In August last year I took part in a 5 km race in Birżebbuġa, Malta, the village where I was born. I was out of shape. Demotivated. Up to a couple of months earlier I had been harbouring the idea of building up to a marathon in October. All such plans were scrapped due to excessive heat and lack of motivation. Too many runs resulted in exhaustion and soaking wet shoes. I gave up. Most races I was doing I was succumbing to a strong urge to slow down to a walk.
There was some motivation, however. A demotivated runner doesn't take part in a race on a hot and humid August afternoon in Malta, at a temperature of 33 Celsius. But, still, I wasn't in great shape, and my target on the day was to run through the 5 km without slowing down to a walk. Just that. Loads of people, beginners, rather overweight chaps and so on actually beat me, but I was happy that I had finished the 5 km run - five kilometres! - without stopping.
It was that day that I decided that I wasn't a spent force yet, and that I would build up to a marathon.
Fast forward by 7 months, during which there were ups and several downs, but the ups prevailed so that today I was able to run for 3 hours, 17 minutes 53 seconds, for approximately 36 kilometres. I took the standard route for my long run, stepping out of the front door armed with energy drink sacs around my waist, vaseline in strategic areas, heavy gloves, contact lenses, but no hand warmers for a change. I headed towards Jezus Eik, then into the Arboretum forest, on to Duisburg in Tervuren, further along country lanes in wide open plains with fields all around, until my watch said 1 hour 37 minutes 30 seconds. At that point I made a 180 degree turn and ran exactly the same route back.
I have to say, I did get tired during the second part, but that's the whole point of running for a long distance. To be able to run a marathon you have to get used to running on tired legs. I tried to distract myself from the tiredness by switching off my mind. At some of the later stages it was a bit like running in a trance. However, I didn't have any particularly difficult moments, and even managed to pick up the pace in the last few minutes. So, overall, it was a very satisfactory longest pre-marathon run.
All I need to do now, in the last 3 weeks before Vienna, is avoid getting injured or catching a cold. I'll keep on training to remain used to the activity running, but without overdoing it. Now in fact the long runs will be much shorter. I should be taking part in a 16 km race in one weeks' time (part of the annual aggregate competition in our Flemish Brabant region) in the same Arboretum environs where I normally do my training. This will be followed by week's normal running, and a slowing down to almost no running in the final week before the big day.
Whatever happens, I've come a long way since that hot and humid August afternoon in Malta.
