Wings For Life 2016 in Rouen

It's amazing how a city as beautiful as Rouen can host such a disappointingly depressing route.

I had been looking forward so much to the Wings For Life 2016 edition, this year in Rouen, France. My training was going well, so I was hoping to have a great run and maybe even beat my best performance of 2014 in Ypres, when I ran for 28.3 km until the Catcher car reached me. But various factors worked against me on the day.

To begin with, it was so hot. The first few kilometres were uphill inside the less attractive parts of the city, then a sharp downhill and further twists and turns in nondescript residential areas. It was important to stay hydrated given the high temperature, so we were looking forward to the first feeding and hydration station at 5 km. Except that there was nothing of the sort. Neither was there any at the 6 km mark...

We were already considerably thirsty when we reached the first measly watering station somewhere between the 7th and the 8th kilometre. You could see it from afar as a commotion had developed around the small couple of tables that were supposed to serve thousands of thirsty runners in a hurry. So how did the efficient organisers go about supplying water to said thousands of runners? Instead of providing small plastic bottles for runners to pick up and drink on the run, they employed helpers to fill small plastic cups from huge 2 litre bottles. The poor volunteers were hopelessly outnumbered and simply couldn't cope. The flimsy cups were falling over or being tipped over by frantic runners desperate to pick up a cup and keep going. What a chaos. I grabbed a plastic cup half filled with water, gulped it down and ran on, still thirsty.

The water situation never improved. This was a major fault of the Rouen Wings For Life 2016. Everyone knew from a week ahead that it was going to be hot and that 6000 participants would need to drink a lot of water, but the amount supplied was so inadequate. At 12 or 13 km we ran along the main quay of the river Seine - one of the more attractive parts of the course - in front of generally amused spectators having a drink at a table. I remember thinking that if I grabbed a bottle of water from one of these tables, its owner wouldn't be able to do anything about it and I would obtain some desperately needed rehydration.

The same thought occurred to me later when we passed some buses with large quantities water bottles inside. Can't figure out for whom these were intended. Too bad I didn't take one, gorge myself in it and pass on to other runners.

From the 14th kilometre or so onwards the route ran along the river Seine. I had been looking forward to some picturesque scenery, the river on the left and forests or peaceful agricultural areas on the right. It was nothing of the sort. We only had occasional glimpses of the river while running through industrial storages, factories and such stuff. A strong headwind just had to blow up at that point. This, together with the heat, the lack of water and my much too fast first hour (effortless, it had seemed at the time) added up at 21 to 22 km into a sudden urge to slow down to a walk. It happens sometimes, unfortunately. Maybe I gave in too easily to the urge. Maybe I should have slowed down to a jog and pressed on, but it's easy to say now. I was tired and I was only interested in reaching the next water station.

I did resume running and as the 26 km mark approached we heard the cacophony of the catcher car coming up from behind. I increased the pace, determined to pass at least the 26 km point, and when the car reached me I had sprinted up to about 26.3 km.

Oh well. Hopefully, next time I'll do better. Up until now my Wings For Life performances are looking disconcertingly like a steady decline:

2014 in Ypres - 28.3 km, nursing a hamstring injury, not knowing if I could even run at all, I started at a very careful pace, which was probably the main reason why I had a fantastic run. The other reason was the weather, which was simply, absolutely, perfect. And a totally flat route.

2015 in Porto - 27.5 km, running into an Atlantic storm on an undulating route.

2016 in Rouen - 26.3 km.

2017? Who knows. Still looking forward to it and to, just maybe, more favourable conditions. Although my best performance may well be already in the past... on an injured hamstring.

The humble 10k training run

The scene of a thousand runs.

I'm always writing about races, marathons, important long runs... and yet, most of my runs, by far, consist of the routine 10 km training run. It's only appropriate, I'm thinking, that I should record one post about this, a run that is equally important as the long runs that lead up to any particular long distance running event.

The 10 km training run is the filler that consolidates the endurance obtained by means of the long run. It ensures continuity of my running activity. Three times every week, I go out of the front door either for a straightforward easy (recovery) run that lasts around 55 minutes or for a 'quality' run which includes running at a fast pace.

By now, my running career spans a good quarter of a century. Throughout the years, the route of my standard 10k training run has changed according to where I was living. In the early days it used to start where there's the "LOVE" atrocity at Spinola Bay and followed the St Julian's, Sliema and Gżira coast towards Manoel Island and back. I still make it a point to run along parts of this route whenever I'm in Malta. It's surely the area most frequented by runners and joggers in Malta.

In my 'second' life in Belgium, my standard 10k started off as a cold and dark double loop early in the morning in Ixelles, to be replaced by much more pleasant variations at the Bois de la Cambre and the adjacent Forêt de Soignes. Then over to Hoeilaart and two alternatives: towards the same Forêt de Soignes but from the opposite direction, or towards Overijse and the straight road leading to Huldenberg.

But that's history. Now we seem to have established ourselves at the edge of Overijse, close to Hoeilaart. A steep hill creates a physical barrier from Hoeilaart, so my 10k has now been oriented towards Jezus Eik and the adjacent Arboretum. The fact that I work from home makes it possible for me to start my run at lunchtime, which is much more convenient than the early morning or the evening. I go up a slight uphill, then along a road running parallel to the E411 motorway, across a flyover spanning the motorway towards the main commercial street in Overijse, and soon enough into the Arboretum - the forest.

It takes me 18 minutes to leave the streets and enter the forest paths. That's too much, but the alternative would be to drive and start at the edge of the forest, which would be inconvenient for a daily run. That leaves 19 minutes of running in the forest and another 18 minutes to go back home. The forest section consists of a winding path to begin with, followed by a long straight with large trees on both sides, then a turn to the left into a picturesque S-shaped path leading down and back up to another path, which goes back to the first winding path. It's a pleasant route, marred just a bit by the occasional unleashed dog and one rather stony passage.

It's my standard run, and the way things stand, if I keep running for as long as I intend to do, it may well turn out to be the route I've run most. Literally a thousand times or more.

The Paris Marathon, 3 April 2016

Made it! I achieved my dream of running along the Champs Elysees, and went on to run my 16th marathon.

My preparation was disrupted by an illness in the last few weeks, but I had done sufficient long distance running prior to that to carry me through, even though a nagging cough kept me worried until the very last day. So my plan this time was quite simple: treat the marathon as a very long run, without any time pressure and without at any point trying to run faster than my standard comfortable pace. The sole objective was to keep running from start to finish.

The day dawned rather warm and sunny. That was an advantage during the normally shivery half hour before the start of the race, but less so as the day progressed and the sun reached higher up in the sky. The anticipated excitement was all there. Crowds everywhere cheered the 43,000 participants. We set off in separate groups to facilitate handling of the large numbers. I had indicated a finishing time of 3h45 so I started with the purple group at 9:30, ten minutes later than the scheduled 9:20.

From the Champs Elysees we went to Place de la Concorde then left towards Rue de Rivoli. The sun was straight ahead for a good long distance. It was the one thing that bothered me a bit in the beginning. But it was ok. I was thrilled about running a marathon in Paris. I kept looking at the street names to keep track where we were, but soon gave up as we entered unfamiliar parts of the city. I was looking forward to getting a glimpse of Sue and Gianluca at the 12 km mark, where they had planned to go to cheer me on, and sure enough they were there! Two high-fives gave an excellent boost to my morale.

The biggest surprise for me, and a matter of considerable concern, was the fact that the feeding stations did not provide any energy drinks. This was a major factor that I had been banking upon to keep me going. I always take a belt with an energy drink for my long distance runs, but this time I relied on the fact that in all my previous marathons these were provided by the organisers. But not in Paris! There was water (thankfully in bottles) plus bananas, oranges and dried fruit. After the second feeding station without any energy drink I decided that I had to replenish my muscle fuel reserves by taking banana. It was a risk, as I had never before eaten anything while running, but it was less risky than not taking anything at all except water. It worked. The two banana halves that I took combined with the increasing heat made me very thirsty, but this problem was resolved at the next drinking station 5 km later.

It's the problems section of this post. Please bear with me. The good points come later. I need to mention the main problem I encountered in the Paris marathon, which was of course the overcrowding. There was a queue to enter the bag storage area (compounded by additional security checks because of those beasts the terrorists), another queue to enter the 3h45 finishers' group starting corrall, and similar queues on exhausted legs to retrieve the bags and simply to get out of the area after the finish, this time compounded by well wishers and spectators who were blocking the way out. And during the run itself... I had to slow down or weave my way around slower runners, not just at the first couple of kilometres as is normal for most races, but all the way from start to finish. Ok, I'm not getting any younger and certainly not any faster with the advancing years, but there's a good probability that my worst ever finishing time for a marathon, 3h55, is partly due to the constant weaving in between slower runners resulting in an actual distance run that was even longer than 42.2 km. The strange thing is that I was overtaking other runners all the time. All of these slower participants had started either in my own corrall, i.e. stating that they would finish in 3h45, or even in a faster corrall, expecting to finish in 3h30, but in actual fact they must have been grossly overoptimistic because at a slow 3h55 I beat them all by a good margin.

So I'm still learning lessons from my 16th marathon at 53 years of age; (1) the big city marathons are too crowded for my liking, and (2) you have to state an overoptimistic finishing time to avoid slower runners getting in your way, because everyone else does it.

Gripes over. I'm hugely pleased with myself, for the following reasons:

1. I actually ran the Paris marathon, having promised myself to do this and having missed the previous edition.

2. I have completed my 16th marathon. No mean achievement for a common mortal.

3. I was overtaking other participants from start to finish.

4. I didn't experience too much discomfort at any time. Well... quite some discomfort during the last 10 km, but not too much. At the 32 km mark I used the old mental trick: I'm now beginning a 10k run, something I've done thousands of times. This will be yet another one. One kilometre later I started a 9 km run, and so it went on. As time and distance wore on I imagined myself doing the final stages of my standard long run at home: the Arboretum in the forest, the Jezus Eik church, Brusselsesteenweg, the bridge over the E411 motorway and the final one mile stretch before reaching home. It wasn't easy - it's a marathon we're talking about! - but I never experienced the overwhelming urge to slow down to a walk. On the contrary, I was seeking to overtake slower runners who were blocking my path even in these late stages of the race.

5. Final position no. 12,427 out of more than 43,000 starters and 41,757 who finished the race. So, at 53 I placed in the top third of the final overall classification.

6. 11,1766th of 31,651 men who finished the race.

7. 1564th of 5612 in my age and sex category - that's in the top 28%.

But I know that with better luck in my preparation and if I choose a less crowded marathon, I can do better, So, bring on the next marathon!

Two weeks to go before Paris

At least in my case, the main story behind most marathons is in the build-up, rather than in the actual marathon itself.

The Paris marathon, that I hope to run in two weeks' time today, looks like being another case in point.

I decided that I wanted to run the Paris marathon in September 2014, while on a visit there. Being in Paris always thrills me, and touring around the various landmarks such as the Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, Place de la Concorde and so many others, I thought: I just have to run the Paris marathon. My next scheduled marathon was in spring the following year, so I no longer had any doubt where that would happen. I resolved that in 7 months' time I would run through the middle of the Champs Elysees.

Except that I didn't. So many things can go wrong in the build-up to a marathon, so I often leave it till the latest possible to commit myself by paying the entrance fee. This time I left it too late because in January 2015, 3 months before the event, it was already sold out. Which is why in April 2015 I ran the Vienna marathon instead.

Well... Paris is still there and I'm still running, so what I failed to do in 2015 I could always do in 2016. This time I didn't take any chances. Almost a full year before the big day, I entered my name for the Paris marathon.

I had ample time to plan my training. My plan is quite simple for any event - in one week I normally go for 3 runs of 10 km plus one long run. The 10k's may optionally include a speed session or a race. The long run becomes longer by 15 minutes every 3 weeks, i.e. 1 and a half hours for 3 weeks, then 1h 45minutes the following 3 weeks, and so on until I reach 3 hours. My longest run before a marathon is 3h 15 minutes (equivalent to about 36 km), which is followed by tapering for the 3 weeks leading to the event.

Last year in Vienna I tired out quite badly in the last few kilometres, so I thought that in 3 weeks tapering I may have been losing some endurance. This time I decided that the last very long run would be 2 weeks before the marathon and that I would ensure that the last 2 weeks would be very easy so that I am well rested on the big day. I also decided that only one 36k was not enough to get used to running very long distances. My last very long run at 2 weeks out would be my second 36k. This was the plan:

1h30 x 3 --- 1h45 x 3 --- 2h x 3 and so on until 2h45 x 3 --- one week break --- 3h x 2 --- 3h15 x 2

The last four very long runs would be every one and a half weeks instead of once a week, to allow enough time for leg muscle recovery. In the plan I built in two weeks for unforeseen stoppages for mishaps or illness, but none happened so I ran a 20 kilometre race, Les Hivernales de Boitsfort, in early February to fill in the schedule.

The plan worked like a dream. I overcame snow, wind, rain, back injury, a cold coinciding precisely with a stoppage for a holiday in Montenegro, plantar fasciitis, mild tendonitis... without missing a single long run! Three hours for 33k, then 36k... practically perfect runs.

Today would have been my last 36k, then 2 weeks very easy to be rested and in good shape for the big day. It was not to be, of course. I now have a nasty cold. My Facebook newsfeed 'reminds' me that in two weeks' time I'll be running the Schneider Paris Marathon. Let's just hope that I'll recover sufficiently to get back into shape.

It's a good thing I had included two 36k runs and not just one. My last long run before the marathon will be 3 and a half weeks before - much too long for comfort, but that's the way it has to be. At least it was 36k and not just 33k. And my leg muscles will surely be rested.

About 8 years ago I ran a full marathon on just one 3 hour long run (plus of course the normal build up) a full six weeks before the event followed by four weeks of no running at all due to a cold. This time I've done 3 hours twice, then 3 hours 15 minutes 'only' 3 and a half weeks before the event. I can still do Paris.

I only dearly hope to recover very soon from the cold and that it doesn't last for 4 weeks!

Les Hivernaltes de Boitsfort 20 km - 7 February 2016

I had not run this race, one of my ‘early’ favourites in Belgium, since several years. This time I thought it would serve as good race practice ahead of my upcoming marathon in 8 weeks’ time. It would also delay by one week my build up of long runs, which would otherwise peak one week too early. And serve as a welcome break from very long runs, which I have now been doing without fail since I can’t remember when.

Although I could have thought of a somewhat more restful “break”. This hardly qualifies as a break at all. A 20 km race on a hilly route cannot be considered to be a rest. The really effective rest period will probably happen the next 5 days with no running at all while on a sightseeing visit to Montenegro.

They have a habit of changing race routes in Belgium. Les Hivernales is no exception. This year’s was at least the third different version of the route that I can remember out of my six participations to date. The initial loop around the streets of Boitsfort was a bit more extended this time. It gave us the chance to get really warmed up before embarking up the hill into the Foret des Soignes. There, we followed the usual fairly steeply undulating route which, this year, instead of going out to a narrow path adjacent to the road, turned back into the forest. This was a good idea.

This route change didn’t catch me by surprise as I had already had a look at it on the organisers’ website. So I was already bracing myself for a probable steep hill and, sure enough, at around the ninth kilometre following a long fast downhill stretch, we went down into a slight dip and came up against a wall, i.e. a steep hill. This was the turning point of my run – a positive turning point. Many felt justified to walk up this 200 metre stretch. But I know, from experience, that once I walk it’s the end of my performance and I will later keep slowing down to a walk for every little excuse. I decided to treat this like running up a flight of steps and above all not to be upset at the loss of speed. In any case, I was going past other ‘walkers’, meaning that I was actually gaining ground compared to walking pace.

Soon enough, the path came back to level and my breathing settled back to normal. It helped no little that at the moment I’m rather fit from my marathon training and that I had rested properly with no running at all during the previous two days. We rejoined the laggards from the 10 km race. Going past so many runners was a further boost for me and I kept up the momentum even after the latter went along their own way while we took a further detour on our 20k route.

From here on it was the usual route. It wasn’t flat but never too steep either, except for the bit at Groenendaal going up into the Tumulidreef at 16 to 17 km. I passed a fair number of rivals in the last few kilometres. Two of them overtook me again in the last half kilometre, but I didn’t react as I was running the fastest I could. My good work had already been done – throughout the run.

It's feels so good at the end of a race when I'm convinced that I couldn't have run any faster.

Some statistics: time 1:16:04. Finishing position 257th of  889 finishers. 42nd of 180 in my age group. 4:50 minutes per kilometre. 12.43 kph

Vlaams Brabant Loopcriterium, 2015

I wrote the other time that I've become a lazy writer. Almost a non-writer. Too much Facebook and too much Candy Crush. Too bad.

I used to write about every 'significant' run, which normally meant that every race would warrant a blog post. Well, not any more. Nowadays an entire season of races making up the yearly challenge of events in Vlaams Brabant (previously the Watermolen Cup, then Scott2Run, from this year Loopcriterium something) are wound up in a single blog post. It may also mean that the various individual races are becoming routine for me and no longer so 'significant'. Never mind.

The first run was quite significant, actually, and I even got round to writing a blog post but didn't manage to complete it. It was the first day of spring, still as cold as winter. We started at Tervuren and moved into the Arboretum forest, still very much in winter attire (both the forest and us runners). The other year I had to slow down to a walk after a hill too many in the second half. This year I was warned so I held back in the beginning to remain strong in the end. It worked, but I learned a great truth. I'm slowing down. There's nothing much I can do about it. We all age (unless we die young). A 70 year old runs slower than a 30 year old, and the slowdown is not sudden but gradual. Which is why my finishing times are becoming progressively longer. I was faster than last year but that comparison doesn't count because of the walking 'sessions'. Instead, I compared my time with a comeback run I had done 3 or 4 years ago, still nursing a hamstring injury, and then, hamstring and all, I was still quite faster than this year while fully fit. Never mind...

Two weeks (plus one day) later I had the Vienna marathon. I needed to get 7 runs in total to be able to classify at the end of the Loopcriterium, so a week after the marathon I had to go to Perk to chalk up another participation and a couple of hundred points. The intention was simply to take it easy and complete the loop. Obviously, I ended up racing and had quite a good performance too. The completely flat route worked to my advantage.

Another 2 weeks and I went to Porto for the Wings for Life run there. This was the 2nd or 3rd of May. Six days later I was in Hoeilaart for the Meifeest run, which I hadn't done for quite a few years. (Come to think of it, I realise that a good number of runs I couldn't run really fast due to being tired from preparatory long runs or from long distance events.) In Hoeilaart they have changed the day - from Friday to Saturday evening - as well as the old familiar course, which still goes into the Groenendaal wood but now takes in a much more challenging hill up to the rural area of the commune. I did well to keep running both times that we went up this hill. It was another good run, considering the hard work I had been doing the few weeks before - a full marathon and a 25 km Wings for Life.

Around 21st June, the official beginning of summer, we have the Machelen 9 point something kilometre race. This, too, they have changed. It's still in two loops but now they have included a rather long uphill street, which came as a bit of a surprise to me. Here, too, I maintained a reasonably good rhythm from start to finish, but the final time was nothing to write home about...

In the end of July, on a Friday evening, we had another double loop in Kortenberg. I was a bit wary of this one, as a few years ago I had a difficult race here and had to stop walking for a while in the forest. It turned out to be a good run for me, with a strong finish, although yet again I increased my final time.

Then came the summer visit to Malta, which made me miss the Duisburg 10 km and the Zaventem half marathon. Instead, I went straight into a race at the peak of the Mediterranean summer heat, a night race at Żebbuġ. I had to retire mid-way through this, fearing heat stroke. I hadn't been feeling well, either, and I think I did well to stop. I did recover well in the remaining 2 and a half weeks, putting in regular midweek training runs early in the morning running 15 loops around the block of buildings in Ta' Giorni where we were staying, and most importantly two hour runs for two Sundays running. Mid-August. That was excellent.

Back in cool and temperate Belgium... I needed two more races to complete my seven. Vossem I ran in much the same spirit as Machelen and Kortenberg. Meaning that I ran as fast as I thought I could reasonably expect, only to discover with dismay at the end that my performance worse than usual. I had laughed at a good friend of mine a number of years back, back in Malta, who in his fifties had complained that his times were a minute more each year. "What should he expect?" I had wondered, almost aloud. He's not getting any younger and the older you get the slower you become. Well, it's hard to accept that when it's you who are hit by this tough reality.

The last run to complete my set of seven was the dreaded Bertem, with its impossible hill in the forest, that I had conquered well, twice, the previous year. This time the hill never materialised. Bertem, too, had had its course changed. I realised this gradually during the first loop, and then, with a sense of relief we started the long, fast downhill run back to the start for the second loop. It should be ok, then, no more terrible hill to worry about. But I had forgotten that, instead of going up a very steep hill, we needed to go up by exactly the same elevation over a longer distance. For the first time in this year's edition of the Loopcriterium, in the second half of the last event, I slowed down to a walk! With consequent mediocre time.

Good thing that 3 weeks later I made up for this demoralising setback with a decent performance at the Brussels half marathon.

It was enough for me to obtain yet another placing in the top 20 of my category for this year. There were exactly 7 out of 13 races that were physically possible for me to achieve, and I managed to do them all.

A long, dark, cold, wintry preparation for the Paris marathon now beckons. My last marathon?

Alive and running - Brussels half marathon, October 2015

Hello, fan... I may have become lazy with my blogging, but I'm still running. Just completed the Brussels half marathon a week ago.

Throughout spring and summer I managed yet another placing in my age category in the Flemish Brabant challenge competition (more on that in another post). In the meantime I was building up the length of my long runs in preparation for the half marathon, which included two-hour runs, plus weekly runs to stay in shape, in Malta in the peak of summer in August.

It was a good build up. I had a setback in mid-September due to a strain in my back, which forced me to stop running for one week, but I had enough time to recover for the big day on Sunday 4th October.

It was a day of perfect weather, sunny with a mild temperature. We set off from the Parc Cinquantenaire, about 8000 runners, towards Rue de la Loi through the middle of the EU district where I work, on to the the Parc de Bruxelles in front of the king's palace. The first 10 km are not so easy, undulating with a net rise in level, but not really tough.

I had a bit of a shock at the 10 km checkpoint, which had a clock showing the time, a bit over 50 minutes. This was very slow indeed, little better than training pace, but I consoled myself that either: (a) it was positioned in the wrong place (quite a common occurrence in races organised in Belgium), or (b) it was actually the half way mark, i.e. 10.55 km. It dawned on me later that the position was correct and the time was the official time from the start, including the time it took me to get to the starting line.

Of course, the main reason for the poor time is really simple. I'm slowing down, but more on that later.

On a positive note, my race was a crescendo from start to finish. After the 10 km mark there's a downhill stretch towards Watermael. It was easy to pick up the pace here, of course, but when the road levelled out I kept a good rhythm through Auderghem towards the much feared hill up Avenue de Tervuren. Here the half marathon runners are joined by the marathon runners who are coming back from their 21 km loop into Tervuren, and you lose track of which runners around you are your direct rivals for the half, or whether they are incidental rivals doing the full marathon. In any case, your main concern here to go up the hill, which is longer than one kilometre.

There's an obelisk that marks the end of the hill, and from then on there remain about 6 km to the end of the race. I decided to increase the pace some more and started picking up people ahead with the aim of overtaking them. Many of them may have been taking part in the full marathon, but I didn't care and it didn't matter. It helped me keep a strong pace. I wasn't the only one doing this, of course, and in fact I was also being overtaken by a few others. For instance, in some cases I would pick someone to reach who was also doing my overtaking game and I would soon realise I couldn't reach him (it was mostly men at this stage of the race). So I would forget about him and look for someone else, while in the meantime overtaking others whom I had ignored.

It was quite interesting, actually, and apart from improving my time it helped for the last stretch to go by rather quickly. We raced downhill towards the old centre of Brussels, back on the detested cobble stones, into the spectacular Grand Place, which I hardly noticed, and zigzagging from one cobbled street to the next until the final turn and the open space known as De Brouckere. The finishing sprint is not one of my strongest points and in fact I was overtaken by several runners here, but it's not really important - a great winning sprint earns you three or four positions (to place in 1324th instead of 1329th place out of 8000) and you gain maybe 5 to 10 seconds, but it leaves you half dead. I was happy enough with my solid effort spread throughout the 21 km.

I finished in 1h41:55, in 1374th position out of 7874, at an average pace of 4:50 minutes per km overall. My 10 km split was 48:35, one and a half seconds per kilometre slower than the overall pace. 

I've resigned myself to the inevitable. I'm slowing down at roughly one minute per year but at 53 I'm still placing much higher than midpoint in the overall classification. This was my favourite type of performance - the first section at a moderate pace which helps preserve energy for a strong second half - well executed.

As I remarked on Facebook, a one minute slowdown per year would mean a half marathon in 1h59 at the age of 70. I should be quite happy with that.

For all my effort, I got this nice medal, sore leg muscles for two days, and a happy conviction that I can look forward to doing well in other future events.

Wings for Life 2015, Porto

Porto is the second largest city of Portugal. It lies at the mouth of the Douro river that pours into the Atlantic Ocean. It's famous for giving the world the alcoholic drink known as port, made from grapes grown in the Douro valley and fermented and aged in cellars at the river bank close to the coast.

For some reason I chose this city when I registered for my second Wings for Life run, many months ago. It may have been due to the fact that a flight to Porto was available from Brussels at a low cost. I'm not really sure why. I was just a bit concerned that, since Portugal lies quite close to the Mediterranean, a long distance race in May might turn out to be too hot for comfort.

I needn't have worried one bit about this. I should have known that, being at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, Portugal is the place where the humid oceanic air hits the European mainland, there to precipitate as rainfall. I should have worried, instead, of the possibility of rain on my big day in Porto.

The forecast said rain from 10 days ahead, and it wasn't wrong. We gathered in the Placa Galica after 11 in the morning wearing all sorts of plastic covers, waited to hand over our bag of clothes, and gathered behind the starting banner. As is my custom, I sat down on the ground amid a crowd of standing runners waiting for the start, hugging myself and trying to occupy as small a surface area as possible to avoid getting cold or wet.

Off we went! I forgot all about the rain the moment we began to run. My only concern was to hit the right pace: 4 minutes 52 seconds per kilometre, which I later realised was 3 seconds per kilometre too fast for my target. I kept very close to this pace, then we started the downhill section of the run. This is where the kilometre splits became quite fast as we approached the coast.

Then we hit the coast. And the Atlantic Ocean hit back. A strong south south westerly wind was blowing in from the sea, straight into our faces. The pace slowed down to 5 minutes per kilometre, and it never picked up after that.

Pity. It was a beautiful route. We set off close to the city centre, turned left, in front of "my" hotel, right and left again along a long road towards the coast. We entered the industrial district and then the coast road. Two days later I discovered this to be a spectacular route - during the run I was only concerned with maintaining the pace, also by sheltering behind other runners.

We followed the coast road back into the mouth of the river Douro, approaching the popular wharf (the Ribeira) close to the landmark Luis I bridge. This was at about 19 km, and by this stage I had given up on checking the time splits. They were consistently slower than my target pace and I thought, why stress myself? Looking at the watch was only causing discouragement, so I concentrated on catching up rivals and going as far as possible before being caught by the Catcher car.

We crossed the bridge towards the Gaia side of the river and kept going along the river bank, again approaching the Atlantic coast. The route profile on the event website had mentioned a sharp uphill at 21 km. I braced myself for this, but it never arrived! Finally, at about 24 km there was a hill of sorts, rather steep in fact, but it was over after a couple of minutes or so.

25 km.

Straight into a fierce wind from the Atlantic. We had already heard the cacophony of the Catcher car from the other side of the river. The rate of approach of this car relative to my pace was 4 kph, but the moment you hear it, even from afar, you think, I'm doomed. I was tired and the wind made it much worse.

26 km.

By this stage it was difficult even to keep on running. Last year in Ypres I was caught at 28.3 km, and the target this year was to beat that distance. Now, I didn't care and I just wanted to be caught and to stop.

27 km.

A final effort and I would actually beat my target! Then I heard the cacophony coming up from behind, and none too soon.

The worst part of this event, and something I hope will be improved in future, is getting back to base at the end of the effort. They have shuttle buses taking runners back from stations placed at intervals of 5 km: at 15 km, 20 km, 25 km and so on. It was bound to happen that I would be "caught" exactly in the middle between two stations. The walk straight into the storm towards the 30 km mark lasted for most of eternity. I barely managed to stop the last bus coming back from 30k. Inside the bus, a caring soul took pity on me and handed me an unused reflective sheet to cover myself during the trip back.

My official result was 27.45 km, quite high up in the general standings in actual fact, but worse than my first Wings for Life in Ypres.

For various reasons. Three weeks earlier I had run a full marathon, from which I had probably not recovered sufficiently. The wind did not help at all, and I probably started too fast. Looking back at my best running performances in the past, quite often they happen when I start at an easy pace. To make matters worse, I helped myself to too hearty a breakfast. Bacon, eggs, sausage, the works.

Ah yes, I almost forgot. I'm yet another year older than I was in Ypres.

Having said all this, Porto was a great experience. I'm more than ever determined now to do all the other Wings for Life locations, including India, Peru, Melbourne, Taiwan, Florida and Niagara Falls. By the current situation, this project will take me up to the age of 86. By then I will be happy even if I don't achieve 28.3 km as I did in 2014 in Ypres...

And now it's 15 marathons! Vienna, 12 April 2015

Two years ago I declared on this blog: that's all folks! That was after the Rotterdam marathon, when I slowed down to a walk for several times during the last 7 km. I reasoned, then, that marathons were taking too much out of me. Then I thought, no, this is not right. It can't be that my last marathon should be a quasi-failure. I'll have another go at a slower pace, without any time pressure, just run all the way from start to finish.

Various mishaps including some injuries, hot weather and a strong bout of demotivation kept me from fulfilling my wish. Then came a landmark Birżebbuġa 5k on a hot and humid August afternoon in Malta, which I barely managed to run through. It was there and then that I decided that I would build up to a marathon. I aimed for Paris on 12 April, but this was fully booked by January, so I had to choose somewhere else... I opted for Vienna on the same date.

Not without further setbacks... during a usually harsh Belgian winter (thankfully, without too much icy conditions) I built up to 3h 17m, which I ran 3 weeks before the marathon. During my taper I ran a 16 km race on the second weekend before last and a 90 minute run in Malta the last weekend before the event. The very last week I felt very sluggish - it was almost as though I had forgotten how to run.

I'm now thinking that a 3 week taper is too long for me. But that's something to consider (maybe) the next time.

I had decided not to look at my watch at any time during the race. I would just run with the flow and take it easy. It's what I did almost throughout. A look at my 5 km splits shows how consistent was my pace:

KM 5	KM 10	KM 15	KM 20	KM 25	KM 30	KM 35	KM 40	KM 42
00:25:29	00:25:46	00:25:39	00:26:15	00:25:49	00:26:33	00:28:05	00:27:56	00:12:44

Quite clearly, weariness struck somewhere between 30 and 33 km, although I didn't realise this at the time. I was determined and happy that I was cruising to an easy 15th marathon finish.

One thing I didn't like about the Vienna marathon was that a relay marathon takes place on exactly the same route at exactly the same time. You don't notice this much except at the handover points, where crowds of runners wait for their companions to show up. During the late stages of the marathon, however, these relay runners do create a problem. Three hours and 35 km into a run, with your leg muscles understandably not at their very best, sprightly upstarts come up from behind, fresh from their doing nothing, and overtake you at breakneck speed. I knew I had started to slow down a bit, but I didn't know whether I was being undertaken by fellow competitors who were doing the marathon like me, or whether it was the relay runners running at their fast 10k pace.

At the 39 km mark my curiosity had the better of me. I was happy with my performance so far, and wanted to estimate my finishing time. 3h 24m. That could well give me a 3h 35m finish, a fantastic time! A minute or so later I realised I had made a bad miscalculation. It was THREE, not two kilometres to go. It was a terrible blow psychologically. I was already bracing myself for a final flourish, only to realise that I still had more than 15 minutes to go!

The long, straight final 2 kilometres were long, straight, slow and never-ending. It was really difficult, and I thought I wouldn't even make 3h 45m. But I did keep running and never even considered slowing down to a walk.

I crossed the finish at 3h 44m 20s net time. Full time is a bit more - the time taken to reach the starting line at the beginning. I had achieved my target by running from start to finish.

As is often the case with these large city marathons, the walk from the finish to the clothes containers was much too long. You're dead on your feet, and all the way you are thinking, over and over, "never again!"

Long distance running permitting during the hot summer months, for my next target I'm very much interested in the Maratona del Lago del Garda - along the banks of the lake with the mountains of the Alps to serve as backdrop...

A long way

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.

Vienna, here I come

This morning I did my Wednesday morning long run of 2h30m, for a distance of about 27 to 28 km, in a temperature of 0 to 2 Celsius. I started off from the garden next to the town hall of Hoeilaart, while it was still dark, towards Overijse and back for a total of 10 km (53 minutes), until it became light and I could venture into the forest at Groenendaal and on towards the Foret de Soignes, and then back to the car at Hoeilaart.

The run went exceedingly well, which is why, finally, I decided to place my entry into my next marathon. Paris is long since fully booked, which is a pity, so I'm going to Vienna instead. Let's see how it goes. Many things may still go wrong - injury and illness in particular - but I can't postpone any longer for fear that, after Paris, even this could be fully booked, which would leave me with boring Milan or having to postpone to a different date.

I could also get fed up of running very long distances, but now I've committed myself I have to, somehow, go up to the required distance. Snow and ice permitting... i.e. yet something else which could disrupt my build-up.

But let's not concentrate on what may go wrong. I'm happy right now, because things are going according to plan, my running form is good, and even the weather is cooperating.

Back to humble beginnings

Three days ago I ran for 3 km - 15 minutes - a run which I repeated the following day. One day of rest, and today I did 26 minutes for about 5 km.

How did I get down here? Well, it's a long story... (that's from "Down in the Sewer" by The Stranglers).

It was a long series of setbacks, starting with my motivation crisis last summer, followed by a three week period in the peak of summer in Malta, a slight recovery beginning of September after my return to Belgium, another stop for a one week vacation, then an injury in my calf, illness, a repeat injury on my comeback run... I haven't trained regularly since two months, and hadn't run at all for a whole month before last Thursday.

During this upheaval there were some interesting, I would call defining moments.

I would say the low point of my crisis was the Duisburg 10 km race on 8 August, which I started too fast, also considering my bad form due to lack of sufficient training, and which ended up being the third out of six races up till then in the Scott2Run series where I had to slow down to a walk. Admittedly, the route was difficult, the second half being mostly uphill on difficult terrain including cobbled paths, mud, narrow passages and so on. Even my choice of shoes was wrong on that day.

In Malta, for 3 weeks starting a few days later, I knew what to expect. I managed some runs that took an immense degree of will power to complete in the heat, but it was generally low key running with the inclusion of a good deal of swimming. For example, here...

That was simply wonderful!

I was taking it easy on purpose, with the intention of taking it up a notch or two in September. There was a 5 km race close to the end of August in Birżebbuġa. The temperature was around 33 C, the air humid, and two hours before the start I was still undecided whether to take part or not. I drove there, poured a lot of water on top of my head, drank another lot, and gave them my name. My intention was simply to complete the distance without slowing down to a walk. 5 kilometres! I did in fact run the whole way, which was actually a bit of an achievement in those conditions, but it was there and then that I decided that I was going to pick myself up and build up to a full marathon.

Easier said than done.

My recovery started very well, actually. Back in Belgium, beginning of September, I was dreading the final race for this year's edition of the Scott2Run series. This was a 10 km race in Bertem. Double the distance of Birżebbuġa and including a hill that's the steepest I know of all races I've ever done. In two times 5 km loops. Amazingly, it turned out to be one of best runs this year, probably second to the February half marathon in Malta. I registered the best speed, over 13 km/h, as well as my best finishing position for the whole series. It was a defining moment because I found out that, in spite of the doom and gloom, there was nothing basically wrong with me. My success here was due to three main factors, which I hope to keep in mind for the future:

1. I started slowly. (Now, really, after 23 years of running, do I still need to remind myself of this?)

2. I knew what to expect, so I was mentally prepared for the killer hill (times two).

3. I was determined to keep running and never slow down to a walk.

Following this success all seemed fine. I could resume regular training and build up my distances. I took a break of one week for a family commitment, but after the resumption a sharp pain in my right calf brought me to a sudden halt. Literally. Then a cold, then again the same injury...

Which is why my training runs this week were 3 kilometres and 5 kilometres. I hope my calf is now fine, and I have to be careful and ease back into my standard training schedule very gradually.

I was in Paris recently. In another defining moment, I knew that I had to run through the middle of the Champs Elysees, the Place de la Concorde and along the banks of the river Seine. I decided to aim to run the Paris marathon on 12 April 2015. Now, if my comeback goes according to plan, I might just be able to make it.

As the saying goes, mighty oaks from little acorns grow...

The Wings for Life World Run - 4 May 2014 in Ypres, Belgium

On 4 May 2014, a new concept for running competition was born to the world. Instead of runners competing to reach a finishing line in the shortest time possible, they were to run as far as they could before being overtaken by a "catcher car" going at a predetermined speed. Half an hour after the beginning of the run, the car would leave the starting line at a slow pace and accelerate gradually but constantly until it overtakes all participants. The winner of the event is the last participant to be "caught".

At the same instant, in about 36 other locations spread out over six continents, another identical event is taking place, except that the route is different, and in many cases so is the time of day and the ambient conditions. But all 36 locations are linked as one, and the overall winner is the very last person who's still running in all of them.

The event was named 'Wings for Life World Run', and the idea was (also) to collect funds for research into a cure for spinal cord injury.

I liked the concept the moment I learned about it. I had just (for a change) given up on building up to a marathon. I was not in the mood to run all those long distances. This event, on the other hand, allows participants of all types of ability to take part, whatever their endurance. The Wings for Life website has a calculator that gives you the time and distance you would be running until you're caught, according to running pace. For me this resulted in 25 to 30 kilometres - 2h15 to 2h30 - just about as much as I was fit to go at my current level of fitness.

One of the 40 locations was in Belgium, Ypres to be precise. A one and a half hours' drive is close enough for me. Ypres is a gem of a town where I like to go, so I signed up.

A few days later, I strained my hamstring... Nine days before the event it was practically healed and I went for a final long run. Bad idea. The following day, at day minus 8, I could hardly walk. The situation didn't improve very much throughout the following week, so I thought I would have to forget the Wings for Life World Run. The day before the race I was still unsure if was able to run for 1 kilometre, let alone 30.

But I had paid to take part, it was the very first edition, I could give up at any point and my participation would still be valid, so why not go for it and see how it goes?

On Sunday 4 May, the lovely town of Ypres in western Belgium woke up to a day of absolutely perfect weather, one of those days which I like to describe as "without a temperature". The atmosphere was festive. The setting at the starting line couldn't be more impressive: a beautiful memorial with the names of hundreds of thousands of fallen World War I soldiers.

I set off slowly, treading very carefully to avoid upsetting my jittery hamstring. I hadn't run for the last 8 days. I didn't even know if I was fit to run. In fact, in my mind's eye I was still injured. Except that, to my huge surprise, the injury didn't bother me at all and I could maintain a steady pace of just under 5 minutes per kilometre - just as if I was doing a marathon.

The injury turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It forced me to avoid running completely for one week before the competition, so I was completely rested on the big day. It forced me to avoid the usual mistake of starting too fast. I ran at a calm but steady pace, on completely flat roads in the pleasant countryside that 100 years ago had been turned into hell on earth by warmongering world leaders. We kept going from one village to another, each lined with cheering spectators, the kilometre markers going by and my legs working like a dream.

At 28 km I was still feeling strong and confident that I would reach 30 km within 2h30... so imagine my disappointment a couple of minutes later when a number of motorcycles and a loud hailer from behind heralded the arrival of the catcher car. I had been so close to the 30 km milestone.

What a fantastic run. I later found that I'd been caught at 28.33 km, in 2105th position out of 34,000 participants world wide. The overall winner, Lemawork Ketema (surprise, surprise, an Ethiopian), who had run in Donautal in Austria, was caught at 78.58 km!

Wings for Life World Run, you've got me hooked. I've done the first event. Now, following the spirit of this competition, I hope to do all editions as long as my legs can carry me. Who knows, I could aim to do the world tour. Having started at 51, I would complete a round trip of all 36 locations spread over six continents at the age of 86.

Now that's an interesting target. No harm in dreaming...

A setback... or is it?

In spite of having announced my retirement from marathons after Rotterdam in April 2013, I had been aspiring to build up to another marathon this October 2014. My long runs had gone up to 2h45m (for approx 30km), but I was struggling to cover this much.

Last Sunday was the middle of a heat spell and less than half way through the run my right shoe was already completely soaked in sweat, the remaining distance to cover seemed endless... I decided to stop - and prepare properly for a 30km effort the following Sunday (today).

Today morning I started earlier on a make-or-break long run for my planned marathon. I would either resume the build-up in training or I would just have to give up. I drove to Tervuren Park about 15km from home, leaving a bottle filled with an energy drink at the doorstep, the idea being that I would pick up this drink in the middle of my run and go back to the car at Tervuren. 28 minutes into the run, on the first uphill stretch, the urge to stop again overwhelmed me, and stop is exactly what I did. I simply didn't feel like running for a long distance.

This of course spelt the end of my marathon aspirations. We're in the middle of summer. I'm suffering from severe lack of motivation, which, combined with the heat make preparation for a marathon in October very difficult indeed. I don't feel like doing it, I don't need to do it, so I'm not doing it.

Walking back, I realised that giving up was like a liberation. Interesting alternative scenarios opened up. I could take a break. I could take up cycling with occasional short runs whenever I feel like it. For three weeks in the upcoming hot Maltese August I could do a lot of swimming instead of running. I could resume the 2014 Scott2Run competition, for which I'm still in the running for a placing.

Five minutes into the walk back to the car I broke into a run, and, amazingly, I started running fast. The slow plod of my earlier run was still echoing in my head, but this new run was quick and sprightly. I had shaken off the burden of having to run long distances to build up to a marathon, and all of a sudden training has become interesting again, rather than a chore. I alternated some jogging with fast running for half an hour, for a decent total of close to an hour running today, and resolved for the next few months to mix it all up a bit.

Long term target - the second edition of the Wings for Life World Run in May (more on this in another blog post that's half completed). As for marathons... never say never again. Maybe winter would be a better time to run long distances.

I don't want to think about it.

Erps-Kwerps - Easter Monday, 2014

Years ago, when a colleague at work mentioned the place to me, I wouldn't believe it was really named Erps-Kwerps. The same thing happened to our son Gianluca today afternoon. But Erps-Kwerps it really is, and the surrounding land is completely flat, which suited me just fine as I wasn't in the mood for any hills, more so as I'm nursing a sore hamstring.

Today's race was preceded by Gianluca's debut race - a one kilometre dash for children. With no training at all he finished the run in the middle of the pack. May this be the beginning of a long running career, Gianluca!

I started my own race with strong misgivings due to the hamstring. The past five days I've only done a short 25 minute jog two days ago, to keep it rested and allow it to heal, but during the warm-up I could still feel it hurting very slightly. A few minutes into the run, however, the pain disappeared and I could concentrate on my usual business of overtaking my rivals. A short stretch with cobbles was followed by longer asphalted stretches and some patches without asphalt, next to fields, a railway line, a huge car storage area and houses again as we headed back to Erps-Kwerps village for the start of a second loop.

No hills meant that I could maintain a constant pace. It's convenient when there are no uphills, but it also means there are no downhills and by the middle of the second loop I was becoming tired. Not too tired, however, and I managed to keep a steady rhythm. At the 11th kilometre I heard someone coming up close from behind. I was in no mood for any sprinting - I was already going as fast as I could - and I wished he would pass by and disappear, but he never did. Instead, I approached another couple as we neared the last bends before the finish, and I overtook them too!

Utter exhaustion at the finish was rewarded by a good time of 53:45 for approx. 11.8 km. It was my best performance to date in this year's edition of the Scott2Run. Tomorrow I'll find out the effect of this strong effort (I don't think I could have run any faster today!) on my long-suffering hamstring. Fingers crossed, it's still fine up till this evening...

Scott2Run 2014 - the first three events

The first group of three races for this year's Scott2Run competition kicked off on a bad footing for me on 22 March, continued with a close to disastrous performance a week later, but was concluded with a fine, fine run on race number three today.

Vilvoorde 12km - 22 March 2014

I had long been looking forward to this. I had been training well, putting in some fairly long runs as well as speed sessions, so I took a fair degree of confidence with me to Vilvoorde. But the day turned out to be cold and wintry, and I was never able to fire myself up properly.

The event consists of two loops - each one with a long steep hill during the first half followed by a flat mid-section and a final downhill stretch. The uphill part of the second loop I suddenly slowed down to a walk. It happens sometimes. A number of other runners passed me while I recovered my breath (and some strength in my legs). I started to jog again after two or three minutes, and began to re-overtake some of the runners who had passed me during the walking stage.

All considered, the final timing of 56:48 wasn't so bad. The field of participants was rather small, so I still managed to collect a useful amount of points.

Furaloop 16km (Tervuren) - 29 March 2014

Mostly in one of my 'haunts', the Arboretum part of the Zonienbos (Foret des Soignes) that straddles Jezus Eik in Overijse and Tervuren.

I realised there was a hills 'issue' in this one, so I checked the height profile on the Furalopers' website the days before. I found that most of the uphill parts were in the first half, while the second half was generally downhill. So I went to Tervuren determined to make up for the previous week's disappointment while being careful not to overdo it in the first, hilly, part.

The first 8km were, indeed, very hilly, but I managed them quite well, overtaking a large number of rivals in the process. The second half, as predicted, was generally flat or downhill.

Up to a certain point.

Suddenly I saw looming up ahead a steep hill. I thought it would be a short stretch, and then we would resume going downhill. But then we came to another hill. It went on and on. Determined as I was not to slow down to a walk this time... slow down to a walk is exactly what I did. Once. Lots of rivals going by. Restart at a slow jog. Another hill, one I've done lots of times in my training. Another stop! What a disaster.

I lost about four minutes from my normal time at the end, though I did manage to recover enough energy in the final 2 or 3 km to have a respectable finish, at a sprint. Official timing: 1h18:58.

Picking up the pieces - Wednesday 2 April 2014

I had been looking forward to a good year of running, with lots of ambitious plans, and here I was slowing down to a walk in the very first two races of this year's edition of the Scott2Run.

I'd never slowed down to a walk in two successive races. I sorely needed a morale booster, so I decided to risk a make-or-break long run. I'd gone up to 25 km - 2h15 in my pre-Scott2Run preparation. Next long run: 27km - 2h30. That's what I set out to do, and that's what I did without any particular problem.

That's how I found out that there's nothing seriously wrong with my current form. With the wisdom of hindsight, I can lay the blame for my recent mishaps on:

a. Having done a short run on the day before the race;
b. Having had a stressful morning a few hours before the race, doing the weekly shopping and such stuff;
c. In the case of the Furaloop 16km, bad mental preparation for the route.

I also seriously need to improve my form going uphill. I used to be very good at this, but, seemingly, not any more.

Perk, Kasteeljogging - 11.5km - 6 April 2014

This used to be a triple loop in a park, with long stretches where runners are forced to go single file or risk twisting a knee or an ankle while trying to overtake on very rough ground. They have now changed this into a more sensible double loop, finishing with a long lap around the club football grounds.

Except for the initial two or three minutes, that were rather crowded and where overtaking was next to impossible, the going for me was very smooth. Most of the time I was overtaking other runners without exerting myself too much. While I ran, I realised that I hardly need to make any effort to run on flat terrain, which is what we had throughout today. Having 'rehearsed' the final lap around the club football grounds during warm-up before the race, I was prepared for this too and finished strongly at 53:19.

So, I guess, I'm back on track for a (still) promising 2014 running campaign.

The Malta Half Marathon, 23 February 2014

...

I hadn't raced in Malta since... I can't even remember. In fact I hadn't run at all in Malta since almost a whole year due to various mishaps and injuries.

I sort of made up for this in the 2014 edition of the Malta Half Marathon.

Looking at the statistics of my previous participations in this one, I noticed a steady decline with the advancing years. Can't be helped, of course. I had achieved an impressive 1h30:11 when I was 14 years younger, followed in later years by 1h31 and 1h34. In recent years I was doing 1h40 or so in half marathons in Belgium. A PB this year was just the stuff of wild dreams, but the downhill profile of this race did justify an expectation for a sub-1h40.

But first of all, the greatest pleasure I had from this return to my running roots was the opportunity of reuniting with so many dear friends.

I miss them really a lot. The picture above, taken just before the start, shows from left to right: Victor Laurenti, Lee Micallef, myself, Charles Tedesco and a fifth person who I'm sure is a fantastic chap, but who unfortunately I don't know at all... There were also many others, and to all of them I was glad to say hello, how are you, it's great to be here and to see you again.

The event has grown tremendously since my previous participations. Back then the field used to consist of hundreds of runners, now it's in the thousands. More than 2000 ran this half marathon, while a comparable number did a "walkathon" - exactly the same event, at a walking pace.

All these thousands inevitably lead to a very crowded start, but we now had an electronic chip tied to the number, which records the actual time from the start gantry to the finish. So we didn't need to worry too much about the time lost until we actually reached the start, except that... in the official result the time given includes this wasted time in the beginning. Worse than that, groups of ignoramuses go and position themselves to start their "walkathon" ahead of the real runners, creating obvious problems, whereas they had been specifically instructed to start at the back, again for obvious reasons that needn't be spelt out at all!

After lots of pushing and shoving for the first kilometre or so, I got down to the real business of running. All I needed to do was keep weaving in between slower runners while concentrating on not running too fast. Whenever the road was downhill I let gravity do my work, otherwise I kept an eye on the runners ahead, always aiming to catch them at a comfortable pace and then looking further ahead to the next 'catch'.

This went on for most of the run. Once or twice a runner would come racing by at what seemed to me an impossible pace, but generally it was me who was doing overtaking, including quite a few of the aforementioned good friends of mine.

The going got tough around the 16th kilometre, where there was a rather long hill towards the Portes des Bombes in Floriana. This was followed by a downhill stretch to Sa Maison. I got my breath back somewhat as I switched to gravity mode until we reached sea level. From then on, for the final 4 km flat along the seafront at Msida, Ta' Xbiex and finally Gżira and the Sliema Ferries, I had to grit my teeth, ignore the weariness in my legs and push hard towards the finish.

We're doing fine, on track for 1h40, someone told his companion as I went past them near the Msida Marina. Oh well, I thought, no PB for me, but a respectable time just the same. I kept my pace, overtook some other runners as we entered the Ta' Xbiex coast road and approached the final stretch past the Manoel Island bridge. 

In the last stretch, someone had the idea of writing down motivating slogans on the road, every 10 metres or so. "Work hard, play hard, run hard", "Keep going, never give up". Can't remember the exact words, but they helped. As I approached the finish I looked for my supporters who had promised they'd come to cheer for me.

Then I saw Daniela, who jumped out of the crowd and took this picture of me. Smiling through gritted teeth...

Daniela is now my official photographer... Next to her, the rest of my supporters' club, my dear wife Sue, Gianluca, Erika, Christine, Anthony, Carm. Thank you all for being there!

I don't know about the couple who were on course for a 1h40m. I came in at 1h38m plus something, official time. Chip time from start to finish gantries was 1h37:14.

Excellent run. I'm thoroughly happy with it, even more so considering that just two months ago, back in Malta, I could barely walk properly due to a back injury.

Big question mark now. Can I build on this, up to the full version? Depends on whether I still have a sufficient mix of motivation and strength to carry it out. Time will tell...

Steenokkerzeel 10k

Typical Flemish suburb located a short distance away from Brussels.

It was the last race that I needed to accomplish to gain a total of nine and a placing in the final classification of the 2013 Scott 2 Run challenge.

I almost missed it.

The race was on Saturday 5th October. The following day, on 6th October, there was the Brussels marathon, and this was the date that stuck in my mind, so I had the impression that the final race of the challenge, at Steenokkerzeel, would be on Sunday 6th October. My plan was that on Friday I would do a final easy 10km run, so that on Saturday I would rest to be in good shape for a race on Sunday.

Saturday morning I looked at the website for the competition, to confirm the starting time and so on. That's when I realised with a shock that the race was that very afternoon, and certainly not on Sunday! So I had to quickly change my plans for the day, prepare my running gear and drive to Steenokkerzeel for a 10km race.

Normally I take a day off running before a race, but this time I had done a standard training run of 10km the day before, so for this race I could only hope to do an easy run and simply gather the necessary points to achieve my placing in the final classification. It turned out the route was completely flat, no treacherous muddy paths in the forest, two loops along flat, well paved streets, and I managed to give a pretty good account of myself in spite of not being properly rested.

And (finally!) I obtained a well deserved classification in the top 25 of my age category. It really was well deserved, as I had to overcome many obstacles throughout this edition. In several cases I simply turned up without racing properly, just to put in a presence and get the necessary points and the minimum requirement of nine race participations. But if I hadn't bothered to check the website at the last possible moment on the morning of the last race, the good work I'd done in August following my back injury, scraping through a couple of races during that month would have been all in vain, as I would have missed the last, ninth, race due to a silly mix-up in the dates.

Placing 22nd in the overall final classification earned me a 45 euro gift voucher, which I can exchange for a Scott product at their warehouse in Kortenberg. This warehouse is open every first Saturday of the month, but the gift voucher expires at the end of February. Next Saturday is the last possible date when I can use it. The saga of my 2013 Scott 2 Run competition continues...

Still running...

Some have misinterpreted my "That's all, folks" along with "Now I'll call it a day as far as running marathons is concerned" to mean that I've given up running altogether.

I even reinforced that impression by not writing here at all for a long time.

Well, nothing could be further from the truth. The crucial word that some have missed was "marathons". I was calling it a day as far as running marathons was concerned. Not running. So in fact I did keep on running, although with several interruptions and comebacks, which seem to have become the rule in this day and age (i.e. past half a century...) for me.

After a very difficult marathon in Rotterdam in April earlier this year, I decided that I didn't need to put myself through the pain of running marathons, so I would be running shorter races instead. The Scott2Run aggregate challenge was already in progress, but I was still in time to join the fray.

The challenge consists of 17 races held between March and early October in the Flemish part of the Brabant region. You compete with other athletes in your age and sex category by acquiring points depending on the placing you achieve in each race participation, final totals being based on the best 9 results for each athlete. This means that you need to complete 9 out of the 17 races to be eligible for a prize, which is given to the top 25 placed athletes in each category.

By the day I ran the marathon, I had already missed three races, and the following Sunday I thought it would be risky to do the fourth one - a 16 km - so the first available race was a 12 km race in an unheard of place called Tildonk, on 1st May, a public holiday on Wednesday. There were now 13 races left, of which I needed to complete 9, and one of the 13 was unavailable anyway since I would be away on summer vacation. So it was 12 races available, with the ever-present risk of injury or illness or not being able to participate in some of them for any number of reasons.

Well, here in this blog, a long while ago I decided to start to record my most memorable runs. I grew lazy in this, and I've been missing out on some of the good ones. In this post I'm recording collectively all the runs of this year's Scott2Run challenge, except for the last one, which is hopefully yet to happen, and each in their own way these runs have been quite remarkable. So here goes.

No. 1 - Wednesday 1 May - Tildonk - 12.6 km - 0h59:19. Two days later I had another race, an old favourite close to home, the Hoeilaart 11.2 km, but I thought that I couldn't afford to miss yet another race if I wanted to achieve my nine placings, and decided to participate in this one at training pace to notch up a couple of hundred points, and save up my energy for two days later and do Hoeilaart as well. It was one of the rare occasions when we had a warm sunny day this spring, and the event turned out to be a pleasant affair - three 4 km completely flat loops along country roads and pathways in an agricultural area. No warm up, just as in training runs, and I took it easy, just enjoying the pretty landscape and avoiding the slower runners at the back of the field. Of course, I ended up overtaking other runners, but took great care not to exert myself too much. I really should consider doing more of this type of relaxed "racing"...

No. 2 - Friday 3 May - Hoeilaart - 11.2 km - 0h51:27. The combination Tildonk/Hoeilaart over three days worked out fine. I wasn't tired at all from the race of two days previously, and here I could run a proper race, which I hadn't done for many months due to my preparation for April's marathon. It was my typical race when I do well, starting at a moderate pace just keeping up with the rest of my section of the field, avoiding the slower runners, and after the initial crowding thins out overtaking rivals one after the other, possibly until the end, when I have to find a kerb where to sit down, utterly exhausted, but satisfied that I've performed to 99% of my capacity.

No. 3 - Sunday 9 June - Sterrebeek - 10 km - 0h46:07. Recovering from a cold, yet again I was more concentrated on notching up points rather than racing proper. It's what kept me going at one particularly difficult point. It turned out that I notched the most points here at least from the first seven races.

No. 4 - Saturday 22 June - Machelen - 9 km - 0h39:52. I didn't do the Buizingen 12k, for no reason except that I don't like this particular route. It may have been an error, as it turned out, as I might even now not be able to obtain my nine placings because of this omission. But Machelen I did do, even though it's becoming a habit for me to lose my way until I get there... And I did it extremely well, though not as well as I thought at first. You see, the Belgians have rather a cavalier regard to race distances. Like, for example, this one, which was advertised as a 10 km run, so when I came in at less than 40 minutes I thought that I had run a lifetime best for a 10k at the age of 50! It couldn't be the case, of course, but it was still one of my best performances for several years, and my fastest pace achieved yet in this edition of the Scott2Run - 13.54 kph.

Summer break. Five placings to go, with six races available after the break. But during the holidays I had a silly accident. A badly assembled deckchair collapsed under my weight, and I fell on a horizontal metal bar with my back. I could barely walk afterwards and had to stop training for close to three weeks, but was lucky to escape a bad injury to my spine. Such was the "run-up" to:

No. 5 - Friday 9 August - Duisburg 10.2 km - 0h53:00. I would need to do at least one of this and the Zaventem half marathon, six days later, in order to be able to achieve nine placings for the final classification. My injury was almost healed, so I calculated that maybe I could try both events at training pace and just get the points. I barely managed the first one. It was a pleasant event on a summer Friday evening, with lots of beer and chips stalls, and posters abounding with pictures of a certain Suzy who was turning 50 on the day. If we saw her, the posters urged us, we were to give her a "kuss". The route was your typical Belgian convoluted affair among country lanes, rough paths consisting of dust, gravel, weeds or (worst of all) cobbles. I made it to the finish at faster than training pace, but not by much. Following this, I had to stop running again, as my injury wasn't over at all yet. The half marathon was out of the question, of course, but I had managed to get the points that mattered at Duisburg.

No. 6 - Friday 23 August - Vossem 11.7 km - 0h54:15. Many people say that summer in Belgium is a joke. But it isn't, and this event quite often happens at the peak of the summer heat. At 7 in the evening, the temperature was in the high 20s as we prepared for this race. My injury was now really over, and I had had enough training sessions to do this race at almost standard pace, starting off cautiously, but soon enough going through the overtaking routine, through rough country lanes then up and down many paths in the forest adjacent the Tervuren park. It was only in the last couple of hundred metres as we were racing back to Vossem that I had to slow down a bit, thoroughly exhausted, but happy at the entirely satisfactory end result. I was back in the running!

No. 7 - Sunday 1 September - Bertem 10.6 km - 0h48:11. This was a killer! The route was entirely along rough paths, much of the way on cobbles, gravel or dirt/dust/weeds, including some uphill sections, one of which was so steep we had to slow down to a walk. Going back to running after the steepest part, but still going uphill and breathless, required superhuman willpower... The road back down was cobbled, and followed by a (finally) asphalted stretch back to the start. This loop we did twice. A very tough race, where I registered another good performance.

No. 8 - Saturday 7 September - Overijse 14.6 km (advertised as 13 km...) - 1h08:48. My home race. I could jog from home to the start. Strangely enough, there weren't many participants in this, which worked to my advantage as it resulted in a higher number of points. Two loops, again quite hilly, cobbly at one stretch and literally running through fields at others. Typically tough and exhausting.

Now it's just one more race to go at Steenokkerzeel in early Octber, and I will have made it. Nine races and inclusion in the top 25 in the final classification, the last four placings being the only four yet available. A great feat for me, considering all the difficulties and setbacks. Only, that is, if I make it intact to the finish at Steenokkerzeel...