual enthusiastic start, including a nice bit of downhill, going slowly turned out not to be a problem! My legs were already getting stiff by 15km - this was not at all an encouraging signal. I reached the half marathon point with 2:00:30 ish. In fact, I would have liked to be more around 1:58 but my body wasn’t feeling cooperative with that.
As I turned direction and headed back in the direction of Lausanne, my mood went through several long rolling inclines in the same way that the road did. At points, I figured, I had a shot at a sub four. At others, it seemed futile. The four hour pacemaker provided by the race support team was still behind me, but I could clearly see him, perhaps 250 metres distant. Plus, he had possibly started a few minutes after me, which was not helpful.
I decided to fight hard to keep my momentum until 30km, and then consider my situation. Well, my strategy of keeping reserves paid off. Between 30 and 32km, something clicked and I realised I had a real chance of staying ahead of the pacer. I realised too that a sub four here would be a fantastic end to my season.
Yes, I know it isn’t the kind of performance most marathoners would write home about. Switzerland is a pretty fit country. The median marathon time is around 3:50 (compared to 4:30 in the UK according to what I can find out). So, in Switzerland, i’m pretty average. Just earlier that week I had had a job interview and the interviewer himself was a sub 3 guy. But I never set out to compete like that. I am competing with myself in a way that I am perfectly happy with.
With all that in mind, I knew my target today was now within the realms of possibility and I tried to take steps to achieve it. There were still climbs in the road to deal with. This may sound strange because they are gentle, not steep like the mountain marathons I do. But in the mountain marathons, you disregard the normal assumptions that most people have about marathon times. In a flat marathon, it is so much more important to control and keep your pace stable (having to stop for a pee can seem like a monumental waste of time). However gentle they may be, ascents can still add precious seconds to your per km pace, and that’s not helpful with a pacer almost literally breathing down your neck.
So I endeavoured to speed up a little on the flat and downhills, and try to maintain my pace on the climbs. I realised around 32km, that I could do it. I also realised that I was not going to get sick or nausea today. I’m not sure why, but I just knew it. This gave me a burst of happy endorphins… a virtuous circle was being drawn. Finally, I knew that there was a good chance of me getting under four hours, and not only that, but I could enjoy the experience. This may or may not be clear from my little narratives here, but precious few of my marathons have I been able to truly enjoy during them. Marathons are mostly Type 2 kinds of fun, after all (you can google that to see what that means if you are curious). I have only felt strong during the last third of, maybe, three marathons, today included.
And today I did indeed enjoy. I did not feel sick. I felt strong. Some great tunes on my headphones kicked in and added a smile to my face. A runners high was firmly in place! I had previously used Siri to message Ursula saying that I would likely be crossing the line some minutes over four hours. Now I messaged her again and told her that I might be under it after all.
And so it proved. A strong finish, sprinting the last 100m like Usain (ok, that’s what it felt like), and a nice gold medal and blue finisher shirt, and my favourite after marathon lunch of all the events I do - a small vendor by the lake selling a delicious cheeseburger. Stretch, and and train trip back home and a nice bottle of French red wine, finally falling contentedly asleep on the sofa while watching a travel documentary.
- Marathon 38: Green City Marathon Route Zurich 13 Feb 2019Open or CloseAs part of a local government initiative, the city of Zurich decided to design a running route around the outskirts of Zürich, called the Green City Marathon Route. From what I know, it was not designed as a route specifically to be run in one go as a marathon, but for people to dip in and out of as they wished, perhaps doing 5k or 10k here or there along the route.
Here is the link to the website: https://www.greenmarathon.ch
An idea had formed in my mind a few months before, to run it in one go. It looked like fun, although it had about 800m of vertical climb during it, and was mixed between asphalt and trails.
The start of the route is in the centre of the city proper, actually at the Rio Bar / Caffee close to Löwenplatz, on the bridge crossing the River Sihl, next to the main railway station of Zurich. I decided that the best way to start this race would be with a coffee and croissant at the cafe itself, which only opened at 8pm, thus dictating a start time around 8.20am. It was a Wednesday morning, in my mid Semester break from my Law masters course, so I had time.
The route then sets off up the river, away from the station, and then to the Sihlcity area, where it leaves the urban sprawl for the first time. The route is signposted with little signed attached to lampposts and things like that. In addition, I had the route outlined on my phone on the Motion GPX app, which I had used before to check the route of the Biel 100km and also all the way across the United Kingdom for my our LEJOG bike ride.
I found that much of the route was familiar to me already, simply from living in Zurich and that I have done so much running in and around the city. That said, I still frequently needed to check the phone because I was paranoid about losing the route between signposts. Most long distance runners will know what I mean when I say that losing your way on a long run route or having to backtrack is very annoying, which meant that I stopped a lot during the run, which of course slowed my time.
Above the Saalsportshalle at Sihlpost, I noticed what a sunny bright crisp morning this was. It was close to zero degrees, and I was dressed appropriately, but it was somehow lovely weather and the air was clear, I had nothing to do but run this nice route and I was in a good mood.
The route went up past the Strassenverkehrsamt (Traffic Office) and along the panorama way to Triemli, beyond through Altstetten, where I now live, and then out towards the River Limmat. Once across the river, the route snakes up on it’s first of three major climbs, up past Frankental. Eventually, after making my way through the forest to the ETH Honggerberg area, I came to the Restaurant Waid area which, in my opinion, has the nicest view over Zurich of all. Next came one of the long downhills back down to Milchbuck, where I used to live for my first 14 years in Zurich, pretty much passing my old apartment. In fact, directly at my old apartment was the half marathon point!
Then comes the second of the major uphills, up to the Zurichberg, through the forest again. Here there was still some compacted snow on the ground. A week previously, we had planted a small fir tree in the forest up here (we had received it but had no room in our Garden), and the route came within 20 metres of that so I went to check on it. It was still alive!
Crossing the main railway lines beyond AltstettenMoving forward, I came to the Hotel Zurichberg, then passed the Zoo and the sports track (Vita Parc Cours) which I also knew from previous workouts. There was then the major part of the route that I didn’t know, and I actually lost my way off the route for awhile on what turned out to be the final major climb at around 29km. After this, I passed a large wooden viewing point, which I had no energy to climb, and also with an eye on the time, I decided to keep going.
It turned out that from here, it was flat to downhill the whole way back into the city. Soon I reached a stream I knew quite well, which ran through a forest (on the way back from Forch), so I knew that the entire route back to the city would be more or less downhill. Even so, by this stage I was struggling to run at even 6:30m per kilometer going downhill! The constant stop starting to check the route (I must have checked it more than 50 times on the marathon) were taking their toll. Eventually I reached the lake near the Zurichhorn, and ran back to the city towards the finish.
I knew that the gpx route said it was 43km in total (so 800m more than the 42.2km of a marathon) but that was welcome because I always run at least 43km in a non official marathon just to make sure that I have definitely covered the distance. However, as I neared the actual finish, I realised that I was going to come up short according to my running watch, which meant I had to back and forth for an extra 500m just to get to the 43km… not what you want when I could actually see the finish line in sight!
Still, I completed it and with that the first marathon of 2019.
My time, of 5:46:34, is certainly not the most impressive I have ever run. However, I did have to stop start a lot, and there is quite a lot of vertical.
An extra note that I almost forgot. This week was pretty special: I did the marathon on a Wednesday. The next day, remarkably I found the energy to cycle up the Uetliberg, Zurich’s local little mountain, and back down through the snow. The day after that, I went for a day of snowboarding in Flumserberg. I think the next day I went for a swim, and then the day after that I went for a day of cross-country skiing! I don’t think I have ever been half as active in the days following a marathon.
View from the Restaurant Waid - Marathon 39: Green City Marathon Route Zurich 23 Feb 2019Open or CloseI’ll keep this report brief. It was still cold, so in terms of apparel, I layered up to remain toasty. So, long thin trousers, an Odlo vest, long sleeve T shirt, and Nike storm running jacket (my new Salomon jacket just doesn’t do breathable, although it is advertised as such - I once took it off after a run and a pool of sweat poured out - actually poured, rather than drips. To its credit, it does look nice at least, and has some waterproofness.
Why is it then, just ten days after doing the Green City Marathon for the first and last time, here I was doing it again. I was pleased that I had already completed the route but not so happy that it had taken me such a long time and that I had had to stop so often to check the route.
This time, I had the benefit of Ursula’s company for the first half, although it was still on the slow side. The second half fared a little better, especially in the last 12km where I was able to run a little faster than before on the downhill. I managed to shave 29 minutes off my overall time, down to 5:17:17. Improvement. - Marathon 40: Green City Marathon Route Anti-Clockwise Zurich 23 March 2019Open or CloseExactly a month later, I decided to run the same Green City Marathon route once again, another unofficial race, this time running the route the other way around, to see how that went. The weather was more springlike than before, so no snow patches to contend with!
Ursula joined again for the first half, meaning that she would have run the entire route but in two parts, and this time we took a moment to climb the viewing tower. Again, I found my feet in the second half and cut my time again to 5:04:54. My target was sub-5 and I think it is doable if I have a good day, but I could not reach it this time. Still, a good improvement over my first time on this route of 5:46, and one needs to remember that this route is not at all flat, with about 800m of climb and another 800m of descent.
Maybe I will do the green city route again later in the year, and see if I can break the 5 hour barrier. I think that the clockwise route probably does have the potential to be faster. This is my guy feeling, even though I have my fastest time on the counter-clockwise direction.
- Marathon 41: Unofficial Marathon Rapperswil to Zurich April 6 2019Open or CloseI have titled this “The Forgotten Marathon” because after doing it, I basically forgot that I had done it. I’ve been busy with my studies and so I did not have time to update my race reports until a bit later in the year. When I did find time, I was checking my Strava records and rediscovered it!
More or less, I ran from the top of the Zurich Lake, back into Zurich along the gold coast side. Since my last Green City run on 23rd March, I had decided to focus on flat running in preparation for the Zurich Marathon coming up at the end of April. My thinking was as follows: I had now run three marathons this year, so I should be in fairly good shape for the Zurich run. I decided to up my speed and six days prior had run a half marathon in 1hr 52, or a pace of 5:20/km. This was really promising looking so I thought, let’s see what I can do now on a full marathon flat route, which would then allow my three weeks to recover before the official event.
As so often in long distance running, sometimes plans fall apart and it turned into a massive struggle. After completing it, I gave the run a title on Strava: “The Should Have Quit / Didn’t know How 42k”.marathon 41 pic 2
Not Tina Turner’s House.
I also wrote: “Completely buggered, should have quit. Lots of time for sightseeing, so I took a picture of what I thought was Tina Turners house (but it isn’t). My last marathon a few weeks back had 800m of climb and today’s was basically flat, and I achieved approximately the same time. This shows how screwed up I was today.”
Well, that is how it goes. I started strong but already knew that I was having an off day before hitting the 10km mark. 4:58:28 was my time.
- Marathon 42: Zurich Marathon April 28 2019Open or CloseThe Big One. I have now run 42 marathons and in addition to that, approximately 200 half marathon or longer distances. I am 45 years old.Today I got my personal best, of 3:37:02, beating my previous personal best of 3:46 set in 2015. I am really, really happy about this!
Zurich is always a special event for me, firstly because it is my adopted home town where I have now lived for the best part of 20 years, and secondly, because the route is the flattest of all the races I have done - meaning that if a personal best is to be achieved, here is a good place to try for it.
I mentioned in my last race report that after my third marathon distance of this year, I decided to focus my training on speed in the run up to the Zurich 2019. I figured that, since I had never run three marathon distances in the run up to this race, that perhaps there was a chance that I could capitalise on those training effects. Of course, at the back of my mind was the outside hope that I was still capable of a personal best or close to it.
Although my last race three weeks prior had been quite terrible, I know from experience that everyone has off days so I continued to try to do my shorter runs at an intense pace. A few days prior to the state date, I decided that on this occasion, I’d leave it all out on the field, all or nothing. After all, I felt good and if I overdid it and crashed and burned, what did it matter? It was my forty something marathon after all, and I had recently all but forgotten one of the earlier marathon distances I had done earlier in the year.
I felt fit, prepped, well fuelled, and I had nothing to lose. Also, a few weeks prior I had seen an article about a popular race shoe from Nike, called the Nike Vaporfly 4% flyknit. Until now, I had always raced in conventional shoes, the same shoes that I trained in. The shoes looked interesting but at the time I filed away the information in my brain without thinking about it too much. However, this year, the bib pick up point was changed from a sports hall, to a department store in town called Jelmoli. Walking back through the sports department afterwards, I checked out the shoes and ultimately ended up buying a pair.
I would not ordinarily recommend racing in a new and untested pair of shoes, but hey, this was my go big or go home run, so I got in a 3km freshening up run the day before the race to check out my new ride. They were certainly extremely light compared to my pegasus, and very springy. Let’s do this.
The marathon started with cold temperatures and rain, so I wore my waterproof jacket for the first 10km, handing it off to Ursula who was supporting me from the sidelines, as she so often has, and as I will always totally appreciate. Thanks love!
I was extremely quick off the mark (for me), with the first five kilometers all at a pace under 5:00 /km. After that I slowed a little but still in the low fives. This really was all or nothing for me, and normally this would be considered too much. One of the most typical mistakes in marathon running is “too quick off the mark”, running beyond your training pace too early will normally lead to a very uncomfortable confrontation with “the wall” later in the run.
Still, I was up for it, my legs felt light with the shoes, and I felt fairly strong. This only rarely happens to me on race day. All the way out to the turnaround point at Meilen, which actually comes around 25km, I was running one of the strongest races of my life. Zurich is also good for the runners psychology, because when you do turn around and start heading back towards the city, you are well beyond the half way mark and this is definitely good from a mental point of view. On the way there, I also passed Danny and Karen from Herrliberg, who had come out to support me. Such things always give a boost - thanks guys!
However, literally at that turning point, and I mean, EXACTLY at the turning point, I started to notice that I was having pain in my thigh muscles (quads). I quickly surmised that the cause of this pain must be my new shoes. The race shoes were causing me to run a slightly different stride, which placed strain on slightly different parts of my legs, which were not trained to run with this new shoe. Although I was more than halfway home and with a personal best still a real possibility, I realised with alarm that this was not a great sign. Races can fall apart at any moment. I’ve seen it, I’ve experienced it, and it can come quickly.
Nevertheless, as part of my training, I had taken a look at what paces are needed to beat my personal best, and what is needed for a sub 3:40 time, and I knew I was in the zone for that latter outcome if I could keep going around my current pace. This was an incredibly enticing prospect.
So, I started my journey back into town. 17km out of 42km to go. I even put in a few more sub 5 minute kilometers but noted that the pain in my quads was definitely on the increase. I decided that I would try to keep a good pace until km 35, and if I still had it in me, I would fight through any pain regardless, and that is more or less what happened. Reaching the corner of the lake at Bellevue, truly back in the city, with a few km to go, I spotted Ursula and handed off my running belt, managing to tell her “I’m quick” before ambling off at what by that stage probably did not seem quick to anyone but me!
Still, nothing was going to stop me now. I crossed the finish line with 3:37:02. This is a great result for me, nine minutes faster than my previous personal best (also set at Zurich). Of course, there are plenty of faster runners out there but I am always keen to stress that I am a fairly normal guy. On the other hand, only 2% of runners run a marathon under three hours, so I also have nothing to feel ashamed about. Overall, my time put me 804th out of 2310 finishers, with a further 6 disqualified and 104 who started but did not finish. I placed 714th out of 1811 men overall, and 118th out of 278 men in my age group (45 to 50). Excluding elite athletes, I was 791st out of 2297 runners. For completeness, I can also tell you that for Zurich based males, I ran 220th out of 625 competitors.
Once again, I am really happy with this result. - Marathon 43: Davos Swiss Alpine Marathon July 27 2019Open or CloseAfter my personal record on the flat at Zürich, I skipped over to Davos in the high summer of 2019. I’m writing this in March 2020 so details are hazy, but I recall that we stayed in the Hard Rock Hotel in Davos - made a change from the youth hostel (which was booked out).
I’m trying to recall how it went except I remember being pretty tired, and also disappointed that there was not an open fire and some risotto at the highest point. The year before, this had been a highlight, and I had allowed myself a few minutes to sit and relax.
I also recall that there was more snow on the ground, and the running over the passes was precarious at points. There were about 15 times I had to run over snow for short distances. On the way back down, I was struggling quite a bit, and it is a lovely forested route but I was on go slow and hurting. I eventually finished around 6:27, a lot slower than last year. I had wanted to beat 6 hours, alas not to be.
I’m trying to recall how the weather was - I definitely had to wear a plastic raincoat at some point again as I almost lost my AirPods putting it on. But on the way down the temp rose quite quickly so the raincoat did not last long.
I saw a great pic of runners on the route - typical running over snow - I’m not in this pic but would have been there around then.
A reminder of how lucky I am to be alive and able to do these things
Ursula again did the half marathon and achieved a really nice result in her age group - she really is super. - Marathon 44: Jungfrau Marathon 7 September 2019Open or CloseMy 6th Jungfrau. 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019.
Wasn’t my strongest day. Weather seems to have been fine. Again I cannot recall too many details on this one, except that I was seriously considering quitting at Wengen, which is maybe around the 30km mark. I just did not feel in good shape, hurting, a bit sick, and wondering how to do another 12km uphill. Ursula was great about it, and gently encouraged me to see if I could go on. Remarkably, I did get back some of my energy and poise a few km outside Wengen, and could slowly pad upwards.
Considering how I felt, a finishing time around 6:08 was a pretty good result.
Since then, I have felt myself slowing up somewhat. I don’t know if it is ageing or a change in perceptions, or underlying small niggles. As of March 2020 I am training again but in the current Corona virus climate there is limited scope for official events and I’ll continue to see how I feel.
- Marathon 45 & 46: Green City Marathon route 3 April 2020 and 10 April 2020Open or CloseMy 2020 marathon season kicked off with a run around the Zurich Green City Marathon loop, which avid readers will recall I tackled a number of times last year. It is essentially a marathon length loop which skirts in and around the city of Zurich, taking in some nice urban and countryside views. I had intended this as a prelude to the official Zurich marathon planned for the last weekend in April, but by now it was obvious because of the Corona virus situation that this event would be cancelled or postponed (as of now, postponed, with no new date announced).
Steady but slow, I decided to ease in and run it at a leisurely pace, including a short coffee break at Buccheggplatz where I would meet Ursula, who would join for the second half. The second half runs up to the Zoo and into the forests beyond. There is a nice wooden viewing point to climb (there is a pic of this is a previous report) which we did. Usually you can see a lot of planes landing at the airport, but due to the virus, instead we could see rows of Swiss aircraft lined up and stored at Dubendorf airport in the distance.
Ursula paced on the second half helpfully, as I was lagging. I decided to wear my race shoes for this run - bad idea, not meant for trails at all, and I left both a little bit of my soul and sole on the route. I also developed a sharp foot pain in the right foot. Weather, however, was great, with nice clear blue skies.
Overall, the run took me 5:48:31, which was lets be honest really slow, but it is not often I have a coffee break and climb up viewing points during a marathon. At the end, we went to the Sprüngli chocolate shop at the main station, and ate a chicken sandwich and picked up lots of chocolate easter bunnies (they were selling at a 30% discount - the little ones are so delicious, especially the stratiatella).
Afterwards, I was pretty disappointed with my time so decided to tackle it again a week later and see if I could get nearer to the 5 hour mark.
So off I went with a focus on getting it done rather than coffee breaks and viewing points. I went the same direction, and Ursula again ran the second half. I started much stronger than the week before, a rare time when I felt I had beans to spare. Ursula had been instructed that I was attempting to break 5 hours, and worked well to help pace me and support me.
With a good amount of determination, I kept my pace and was on target to and break i5hrs definitively, which would be not bad for an unsupported race with 800m of uphill and 800m of downhill. In the end, I managed 4:53:00. I’m happy with that and not sure I could easily improve on this time so much.What a difference a week makes, and again proof that running marathons in consecutive weeks is not only doable but can make a positive difference. This time I wore my normal Pegasus 36’s. However, combined wear and tear from the two runs but especially from misguided use of my race shoes on a part trail route the week before left me with a sharp pain in the right foot which took about two weeks to subside fully.
- Marathon 47: 2020 Zurich Marathon Unofficial (Corona) 1 May 2020Open or CloseAs mentioned, the official marathon, scheduled for the weekend before this, has been postponed, perhaps until autumn or more likely next year in my opinion. So I came up with the idea of running the route anyway. I would have done it on the official weekend (probably the Saturday though rather than the planned Sunday). However, I felt I needed a three week gap between my last marathon and this one, so planned it for the beginning of May (a Friday, long weekend here in Switzerland).
I pretty much know the route by heart, so this was not a stumbling block. However, doing it unsupported does throw the differences between an official and unofficial race into sharp relief. During the official, the roads are closed for you, there are planned water and food stops along the route, you have crowd support.
Running it unofficially, you have to carry your own water and food, once you run out of water you have to find fountains and fill up yourself there, you can only run on the pavement, you have to stop at urban traffic lights, you have to watch out for traffic. It’s a lot different.
However, I was happy to give it a try, and even after all this time, it felt like a new and fresh experience … running an official route unofficially! It is always a source of amazement and amusement how I still find new experiences time after time on marathons.
This was not to be a strong run however. I wore the right clothes, and decided on race shoes (as had been my plan all along and why I had trained in them specifically several times over the last weeks). However, I was not feeling strong in the legs after 10km and this is always a sign of a tough race to come. Normally, when I am feeling ok, I do not have weak legs until after 25km at the earliest.
So by the time I reached the turnaround point at Meilen (at approx 25.5km in), I knew it was going to be something of a struggle. At that point, my legs felt closer to how they normally feel at the end of a race. Ursula, faithful sidekick and wonderful person that she is, was waiting at Meilen to pace me for the second half. She still isn’t running full marathon distances but anything up to half marathon and a little beyond she is fully fit enough and willing to do.
I waved cheerfully at her as she came into view when I rounded the final corner into Meilen. However as I reached her I was in a bit of a panic about where the next fountain would be as I was running short on water. She was also clearly not in a hurry, adjusting her shoes, jacket, etc, so I admit I got a little annoyed because I was not in picnic or coffee mode on this run. However, it was just for a moment and I spent a lot of time afterwards telling her, truthfully, how amazing and helpful she is.
A great thing about the Zurich route is that you feel like Meilen is the half way stage as it is an out and in route, but actually when you turn around and head back it is at 26km leaving 17km to go, which I have always used as a psychological boost. However, it was more about getting it done today and trying to keep up with Ursula, who was not running fast in any case.
In my anticipation not to run less than the actual route, I actually ran 43.55km by the finish line, with a time of 4:38:53. Surely slow, but I could hardly do more. Some days you are stronger than others. I had no breakfast this time (I only tend to on official race days) and think next time I will try to get some food in me. However, three weeks before when I had a lot of beans, I also had no breakfast, so it is hard to say.
- Marathon 48 & 49: 2020 Zurich Marathon Unofficial (Corona) PART II 9 May 2020 and Davos SwissAlpine 2020 26 July 2020Open or CloseIt is now October 2020 and I have yet to write up two reports of runs I did in May and July, so here goes.
Having completed an unofficial route of the Zurich Marathon in 4:38 on 1st May, I decided to have another crack at the very same route one week later. After all, my personal best on the official race was more than an hour quicker. Of course, you cannot expect to do the same time when you have to fend for yourself but even so, I had not had a strong day and there was definitely room for improvement.
I know that it might seem extreme to do two marathons a week apart, but my mind was drawn back to 2015 when I set a good time - for me - a week after running the Brighton marathon, in the run up to my 100k madness. So that, coupled with some anecdotal evidence that my mate Dave mentioned years ago, to the same effect - “they reckon if you did a marathon one week later you’d be quicker”, sort of thing, had led my thinking ever since. And let’s face it, there is something cool about just being able to try, right? Most people would put it out of their mental horizon after running a marathon, but do you really have to? No. Not if you don’t want to.
Well, that being said, I didn’t really perform any better on this occasion. All told, I shaved three minutes off the previous week’s time, and in my recollection of it, I actually thought I was slower. My memory of the event is that the first half was pretty good, but then the wheels came off the wagon somewhat in the second half. Ursula again ran that second half with me, from the Meilen turn around point. This time, she was ready to go as I arrived! But I couldn’t follow through and it became clear quite soon after that this was going to be another struggle. In fact, I’d wager that I did the final third quite a lot more slowly than the week before, and maybe I even stopped to walk once or twice for a few minutes.
And now, onto the second race report (should the unofficial ones be called run reports)? This was the Davos SwissAlpine 2020, and my third crack at this race. To be honest, I was and remain quite surprised that it ran at all, with the pandemic situation. Picking up the race bib, and the start line itself both required participants to practice social distancing and wear a mask. The mask could be taken off after passing the start line, but runners were supposed to keep their distance during the race as well.
So how about the race itself. My first attempt had been completed in 6:07, and the second with 6:27. Today I managed it in 6:33. Some first half and mid point nausea, not particularly debilitating enough to make me stop, but enough to slow me down, combined with VERY tired legs, meant that I was not enjoying the race too much on the climb and even the initial downhill. Lingering in my mind were some painful memories of the year before, where I had felt really quite sick in the final quarter, which is actually a really pleasant route through long forested paths.
However, as is so often the way in long distance running, expectations are there to be confounded, and I found myself getting stronger as I entered the final third. Actually, let’s back up a little there, and perhaps talk about the route. The marathon begins with a jaunt out of town, past a golf course, and then follows a gentle but steady and lengthly climb for about the first 14km. As usual, it spat with a little rain, even though the forecast was for dry conditions, but certainly better than the year before, where a dry forecast and being completely underdressed was replaced with quite a downpour and one shivering Kevin.
There then follows a steep and long Powerwalk (unless you are pretty strong and then parts of it can be jogged). There is then a wonderful, amazing traverse high up along the sides of a valley, often single track paths, where either you have trouble overtaking or people have trouble overtaking you. A slip here at certain points could lead to a long slide down the hill. This is where in some years you also find yourself running across multiple snowfields, some just 10m long, others maybe 50m. After that excitement, you are faced with another sizeable climb up marsh like and then rocky terrain, to the high point of the course, where the following photo was taken (one of my favourite race photos, I’d say). By this point, my nausea was fading, hence why I don’t look too unhappy, but my legs were definitely not strong.
High point!
At this point, I decided I would take a five minute break to admire the view and perhaps give me some recovery time. I enjoyed the view then moved on. First, runners tackle some really big boulders that need to be navigated by basically jumping between them, and then there is a super steep downhill path that was really painful on my legs. It was here that I decided that if I try this route again, I will try it in running shoes with a firmer sole - maybe some Salomon trail running shoes, or maybe some Nike Pegasus but the trail version. I was overjoyed to reach the end of this steep downhill part, and then there is again some slightly marshy land to take care over. After this, there is a paved road of sorts, one of those hard rough concrete style roads that you sometimes find in the mountains, more beige than asphalt coloured.
It was here that I should have picked up speed, as it is about 2km of gently downward sloping road, but my legs were pretty shot, and I was only managing about 7 mins per km at best (not great on a gentle downhill!), leaving me rather unhopeful about the last third. I recall taking another five minutes break at one of the following rest stops at the bottom, feeling pretty low.
And then came a turnaround in my fortunes, if not in race time then at least in race enjoyment. My legs started to feel better, my nausea had abated, and I started to pick up speed. At the very point the year before where I had come unstuck in the forest track portion of the race, I started to enjoy myself, run at a decent clip, and start overtaking other runners, and not just one or two, but a reasonable amount of people started to eat my dust. And it stayed like that for the remainder of the race. As you can see in the picture below, I am actually enjoying myself. I was enjoying the route, I was feeling good, I was passing people who had moved far ahead, and on top of that, I knew that I could enjoy myself, as odd as that might seem to an outsider. So even though I came over the line with my slowest time for this event, at 6:33, I could really enjoy the result based on the final third.
Oh, of course! I almost forgot to mention. Exactly one week before the event, I had decided to go downhill mountain biking with my mate Florian in Zug, where there is a downhill route reached by a small funicular. It’s a fun route that we normally do 3 or 4 times in a day. At the start of our third run, I actually said, “Hey, watch me jump this” and of course, as pride often rightly does come before a fall, well… I fell! I doubt my jump looked too impressive, as the amount of air I got could probably be measured in millimetres rather than metres, and I slipped on the landing, driving my shoulder into the ground. Maybe that looked more interesting than the jump, I cannot say. I knew immediately something wasn’t quite right, but after Florian caught up and looked me over, I rode down the rest in shaky fashion, ignoring the pain in my chest.
I did not go to the doctor but over the next week, I certainly felt rib / muscle pain in the area, and went back and forth on whether to cancel the marathon - which, quite frankly, I should have done. Anyhow, I did do it, and actually the rib did not particularly hurt during the race, although it did in the days afterwards, and also after I climbed a mountain the following weekend (The Säntis, which is a great hike / climb, if you ever get the chance). Needless to say, neither the race nor the climb did my rib much good, and it got worse rather than better. I eventually went to the doctor two months after the accident, and he said it was almost certainly a broken rib, which of course I had also suspected, but since it was not healing, I wanted to get a further medical opinion. So, given that I ran the Davos SwissAlpine with a broken rib, that was another reason not to be too critical of my time.
As I have said before, the route is tricky, and I do not like the steep downhill, but it remains my second favourite trail marathon after the Jungfrau, even if Zermatt had the best finisher view.
Happy trails!
So now it is October 2020. I feel like I spent the whole of the summer after Davos recovering from my busted rib, and I took a pretty conscious break from sport, doing just a little running, football, cycling and swimming (if you call that a break). And now, I am still a little lost at sea. The next marathon will be my 50th marathon or longer distance run, so it is something of a milestone. I’ve been wondering what to do. Almost all races are cancelled due to COVID. My entry to the Jungfrau was cancelled. Zurich, postponed from Spring to the same September date as the Jungfrau, was also cancelled. Lausanne is still scheduled to run in a few weeks, and seems to be the only one. But they have limited the numbers and it is full, and I don’t really feel trained enough in any case, after my summer. So that’s out on both counts. I have at least given up alcohol for October, as it seemed that I have over the last few years started to become a little dependent on it in a way that troubles me slightly. And I need to lose a few kg from my current 71.5kg.
I thought about the green marathon route around Zurich again, and that might work, but it will be mid November before I am realistically ready, so it is going to be cold! I occasionally thought about running a marathon on a treadmill, but it seems like a gimmick and in any case I think I only want to do that when I am fully marathon fit, i.e. after another marathon distance or two. I also thought about running around the lake again (66km) but it is surely very tiring and again I would prefer to be in better shape. It might make sense to find some distance of 50km for my 50th marathon, but I am not really so precious about it. I’m scheduled to for a week of vacation in Sicily in 10 days (this might get cancelled as COVID is again escalating) and if so, I don’t want to train during that time. So I suppose we will just see. Maybe it will be in January, maybe after, maybe before.
- Prelude to 50, February 24th 2021Open or CloseAlthough this blog is tied to my running 50 marathons, here is a little secret I will now share. At the moment I am writing this, I have not yet run my fiftieth. It is scheduled for tomorrow.
The question – when and what should I do for my 50th - remained at the back of my mind since my last marathon seven months ago. I’ve struggled with it, and not by design.
I was enrolled for the Jungfrau last September but it was cancelled due to Covid19, taking that out of the equation. Lausanne at the end of October would have produced a pleasing symmetric bookend to my first marathon there exactly ten years ago. Cancelled. Same reason of course. I considered running around the lake of Zurich again, but after taking time to rest my ribs I also didn’t feel well enough trained for such endeavours. I thought about doing the Green city marathon route around Zurich again, and that might work, but it would be mid-November before I was realistically ready, so it would be cold! And was it really special enough? I even considered running a marathon on a treadmill, but it seemed like a gimmick and not fitting my 50th. Instead, I went on vacation to Sicily, and didn’t want to train during that. Whatever it would be, my 50th inexorably slipped into 2021.
Having put it out of my mind for a couple of months, I began to think about it again early in the new year. My weight had risen a little to 73kg, and I was drinking slightly more than I was comfortable with, so I gave that up and began dieting and training in preparation for an unknown run.
Should I ‘do something special’ as they say? I could break this down into a few categories. A major marathon like London? No chance, since we are all still on lockdown. Some people have travelled to Greece and run the original marathon route to Sparta. In principle this is exciting and I might like to do it one day, but even if I could, it goes against the grain of what I have done so far, not being any kind of particular marathon tourist. I could wait a few months and see if the next events like Zurich will run again, but with the pandemic still ongoing, there is no guarantee. I am itching and ready now, it doesn’t make sense to wait for months.
I must also make the following admission. By the time of my last marathon last summer, I had already had the vague notion of turning my loose race reports into a novel about how a normal guy can run long distances. This in truth has added to the slight uncomfortableness I felt. Do I have to do something ‘special’ in order to make my running book exciting?
I have one saying that I believe in. Always listen to your stomach. When I need to make decisions that are tricky, the feeling in my stomach is more trustworthy than the thoughts in my head. Almost without fail when I have ignored the stomach and gone for the head, it has turned out to be the wrong decision.
My stomach tells me that my 50th marathon distance should reflect ‘what running is about for me.’ And that is… doing it mainly for my own enjoyment and sense of achievement. Not showing off. I never post anything about my runs on popular social media outside of Strava where I have very few followers in any case. In a satiric sense, that kind of annoys me. I have a friend who does the very occasional 5km park run and has 120 followers, while I have done, let’s say, more, and have a sum total of 14 people, a few of whom I have no idea who they are or where they came from.
Let’s cut to the chase. My stomach tells me to do a run that fits with this Covid period, and do something that is familiar to me but a little extended… and that I can enjoy. That is why I have decided to run a modified version of the Green City marathon route around Zurich. I love my home town and I hope it will give me a boost.
The modification is that instead of 42km, I will aim to run 50km for my 50th marathon. To get from the standard distance up to 50km, I’ll run from my house to the normal starting position of the route, and I’ll also include the rather brutal Uetliberg Laternenweg climb during the first third. There are three major hills in Zurich. The Uetliberg** is the biggest, but there are two others – the Kaferberg and the Zurichberg. The standard route incorporates the latter two hills, so I would add the third. Ursula and I had often over the years mused about doing a run that included all ‘three peaks’ of Zurich so tomorrow, a Thursday, is the day I will try to achieve this.
In fact, I planned it for Friday but the weather is sunny and warmer for tomorrow so I brought it forward at the very last minute. Although I could use the extra rest day, I feel like having the sun on my back is more important.
** Climbing the Uetliberg by running or bike has become such a staple of my exercise routines since I moved closer to the area in 2016, that it also felt ‘right’ to include it in my 50th run. - Marathon 50: Extended Green City Marathon route 50km, February 25 2021Open or CloseWelcome then, to my race report for the big 50th. Let’s dive straight into it.
After a good night of sleep, my iPhone alarm bleeped at 5:50am for my planned 7am start. I slipped into the clothes that I had been setting out on the spare bed for the last couple of days. Because I had chosen a day with expected weather ranging from zero degrees and foggy, to 16 degrees and sunny, I’d likely be needing a costume change en-route, as well as having to carry enough gels and a couple of small plastic water bottles to fill up at fountains along the way. So, I would bring along my small 10 litre Arc’teryx rucksack, which is my favourite pack for all such long runs. It is very compact and sits close to the back, but can still fit in plenty of equipment.
For the beginning of the run, I’d wear thin track suit bottoms, a base layer vest from Odlo, a Nike running T shirt and a thin Nike jacket. I’d top this off with a thin Odlo beanie hat, and light North Face gloves. I packed my Oakley glasses for later, but put my snood back in the cupboard, figuring I could do without it. I rolled up and packed a pair of tight shorts, for the later costume change. I’d wear standard length rather than ankle socks – that would help keep my legs a little warmer after I changed to shorts.
Also into the bag went four gels (strawberry banana flavour) and three power bars. I fished out some electrolyte tablets and put half each into my three empty plastic bottles. I’d fill them from fountains when needed, saving on weight until then. I’d decided to have no breakfast prior to this run, relying on the pasta and lentil salads I had been eating for the previous two days for my sustenance.
I’d start at 7am directly from my front garden. That way, it would be easy for me to keep a handle on how long I had been running as I passed any clocks in the city. At 6:56am, I stepped outside and switched on my Garmin 920XT sports watch, which I had been using happily for at least the last five years, though I had to admit it was starting to look rather dated now. It picked up the GPS signal within 30 seconds, so I was ready to go. Ursula appeared at the bedroom window on cue to wish me luck and wave me goodbye. She would be working from home as usual, due to the pandemic.
Instead of the bang of a starting gun, the clock silently ticked over to cross the hour mark and I pressed a button on my watch to set it going. Goodbye Ursula, see you in about 7 hours.
I ran to the bottom of my street, a cul-de-sac, and through the little alley that opens out onto a larger street next to Zurich’s football stadium. From there, I ran 3km into the city to the normal starting point of the Green City route, which felt a little odd as I was now already into my run. The route is signposted at periodic intervals with little markers stuck to lampposts and whatnot. I reached up and tapped this first marker for luck, as I always did on this route, and moved off immediately along the river.
To briefly recap, the Green City marathon route is a marathon distance route set out by the city authorities, that forms a large loop around the city of Zurich, most of it outside the city itself in either residential, countryside or forested areas. It is an official length marathon route, but is not an organised event. It seems to have been designed mainly to be run in parts, rather than all in one go, though I had by this point run it a number of times in its entirety, both clockwise and counter clockwise. I much preferred clockwise as gets the hard work out of the way earlier on, and so that was the way I had chosen for today. This time, in addition to running to the start point, I’d tack on a climb of the Uetliberg. I had calculated that these two additions would bring me up from 42km to around 50km.
The first part follows Zurich’s second river, the Sihl, upstream for a couple of km, where a motorway that enters the city is built directly on top of the shallow river, about 20m above it, supported by huge stanchions driven into the riverbed itself. Some people find this a bit of a travesty from an environmental viewpoint. I certainly doubt it would be built that way now, but I quite like how it looks, in a quirky way. A few years ago, a coach on the motorway above had crashed into the barrier (the driver had been looking at his phone), and a woman had flown through the window, over the barrier, and fallen to her death in the river below, at the precise point I was passing now. I only tell this because I occasionally think about that when I pass here.
Following the route, I peeled off right and headed towards the start of the climb up the Uetliberg, along a steep route called the Laternenweg (Lantern way – there are some lanterns dotted along it). It only made sense to powerwalk this part, approximately 1.5km in length, so I set about it, while listening to a popular science podcast (I would run the entire rest of the time except for one very short section of steps a little further in). At the top, I took a few pictures and sat down to have my first gel, about 90 minutes into the run. The sun was rising nicely in a largely blue sky, with various valleys in the distance still enveloped in a low fog. I was at 860m above sea level, and about 400m above the city.
I did my usual search for the cat that lives at the hotel, found him and said a quick hello, and then switched from my podcast to a music playlist on Spotify that I had been building over the last week or so. For my 50th marathon, I had curated a playlist the best from the various running playlists I had made over the years. That seemed fitting. Mainly electronica with a decent rolling beat, combined with some hip hop, pop, and older classics that fit my tempo.
Pressing play, I set off feeling energised down the lovely ridge that head backs down to the edge of town, where I again joined the official marathon route. I proceeded with my loop clockwise around the outskirts of the city, crossing the main river Limmat, followed by a long climb through countryside and woods towards the eventual second peak, the Kaferberg.
As I wound my way onwards, a couple of hours in, I had a strong inkling that I would be able to enjoy this run in good spirits and good shape and without nausea. I felt relatively strong and well fuelled and I was pushing along at a relaxed and comfortable pace. Although this was a serious distance and route profile, I had decided that today would be more about enjoyment and a celebration than beating records. Set alongside this was the sense of occasion – it being a milestone run of sorts – plus the superb weather and great playlist had also put me in a positive mood. All this conspired in my favour, and was probably also self-fulfilling. Life felt good in my bubble. The ongoing problems in my life outside that bubble could take a temporary backseat.
In case I haven’t covered this before, after a few more countryside miles this part of the route culminates at a point called Waid, with one of the best views of the city, which stretched out below in now glorious sun-soaked grandeur, although it was only 9:30am and approximately 9 degrees according to my watch.
Here I took a second rest and gel, and changed into my shorts. Normally, I’d feel more like 12 degrees would be shorts weather, but even in mid-February I could feel the heat of the sun, and it felt right.
Moving off once again I ran down to the city limits, passing the small apartment I lived in with Ursula for my first fifteen years in Zurich. To help guarantee I wouldn’t be coming up short of my required distance at the end of the run, I added a half kilometer loop around my old stomping ground for good measure, and then headed for the final of my three peaks up at the Zurichberg. Arriving there, at approximately 27km in and 23km remaining, I realised that 50km is a long way! At this point, I also decided that from now on I would walk rather than stop while refuelling. Time was creeping on, and a surprising amount of distance can still be covered if you walk and fuel.
Until now, I had also taken quite a lot of photos along the way. This is not something I normally do on a long run, but this run was for enjoyment and also for posterity. However, now I was tiring a little and focused more on forward progress. I re-entered the forest on the other side of Zurich’s Zoo, and continued on a wide loop which included one more major hill, which I later found out is called the Adlisberg. A couple of times before, I had actually got lost off the route around here, so I checked the official way carefully on my phone. I ran up feeling good, pausing at the top to take a draught of water from a conveniently located fountain with wonderfully cool water.
Passing the tall wooden viewing tower, I rested and refuelled again, temporarily forgetting my resolve to refuel while moving. Sometimes, I would climb this viewing tower, with nice views above the tall treetops canopy. Today though, I didn’t feel like it. I felt like moving on, as I didn’t know how long my energy levels would hold out.
As mentioned, I preferred to run this route clockwise, because now I reached a predominantly downhill route back into the city proper, following a picturesque stream running through nice woods. I knew that this downhill would provide me with useful feedback on how I was feeling. When my energy levels are low, it is difficult to run at any kind of pace even on a downhill. Today was somewhere in between. I could by now feel my legs tightening and my energy slipping, but I could maintain a reasonable pace. I had run this portion faster, but also much slower. Today, that was fine by me.
It was here that I passed 42km, so I knew that whatever came, I had now run fifty marathon distances, which gave me a nice feeling and a slight extra skip in my step. For whatever reason, I also thought of my Dad, though nothing in particular, and started to feel emotional. It was a powerful feeling but it lasted only a few moments and then quickly subsided.
Gradually, the forest gave way one last time to more residential neighbourhoods, and then the edge of the city. By this time, it had just passed 1pm and I had been on the go for six hours. The sun was high in the sky and the temperature 15 degrees. I had already stowed my jacket and gloves, running now in just T-shirt and shorts.
Following a water run-off storm canal that flows into the lake, I took a right turn and headed back into the city centre along the lakeside, which was busy with people enjoying the sunshine during their lunchbreak. Meanwhile I threaded my way between them. At the point where the lake ends, I crossed the river and began following an adjacent canal that led directly to the finish line. Running through one last underpass, I bounded up the final steps and reached up to touch the same marathon sign that I had touched at the beginning of the route. My finish time, rather arbitrarily, was 6:22.
And that’s it. I stretched, texted Ursula to say I had finished, and went to the local Sprüngli shop to buy a chicken sandwich for a late lunch and a few chocolate truffles to enjoy as a celebration that evening. I ate my sandwich by the river, with a large cold bottle of San Pellegrino water that, considering it might not have any taste, tasted fantastic. Then I boarded the tram home, Ursula took a congratulatory picture of me when I arrived, I showered and climbed into bed to relax for an hour or two.
Lying there under the duvet, it felt like a suitable bookend to how I started this journey, in what seemed like a different lifetime, 17 years ago in bed, receiving a text message about a race I wouldn’t ever run. I closed my eyes and napped comfortably. - Marathon 51: Extended Green City Marathon route 50km, March 4 2021Open or CloseFor those used to my race reviews, it won’t come as a surprise to learn that I decided to repeat the Marathon 50 experience one week later. I felt like I had just about built up enough of a level of fitness to do this. Although my main aim for Marathon 50 had been to enjoy it, and I truly had, I still felt that I had gone a touch too slowly and simply put, I felt like I had the means to do better. I decided to give it another crack just seven days later.
I followed the same route. The weather was a few degrees cooler and more mixed than the previous run. I set off at exactly the same time – precisely 7am. I had the same amount of gels and bars, but left the gloves and snood at home.
The first major milestone was the top of the highest climb, about 80 minutes into the run. Upon summiting, I ate my first gel and checked my app to see how I was doing compared to the week before. I was about 9 minutes ahead, though largely because unlike the week before, this time I hadn’t had to stop for a crap, put bluntly.
I moved off and put into place my strategy of taking on fuel while on the move, even if walking, rather than while at a standstill. Not too long afterwards, my headphones ran out of juice – very bad planning because I really needed motivation. This led to me taking a new approach! I continued to play music but out loud through my iPhone. Although this was slightly embarrassing – running past people while playing music out loud, I had to balance the benefits against the drawbacks – having music to motivate me won this battle.
Finishing the final major climb at Adlisberg at approximately 37km, I knew that I was on target to beat the previous week of 6:22 by about 20 minutes if I could keep things going at a reasonable pace, though it was not yet clear if I was looking at a possible shot at a sub 6 hour time. As I jogged along the forest path towards the viewing platform, things suddenly got complicated. The route had been closed by the forestry commission, who were woodcutting. The orange sign showing the diverted route for pedestrians looked like a major detour, which would throw my whole race plans into total disarray. Although the road was closed, I could hear the chainsaws were still quite far off to the right, and the road ahead was perfectly clear, so I decided to go push straight ahead anyway.
200m further on, I saw a few workers standing on the path and knew that I’d likely be accosted, and I duly was. I was asked what on earth I was doing? An animated but not unfriendly conversation then took place, where I fruitlessly explained that I was doing a marathon on a time target.
I knew he couldn’t let me through, but I also wasn’t turning back - it would be the end of any chance to beat last weeks’ time. I saw that the woodcutting was taking place off to the right, so I told the guy I was going to loop around on the left instead. He protested, pointing to the way I had come and saying it was my only option. Stubbornly, I’d made up my mind. I’d avoid on the left since it was clearly safe that way. Rather to their dismay, I smiled and off I went. It was clearly safe on that side to do so. I didn’t look back, and two minutes later I was past the diversion anyway, so not a big deal.
Although it cost me a few minutes, it also didn’t dent my chances of beating my previous time, and I’m glad I rejected authority this time. Reaching 40km, I also saw that, as long as I kept below 7 mins per km for the final 10k, the sub six hour finish was on. I knew from experience there was a reasonable chance I could manage that as long as my legs didn’t turn to jelly.
And so it was. I pushed pretty hard to try for 6 mins per km, and headed straight for the finish, not intending to go under but also not wanting to go beyond the 50km distance and thus jeopardise my time. As I approached the final metres, my watch said I had only covered 49.25km therefore I doubled back for 350m, then turned one final ime for the finish, to make up the distance. I finally crossed the line with 5h:54 and 50.10km. A great result, 28 minutes quicker than the week before. Very happy feelings flooded my head. And now I could switch off the electropop blaring from my iPhone.
That said, a price was to be extracted. It can be that after I get really, really match fit - running two or three marathons within a few months - that I achieve a level of smooth operating that then allows me to push even further, such as running two marathons in a week. What I did here was more reckless. The previous week had been my first marathon for more than 7 months, and I already had turned that into an ultra with 8km more.
Now, days afterwards, I was pushing myself to do it all again, and without that many recent miles under the belt. I was confident that my cardiovascular fitness was up to the task, but suspected that my joints and bones probably wouldn’t be sending me a thank you card for today’s exertions. I was especially concerned about my lower back, where I had years before suffered a partially herniated disk. It had been threatening to put up a stink anyway over the previous weeks. For this reason, I definitely had some doubts before today’s run but I pushed them away.
The day after Marathon 51, my lower back problems came on pretty strong. Getting out of bed was an actual problem. Tying my shoelaces, I felt more like 70 than 47 years old. For some reason though, doing actual sport loosened it up so I went for a 20km mountain bike ride and the day after that also did a short cross training session. The pain has subsided a little, but we’ll see what happens next. I might have to go back to physiotherapy or a chiropractor. I have my fingers crossed it will settle down of its own accord.
One day, it will be time for me to hang up my marathon running shoes for good, either for reasons like this, or perhaps other reasons not yet known. Hopefully, not yet!
- Marathon 52: Running Track Edition, April 23 2021Open or Close
My back needed time to partially heal before heading into my next adventure. For that reason, I tapered for two weeks, realised I was not ready, tapered again, and then again. Six weeks later, my back was still at risk, but felt sufficiently ‘ok.’
I had been toying in my mind with the idea of running a full marathon distance around my local running track. While this might be seen as a gimmick, it would certainly afford a new experience and there were other benefits. It would eliminate some of the associated problems of running an unofficial marathon distance. I would not have to stop start at traffic lights. I wouldn’t be running up hills. And I could bring all the resources I needed – extra clothing, gels, and water, to keep by the trackside. On the downside, it might get quite repetitive running 105 loops around the same track. Well, today, I’d find out.
As an aside, I entered this run quite a bit lighter than last year. Since early February, I had been quite committed to a diet, dropping from 72kg to 64.5kg. Throughout my twenties, I was steadily at this weight, and I wanted to both see it one last time and see the effect it had on my long distance running. In case you are wondering, mostly I achieved the weight loss with a ‘double soup’ approach – soup for lunch, soup for dinner, and a lot of rice crackers and oranges on the side. Oranges only have about 60 calories each, so eating ten of them would equate to the calories of a single Big Mac. Oranges seem to be in season in the first few months of the year, so make a particularly tasty snack.
I’ll say upfront, my newfound lightness did not have any significant effect on my flat run times. However, my hill climbs up the Uetliberg did improve a lot. Normally it took me in the region of 55 minutes from my door to the top. I have progressively gotten this down to 45 minutes, surely to do with being lighter. Just imagine carrying six one litre bottles of water with you on a hill run, and then… not having to! Enough said.
I arrived at the running track shortly before 8am. The temperature a cool 6 degrees Celsius and sunny, predicted to rise to 14 degrees by midday. That kind of variance meant I would start in long trousers and jacket but end in shorts and T shirt. Ursula had walked over to the track with me just to see me off.
The running track has a football pitch in the middle, and a groundskeeper was manically mowing it with a tractor, swerving onto the running track at regular intervals. Momentarily concerned, I realised that there would be no reason to have to stick to the inner lanes of the track, so I relaxed. I had Ursula scoot over to the other side and check that the changing rooms were open, so I would know if I could use the toilet there. They were, all good.
Ursula departed back home after one lap to her world of consulting zoom meetings, while I got on with it, making sure not to be chewed up and spat out by the murderous tractor driver. My strategy would be to run 20km in the normal clockwise direction, then 10km in the other direction to relieve boredom and give my leg muscles some variation, and then revert back again for the final 10k or so. I’d also listen to a science podcast for the first two hours, then switch to music. In the back of my mind, I wondered if the conditions I had set up and my fitness level would be enough to break four hours.
Nope, for a couple of reasons. I’ll start with the major one. I had calculated that I would need two large bottles of water to be kept by the running track to see me through the race, four gels, and an energy bar. So, naturally, I arrived with two large bottles. Unfortunately, this meant I would have to stop and drink at the side of the track every time I was thirsty or needed to wash down a gel. I should have brought 8 small bottles, that I could continue running while I ate and drank. This oversight surely cost me ten minutes or more of race time.
As soon as I realised my error, this was in the first 5km of the race, I also realised that sub four time would be out of reach. While actually running, I was managing a four-hour pace. But in addition to the fuelling time, I also knew that a poo stop would be arriving soon, and also that I would have at some point progressively change clothes – lose the jacket, then later change from long trousers into shorts.
Well, at least that took the time pressure. I decided to do what I could, and to enjoy the run, and this in itself produced a pleasant feeling. I figured if fit I might have another go at this race again in some weeks with better trackside preparation.
After 23km, I switched direction on the track but stuck with my podcast, as the current episode was a panel discussion about space exploration with guests who were all astronauts, including Charlie Duke who had also stood on the moon. I learned that he was the astronaut talking to Neil and Buzz when they touched down on the surface, and the one who said ‘you got a bunch of guys about to turn blue here.’ He also said that he was so excited, he could hardly speak and messed up the word ‘tranquillity’ (the moon landing site was called tranquillity base) – something I had noticed and always wondered about. Fascinating talk.
I continued this until 35km, leaving me with 8km to go (using my rule of always adding an extra kilometer to unofficial marathon distance runs in order to counteract any possible GPS errors). I switched to a fairly bland Spotify playlist, and noted that my back, right knee, and right quads were becoming painful.
Oh well. Time for some fun. Before the run, I had decided that because this was the only time I had ever been confined to a small location during a marathon, it was an opportunity to write “HI” on my route map, by sketching it out over the football field. As you can see in the picture below, it more or less worked. Ah, how amusing I am and must seem to you.
Hi ho, hi ho, it’s around the track I go. Toilet break visible at top.Breaking down the race in the ways I have described did help to make a repetitive run much less so, though as midday arrived, I felt more than ready to finish. Judging by the occasional quizzical looks I was receiving from the groundskeeper, he probably thought so too. I hit 42.2km with 4:14:53 on the clock, and finished the run in total with 43.3km and 4:21:35.
Feeling not too bad, I even incorporated a few core exercises into my warm down stretch, and headed home with a birchermuesli (Swiss muesli) and croissant from the local bakery. Weighing myself when back home, I had lost about 2kg even with refuelling, although half of this was reversed within 20 minutes due to lunch and a ravenous thirst for water. I spent an hour in bed, did a few light duties around the house, and headed to the opening day of the Seebad Enge, a lakeside swimming area, thoroughly enjoying to read my book and a coffee at the waters edge.
I had completed marathons 50 and 51 in successive weeks and this almost certainly led to aggravated back problems. Without enough successive miles under my belt, I was not ready for two so closely together. Even though I am keen to revisit this running track run to see if I can improve my time through better logistics, I will first provide myself with more time to recover. Hopefully I’ll also come up with some more strategies to combat the repetition.
Writing this also made me wonder if I ever ran sub 4 for an unofficial event? Looking back at my statistics, it appears not. It would be a cool thing to aim for, and the running track would be the natural place to do it, as that most closely assimilates the most important conditions you can expect from an official run – no traffic impediments, and available fuel. - Marathon 53: Baden and back 52km, June 11 2021Open or Close
Having now run from Zurich to Baden along the river many times in training, which is a 26km run, I had from time to time imagined how it would be to run there and back again. So that is what I did. A self supported run of 52km. The weather was warm but acceptable. With Ursula waving from the bedroom window, and carrying my trusty Arcteryx 10 litre rucksack with gels, bars, and water, I set off from home and along the river.
I cannot recall anything extraordinary about this run. Perhaps I should have written the race report sooner, or it was simply a matter of covering the distance. I split my listening between podcasts and a not great playlist, which had too many plodding beats. Perhaps there is an optimum number of beats per minute that fits my particular stride, but also sometimes it is good to listen to people speaking as this can have the effect of taking my mind off of the running efforts.
Arriving at the turnaround point in Baden, I grabbed a tasty croissant from a café that had recently popped up by the riverside. I sat for five minutes and savoured the crisp texture of the perfectly baked pastry. My pace had not been accurately describable as blistering, with only a few early km’s under 6 mins per km. The most defining thing about this run was the length. In fact, in 2021 I have at this point run four marathon or longer distances. The first two were 50km’s, the third was a standard 43km around the track, and this would be 52km.
Mainly because the route is so familiar, I won’t do this one again as a there and back, though I’ll continue to do it one way as it has all the hallmarks of a great training run. What do I like about it as a one way run? I like running by the river, and there is often a lot of birds on the river. Sometimes a high speed train will rush past you on the nearby tracks. There are just enough fountains to refuel. No traffic lights. It’s relatively flat but there are also some covered forest sections.
By the final kilometers, I was more than ready to stop. Arriving home and stretching, I was very happy to spend a couple of hours lying on the bed resting, marred somewhat by post run feelings of an irregular heartbeat and, later, a poor sleep.
Honestly, given it is one of the longer runs I have ever done, I thought I’d have more to say about this one. I don’t. Glad I did it, now time to move on. - Marathon 54: Davos SwissAlpine K43 July 2021Open or CloseMarathon 54: Davos SwissAlpine K43 (4x), 26 July 2021
An eventful day in the middle of the Swiss Alps. Last year, I was only able to participate in one official marathon event – the Davos SwissAlpine K43 – as all the other local races were cancelled due to Covid19. Back then, Davos decided to plough ahead, probably because it is a fairly small event and so easier to control and implement restrictions. This year, so far, same story, although Lucerne is still scheduled to run in late October.
As an added bonus, this time we would be welcoming Ursula back into the marathon running fold. I believe the last one she had participated in was Lausanne in October 2015, so six years ago. Some cajoling on my part, especially about how I thought she would enjoy the Davos route, eventually got her back on board. It was very nice to train properly with her again, and she handled the demands of training with aplomb and a good attitude. The usual Rigi run some weeks before attested to this, and it was great to run it together with purpose rather than how it has been over the last few years with her only joining for parts as simple exercise.
Normally Davos runs its marathon on a Saturday but this time, the races were spread out and it would be Sunday at 7am for the start. I’d prefer if it had remained on a Saturday purely because it would allow us to stay and celebrate in town on the Saturday night, and give us Sunday to recuperate. Instead, we planned to head back to Zurich directly after the race. Nevertheless, I was excited about the day and in particular to run at least part alongside Ursula and for her to see the route, which I have remarked on before as being exciting and pretty.
One constant worry was the weather forecast, which showed the chance of storms coming though in the early afternoon – so potentially in the later stage of the race. While I have a freakish love of a good thunderstorm, the one exception I have is being out in the mountains in one, ever since I was caught in a violent storm while I pushed my mountain bike up a steep slope near Engleberg many years back. It is not something I will forget nor am keen to repeat.
I had noticed generally that throughout this year, the weather reports I received were not as accurate as perhaps they used to be. In addition, I have always been caught out by the weather here on this race. Every time, a supposedly good weather report has turned into lashing wind and rain. Therefore, I certainly eyed the weather with more than a modicum of suspicion. We decided to make a final call early on the morning of the race.
And so, it came. Waking around 5am, Ursula went to collect an early breakfast package from the hotel (Hard Rock Davos, nice room). More ominously, although outside our window it was dry and fine, she also reported that the weather report now looked quite a lot worse, with potential rain and thunder possible around 9a, a few hours into the race, and exactly when we would be climbing into the high mountains. However, I knew that just prior to that climb, there would be an aid station which I knew to be located at a farm / restaurant. I reasoned, if the weather looked threatening, we could either wait here and continue or call it a day and backtrack.
Although I hadn’t thought deeply about my race performance today, that isn’t to say I hadn’t had any thoughts about it at all. I knew that my previous performances were 6:07, 6:27, and 6:33. Last year I had suffered badly with nausea and tired legs, especially from the steep rocky downhill directly after the highest point of the route.
Back then, I had vowed that if I were to do this race again, I would do it in trail shoes instead of my standard Nike Pegasus. To this end, a month before we had picked up and tested some Nike Trail 3’s which, although heavier, did seem to offer more support. We’d see today how that turned out.
The race started on time at 7am with a little musical fanfare that stirred my heart and circulated repetitively in my brain. I took a nice picture of Ursula and the crowd.
Race start, Ursula back at it!The first 15km followed a gentle uphill along the bottom of a valley, following a stream as many such trail routes seem to do. We had decided to run this part together and then to separate once the major climb kicked ins, should the weather allow us. I had forgotten how Ursula’s competitive instincts suddenly come alive during actual events (versus training), and had to tell her a couple of times to slow down and that it was a long race. Nevertheless, she hovered slightly ahead, in a way that meant I was forced to maintain her pace if we wanted to stay together. I resigned myself to it and enjoyed the route, watching out for rams or marmots, as well as keeping an eye on the cloud cover and overall weather. Above the mountain to my right, which we would eventually be climbing, the clouds signaled rain and potential thunder, but it remained dry for the moment.
We reached the aid station / farm at 15km and there had been no significant change in the weather. We both agreed that we were going to get wet and soon though, but that we would continue. We also agreed to separate as needed. My perception was that Ursula was faster and so it proved as she pulled away as we began the first of two long steep climbs, which are normally power-walked.
I was surprised and slightly dismayed to see Ursula running up the less steep portions of the powerwalk, but endeavored to copy her as best I could. Still, she hovered about 50m ahead. A light rain arrived and got gradually heavier, and temperatures decreased so we both fished our lightweight rain jackets from our rucksacks.
Pleasingly, the top of the first climb arrived a little sooner than I expected, and I took a gel, some water, then put in my air pods to enjoy a little music as the long single track traverse was about to commence. I have always found this section the most beautiful and exciting of the entire course. Several kilometers long, but not wide enough to overtake or be overtaken by others along the vast majority of it. Although the traverse does not really feel unsafe as long as care is taken, a slip off the edge at many points along it would lead to an interesting tumble of several hundred metres into the sweeping valleys that fell away to the immediate left. As every year, there were also a number of snowfields to be traversed, adding to the fun.
I saw that Ursula had increased her lead and now about 400m ahead, with no runners close to her ahead or behind. I on the other hand had slipped into a trail of about ten runners, which slowed my progress a little bit since I could have run slightly faster if I wasn’t in the queue.
Eventually, the traverse ended, with intermittent lightning and thunder along the way. Now the second of the major climbs began, first through marsh like trails and then over more snowfields and rocky outcrops. The top was visible about 2km ahead and above. Slowly, I made up some time towards Ursula, and by the top, I was only 10 seconds behind her, so she waited to say hello. This was 25km and several hours into the marathon, and with both of us trying our absolute best, only ten seconds separated us. Incredible.
I was aware that the top came as a slight surprise to me. I had thought there was a false summit but perhaps I had already passed it while maintaining my focus on keeping up with the wife. Certainly, it was a pleasant surprise to see the top just appear. At this summit point last year, I had decided to take a five minute rest to deal with my nausea. Now, Ursula simply set off so, as for all of the race up until now, I simply followed directly in her footsteps.
Immediately after the high point comes a steep and brutal descent, initially over boulders and then a set of steep and often narrow rocky switchbacks. Last year, this was the point that destroyed my already fragile legs, and where I had sworn to invest in proper trail shoes. I was delighted to see that so far, my legs felt a lot stronger, and also that the firmer trail shoe sole lent me more stability and confidence on the uneven terrain.
We arced back and forth down the switchbacks together at a reasonable clip. I’d say this was the most dangerous point in the race. Although the risk of slipping off the previous traverse was real, the path during it - while also narrow - is mainly flat and manageable. Here however, the steep gradient combined with very uneven rocky terrain means the chance of a stumble is much higher, and if it happens, the momentum you have is much harder to control. I suppose it breaks down like this: falling off at the worst point of the traverse is unlikely but if you did, it could be serious or even fatal because you would tumble down a steep slope for hundreds of metres. Meanwhile, falling on this current steep descent would be much easier to do but it would not be fatal, though the chance of a cut, sprain, or broken bone would be high.
Although we were carefully overtaking a few participants here ourselves, it didn’t help that there were a number of impatient runners rather more recklessly trying to pass us too. With Ursula a few metres ahead, I saw her catch the toe of her shoe on a rock and for a moment float in midair, arms flailing like a windmill to regain balance. Very luckily for her, she could hold on. While I was well aware that the same thing has happened to me on many occasions, I couldn’t help remarking that we should both take care to finish the race in one piece.
A few hundred metres further on, I spotted a very brief shortcut between switchbacks, and by these nefarious means I switched positions with Ursula. This marked a turning point in our fortunes in the race. I started to edge ahead. Until now, I had expected Ursula to beat me – she was clearly stronger and leading the way on the uphill. However, I also knew in the back of my mind that I was more trained than her due to my overall exertions during the entire year, and that there was a chance she would overdo it and lose ground later on. It would now depend on both that and whether I could maintain my virtuous circle of performance – feeling good physically and mentally and profiting from the resulting psychological boost.
It seemed to be happening. As I left the scree and then marsh like terrain onto the rough but paved road, I found myself speeding up even further. Last year, I had marvelled at how I could run so slowly here downhill – 7 mins per km. This year I suddenly found myself marvelling at how fast I was running it, sometimes dipping into the high four minutes per km. My virtuous circle closed tigher.
The rain intensified and thunder and lightning continued close by. Too close for comfort in face, but there was nothing to be done except continue. I decided not to put my rain jacket back on, figuring that the largely forested final third section would provide some cover. My performance slowed up a little here. My T Shirt was soaked through and seemed to retain the water, weighing me down. I noted that my forearms started to feel as if they didn’t belong to me, due to the cold and wet. I started having problems with my music, controlled from my apple watch. It kept turning off and my cold wet fingers would hardly let me work the screen. I switched from my specially prepared Spotify playlist to music stored directly on my watch to help fight this, but I kept having problems.
These things impeded upon my progress. I think I could have added a few mins to my time if I hadn’t been so drenched. But yes, let’s talk about timing. To be clear, my three previous results were 6:07, 6:27, 6:33. Knowing that I was in shape, and hoping to avoid nausea, my target was to beat six hours on this course. I realised shortly after the summit at 25km into the race that this was well within my grasp. Further on, I also realised that this year, 5:30 was in my sights too. And as the final kilometers ticked down, I knew I had it. I was able to run the entire forest section except for a couple of 10 second walks over steep humps.
I wound my way down back into town and entered the stadium and onto the running track, at the end of which I crossed the line with 5:20:50. For me, this was what I would call a hell of a performance. A few metres from the finish line, I found a wet seat under some limited rain cover and immediately took refuge. I started shivering but drank in how well I had done.
I couldn’t wait to tell Ursula, who I figured should be arriving in about five to ten minutes if all was going well. When so, hers would also be a great time, especially for a first attempt and first marathon for a long while.
However, all was not going well. Within ninety seconds of my crossing the line and sitting down, my phone started ringing and it was the wife herself. Uh oh, this did not bode well. Why was she calling? I picked up and heard a panicked voice on the other end, close to tears. ‘Honey – I can’t walk’ and then kind of sobbing sounds. I asked her again what he matter was, and got the same kind of replies over and over. She had strong pains in her groin area, and could hardly walk. I eventually was able to figure out that she was at around km 39. This was heartening, at least within 3.5km of the finish. I asked her if she could try to keep going, but she sounded very doubtful. The call then cut off.
A minute later she called again and seemed in even more of a panic, repeating what she had already told her and telling me over and over that she couldn’t hear me properly, thus forcing me to raise my voice. I told her I was already getting ready to start heading her way. We lost connection again. I quickly grabbed my finisher shirt on the way out of the race area and changed into it, as my current shirt was dripping wet and cold and I was starting to succumb to more violent shivering.
In the middle of changing with my shirt off, Ursula called again, in the same cannot hear you panic. At this point I had to shout down the line somewhat angrily, ‘stop fucking panicking it isn’t helping.’ By now I had had three or four phone calls and her responses were not letting me think straight, figure out clearly what might be wrong, or what was best to do. In the heat of the moment, I decided I would try to jog over to her and that we would deal with it when I got there. Hardly ideal. Ursula then reported that she saw a race official on a quad bike. I heard her literally cry out for help, and then she said that she had been spotted and was going to speak to him. The phone cut off again. Another call some anxious minutes later, I was able to ascertain that the official was going to bring her to the finish. I went to the medical area and asked if they were informed. They were not, so I told them to expect my wife coming in shortly.
Eventually she arrived, and indeed could only walk in a very weird manner, as if her legs were made of planks of wood, and only then at a snail’s pace. I was concerned to get her to the medical area asap, so guided her along as fast as I could, which was not very. I could see that in her current condition, there would have been no way for her to even walk to the end, so the quad bike arriving when it did was a really lucky coincidence.
Once Ursula got under a couple of blankets, the doctor examined her but felt it was simply a very bad case of cramping up. With some warm bouillon in her, and then a warm shower, she recovered within about half an hour. We were both very pleased it was nothing worse.
There are a couple of points of note here. Firstly, I am convinced it was indeed just a serious cramp. But it’s odd that in all our running - and by now you can safely say we have done a lot of running, including in plenty of cold and crappy weather - this has never happened before.
Secondly, this was the first time in 65 marathons between us that either of us had to quit a race without finishing. I suppose it had to happen some time and will happen again if we keep going.
Thirdly, I have realised that when there is a kind of emergency like this, the way we both dealt with it was very sub-optimal. Ursula’s panic, inability to properly describe what was happening, and insistence on making me shout down the phone, led in return to me not thinking clearly. Even in the best of circumstances, I’m not sure I would have come up with the best solution – which would have been to inform the medical tent or race officials that we had a ‘man down’ and to let them deal with it by sending a quad bike out. Presumably, they would have had this potential contingency plan available. But due to the fog of war I was under, I had not even considered this. Instead, I might have wasted precious time wandering over in my own debilitated state. Arriving to her, we both might have suffered more hypothermia, as I have history of that. At least if either of us had remained clear minded, we might have figured out that it was most likely cramp, and to see if vigorous stretching might have helped, allowing Ursula to finish the race, even if in a somewhat lame and reduced condition.
So, in case it happens again - and perhaps this is a lesson to anyone reading this – there are a few things to keep in mind. On either side of the conversation, try to remain calm and focussed on identifying what the underlying problem is. Panic is incredibly unhelpful. Secondly, use the resources available to you. We were lucky that the official was passing, but the right course of action outside that would anyhow have been to inform them.
Given how this episode of runners tales concluded, we still got off lucky, and within 90 minutes of the race, we were both on a train heading back to Zurich. Due to some track damage, this took a lot longer than it should have, but we eventually arrived home and still celebrated with a takeaway Chinese meal and a couple of drinks. Ursula was super pleased for me and my time, and during the commute back and the rest of the day we talked animatedly about the whole event. I on the other hand was really happy that Ursula had done the majority of the course and could see why I rated it so highly. I was also genuinely impressed at how well she had performed overall, the cramp notwithstanding. What a great running partner. What an amazing great wife I have.
I wore the finisher shirt the whole of the next day. Nicely designed and lighter than in previous years, with a lovely teal / blue colour. Certainly this race provided another marathon camp fire story, to be retold at least between ourselves.
A similar photo to that taken in our first marathon, but this time 11 years later
Hero Shot 2021