Europe - Bob Rebello’s Worldwide Marathons

#11 – 2009 Stockholm Marathon

December 17, 2010 By Bob 1 Comment

Marathon Guide

Marathon Date: May 30, 2009

Continent: Europe

Country: Sweden

My Age: 73

My Finish Time: 5:39

My Marathon Rating: Most painful marathon.

Memorable Moment: Finishing in the Stockholm Olympic Stadium.

Lessons Learned: Do not attempt to run a marathon with a serious injury that has not completely healed.

Stockholm Marathon Selection and Registration:

I had 2 choices for the worldwide marathon that I would run in 2009 and they were – the May 30^th Stockholm, Sweden marathon or the Amsterdam marathon that would be held on October 16^th. I decided on running the Stockholm marathon after reviewing the comments that previous marathoners had put on the web. There will be 18,000+ runners from around the world with a number of runners from the U.S. What is unusual about the Stockholm marathon is that the race starts at 2pm – which means if it is a very hot day we will be in the sun for most of the race. I will be going to the marathon with marathon tours of Boston, Massachusetts so they handled my airfare, hotel, and race registration – my number was 5992.

Stockholm Marathon Training Program:

I began my 18-week 750-mile Stockholm marathon-training program on January 25, 2009. When I started my training I had 2 lingering injuries, Right Quad & Right Achilles heel, that I had for about 3 weeks before I started my training. After my 4^th week of training my right Quad had healed but my right Achilles did not go away, and in fact had gotten worse. The pain was most notable during my long runs and would continue to be painful after I had completed the long run. Because of the Achilles injury I decided not to run any races before the Stockholm marathon on May 30^th. During my long run of the 13^th week of my training program the Achilles was so painful that I had to stop running at mile 18 of my 20-mile long run. By week 16 the Achilles hurt so bad that I had to limit the miles I ran during the week. When I left for Stockholm on May 26^th it was very clear to me that I would not have a chance to meet my marathon goal of 4:20 due to the constant pain of my right Achilles.

Stockholm Travel:

I made my airfare, hotel reservations through Marathon Tours and Travel in Boston, Massachusetts. I flew via Continental airlines and the flight to Stockholm was 7 hours and 12 minutes from New Jersey. I arrived at my Hotel, the Scandic Park Hotel, on May 26^th at 7:35 am – very tired, as I did not sleep on the flight. The hotel was only about 15 minutes walk to Stockholm center where the many lively shops and bars are located. It is also only 15 minutes walk to the marathon start and finish located in the 1912 Olympic Stadium. There also is a very beautiful park only 5 minutes away from the hotel.

Stockholm Marathon Highlights:

The day before the marathon I walked to the 1912 Olympic Stadium to get my Bib # 5992 and my race chip at the marathon Expo. Because of my injured Achilles the short walk to the Expo from my hotel was very painful and I had to stop and stretch when I arrived at the Expo. After I picked up my Bib# and race chip, I walked back at my hotel just before the rain started coming down very hard. I spent most of the afternoon resting and coming up with a new race strategy.

My original plan, before the Achilles injury, was to run a 4:20 marathon with a halfway time of 2:10. But because of the Achilles injury my new plan was to stop after each mile to rest my Achilles. I felt the new strategy would get me a finish time of close to 5 hours – not the 4:20 I had planned on but still a respectable finish time. I was not happy about my new strategy but there was no way that I would be able to run any length of time without stopping to rest the Achilles. I spent the rest of the afternoon resting and in the evening I went down to the hotel restaurant and had my pre-race Pasta dinner. I went to bed about 10pm and woke up race day at 6am – finally got a good nights sleep. I had a light breakfast and went back to my room to rest up for the 2pm start of the marathon.

At 1pm I left the hotel and walked to the 1912 Stadium and after about 15 minutes I finally found my start area. After the start gun finally went off it took me about 8 minutes to go over the start line – the road was very thin and there was wall to wall runners making it difficult to move. Running for a mile and then stopping to rest the Achilles seemed to help ease the pain. At the halfway point [13.1 miles] my time was 2:24 and if I kept up the pace over the last 13.1 miles I would finish in a time of 4:48. Unfortunately by mile 15, stopping every mile to rest the Achilles was not helping, as the pain was getting progressively worse with each mile and to make matters worse the temperature was now in the mid 80’s. When I finally reached mile 21 I was running at a much slower pace than I ran in the first half of the race and I was taking more time to rest the Achilles.

At mile 23 one of the Medical support people walked over to me and told me that he had been watching me for the last 3 miles and he felt that I was in serious trouble and he wanted to take me out of the race, drive me to the finish line to get whatever medical help I needed. I just looked at him and said that I only had 3 miles to go to finish the marathon and if I had to I would “crawl” the last 3 miles to the finish line. It was a very long and “painful” marathon but after 5 hours and 39 minutes of agony in the 80-degree temperature I finally entered the Olympic Stadium and ran around the track and crossed the finish line. It wasn’t pretty but I met my commitment to my donors – I finished.

Filed Under: Europe, Marathons Tagged With: european marathons, marathon guide, stockholm marathon

#10 – 2008 Berlin Marathon

December 17, 2010 By Bob Leave a Comment

Marathon Guide

Marathon Date: September 28, 2008

Continent: Europe

Country: Germany

My Age: 72

My Finish Time: 4:38 * 38^th out of 107 in age group

My Marathon Rating: Most runners – 54,000

Memorable Moment: Finishing the marathon running under the Brandenburg Gate.

Lessons Learned: Always carry money, local currency, with you in your running shorts pocket in case you need money for a taxi after the race. Never leave credit cards, money, or any valuable items with the clothes that you drop off to wear after the race.

Marathon Selection and Registration:

After much deliberation I decided to run the September 28, 2008 Berlin marathon which is one of the world’s largest races with over 45,000 runners from over 100 countries, 1 million spectators, and more than 70 bands. The 2008 Berlin marathon will be the 35^th running of this world famous marathon that has the fastest course in the world. I will be traveling with Marathon Tours and Travel and they will be handling my hotel reservations, ensuring that I would have a race number, and bus tours of Berlin.

Marathon Training Program:

I started my 18-week 750-mile training program on May 25^th with a right hamstring injury as well as a sore left heel injury. Because of the injuries I decided not to do any races [5k, 10k, ½ marathon] as part of my training program for the Berlin marathon. By week 10 of my training program my hamstring and heel injuries were no longer bothering me. My training program was setup so that I would meet my Berlin marathon finish goal of 4:30 and when I reached week 18 of the training program I felt very comfortable that I would meet my goal.

Marathon Travel:

I stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, which was about 30 minutes walk from the start and finish of the marathon. The hotel was centrally located and was in walking distance to a number of very good restaurants. I used my American Airlines frequent flier miles and flew from San Diego to Dallas to London [Heathrow] and then on to Berlin.

Marathon Highlights:

The Racecourse of the 35^th Berlin Marathon is a very flat course and almost a complete sightseeing tour of the capital. During the 26.2-mile race athletes pass a large number of Berlin’s best-known landmarks. The Victory column is the first landmark along the course. The Federal Chancellery which houses the German Parliament will be passed after 6.5k. That was where John F. Kennedy said the famous words “Ich bin ein Berliner” [I am a Berliner]. At mile 23 runners pass the National Gallery and the philharmonic Orchestra of Berlin. The marathon ends after the runners run under the Brandenburg Gate – the most famous spot in Berlin.

I decided to go to the Expo on the 26^th – 2 days before the marathon – to beat the last minute crowds. The taxi ride to the Expo took forever, as there were traffic jams everywhere and very little parking near the Expo. There were thousands of runners jammed into the Expo to pick up their numbers which made it difficult to find out which line I needed to be in to pick up my number. Once I finally got in the right line I was able to pick up my number [23867] very quickly. When I looked into the bag of “goodies” they gave me, I asked the person who gave it to me where was my free race shirt? He told me that the race shirts are not free and I would have to pay $65.00 US Dollars for the shirt – sorry but I was not going to pay $65.00 for a race shirt. Eventually I ended up inside the Expo where there were hundreds of booths with long lines of runners. It was very difficult to walk through the Expo with all of the people cramped together. After about an hour of bumping into people I decided it was time to go back to the hotel and get something to eat. I went out to eat with a few of the runners that were staying at my hotel we walked to an outdoor restaurant about an hours walk from the hotel. I was very tired from all the walking I did at the Expo and decided to stay in for the rest of the evening – went down to the Lobby and read a book.

Woke up at 5:30am the next morning, the day before the marathon, and went to breakfast in the hotel with a number of the runners who came with marathon Tours. After breakfast the Marathon Tours Representative Cliff walked the group to where the Marathon will start so we will know how to get there on race day as well as showing where we needed to drop off our clothes. We walked back to the hotel and I stayed in the hotel and rested for the rest of the day – no running or walking – went to bed at 9:30pm.

Woke up at 6:00am on the 28^th – marathon day and put on my race gear, number and race chip on my shoe and went down for a very light breakfast of Oatmeal and a Peanut Butter sandwich. At 7:30am, an hour and half before the start of the marathon, Cliff got the Marathon Tours runners together and we all walked to where the marathon would start. We got to the start position around 8:00am and it took me about 20 minutes to get to where I had to drop off my clothes that I will wear after the race is over. It took me another 20 minutes of walking to finally find my start location [G-my projected finish time was 4:30], my start area was already packed with wall-to-wall people and I had a hard time getting in. Once I was in it was impossible for me to move either forward or backward – I was locked in.

The weather at the start of the race was in the low 60’s. At exactly 9:00am the race started but I just stood there for about 5 minutes before the people in front of me started walking to the start line. By the time I finally reached the start line it was 9:10am – once I crossed the start line I set my watch and I was off and “walking”. When I reached mile 3 I was able to finally break loose from the crowd of runners and run at my planned marathon pace. I lost about 3 minutes over the first 3 miles towards my goal of a 4:30 marathon and unfortunately felt that I would not be able to make up the time in the latter parts of the race.

At mile 12 I stopped to get a cup of water at the water station where there were so many people lined up to get water it was difficult to get near the people giving out the water. I finally was able to get a cup of water and I was just about to drink it when a runner came running by and took the cup from my hand and ran away drinking my water. When I reached the ½ waypoint in the marathon my time was 2:12, which meant that if I kept up my present pace I would finish in a time of 4:24, which was six minutes faster my planned finish time of 4:30. The 1 million fans along the complete race route really made a difference and they really got me moving when I started to slow down – the 70+ bands seemed to be everywhere – what an event!

At mile 14 the weather had changed and now it was getting much hotter which made it difficult to keep up my present 4:24 pace. I finally hit the “wall” at mile 22 and it was very clear to me that I would not meet my finish time goal of 4:30. From mile 23 to the finish not only was I fighting fatigue but also wasting time having to run around people who were walking 5 abreast and blocking the route for the people who were still running. When I finally ran under the Brandenburg Gate and crossed the finish line my finish time was 4:38 [* 38^th out of 107 in age group] 8 minutes over my goal of 4:30.

After I finished the marathon and received my medal I went in the wrong direction and ended up outside the finish area and was not able to get back in to get some food. I spent the next 45 minutes getting my clothes that I left and changing to walk back to my hotel. While walking back to my hotel I finally found the finishers food area and was able to get a couple of bananas, health bars, etc. I tried to get a Taxi but they were all filled up with runners so I started walking back. I was very sore after the race so it took me about an hour and a half to finally get back to the hotel, showered and went down to the lobby to meet up with some of the runners to go out and celebrate. We had a great time telling our individual stories about the Berlin marathon – left for the hotel around midnight and had a great night’s sleep.

Filed Under: Europe, Marathons Tagged With: berlin marathon, european marathons, marathon guide

#6 – 2004 Lausanne Marathon

December 17, 2010 By Bob 1 Comment

Marathon Guide

Marathon Date: 10/24/04

Continent: Europe

Country: Switzerland

My Age: 68

My Finish Time: 5:03

My Marathon Rating: Worst start of race – I tripped at the start

Memorable Moment: Trip to Gstaad

Lessons Learned:

Show respect for other runners in the race. Do not drop clothing or other articles along the race route where people are running. Drop the articles on the side of the route away from the runners so that the they do not trip on them and get hurt.

Marathon selection and registration:

I selected the Lausanne, Switzerland marathon as my 6^th worldwide marathon after receiving a recommendation to run the marathon from runners that I met at the Budapest, Hungary marathon. I had traveled to Zurich Switzerland a number of years ago and was very impressed with the people and the country so it was very easy for me to select Lausanne as my next marathon. I registered on-line for the marathon on 04/17/04 and received my race number [#1498] along with a brochure with all of the marathon information 2 weeks after I registered.

Marathon Training Program:

My Lausanne marathon-training program consisted of an 18-week 750 mile training program as well as participating in 3 races for my charity. I ran a ½ marathon in January and the Boston marathon in April 6 months before the Lausanne marathon. I qualified for the 2004 Boston marathon in 2003 when I finished the NAPA Marathon in a time of 4:09 – I beat my required Boston qualify time of 4:35 by 30 minutes. With The results of the ½ and marathons that I finished I felt very confident of finishing the Lausanne marathon in a very good time for my age group. I considered myself very fortunate not to injure myself during the aggressive 18-week training program and the 3 races that I completed.

12/30/03 5k race – finish time = 24:15 * 1st in age group

01/18/04 Carlsbad, CA ½ marathon – finish time = 1:49 *2^nd in age group

04/19/04 Boston, MA marathon – finish time = 4:41

Marathon Travel:

I flew out of San Diego on 10/19/04 for Newark, New Jersey and then on to Geneva, Switzerland – my flight to Geneva was late because we had to wait for the pilot who was stuck in a traffic jam on the way to the airport. The 7-hour flight to Geneva was a smooth flight with little or no turbulence. After passing through customs I bought a train ticket to Lausanne at the train station, which was close to the airport. The train ride only lasted for an hour and it was a very smooth and comfortable ride and then a 15-minute taxi ride to my hotel. I checked into the Hotel De La Paix at 12:00pm. The hotel was centrally located and was only about 15 minutes from the start of the Marathon. After I unpacked I went out for a walk and while walking I met a woman who was originally from New York and was now living in Lausanne. She told me that her 2 sons were visiting her from La Jolla, California and they lived just up the street from my apartment in La Jolla – it really is a small world. Prior to, and after the marathon, I took the train and visited the cities of Geneva, Bern, Gstaad, and Ouchy. I also spent time walking around the city of Lausanne and the waterfront as well as visiting the Olympic Museum.

Marathon Highlights:

On 10/24/04 I took the Tram to Montrond and walked to Place de Milan, a very nice park, where the start of the marathon will take place. I arrived 45 minutes before the start of the marathon and already there were many runners waiting for the start of the race. I met a number of runners from the US while waiting for the start of the race.

The weather was perfect for the marathon cool with a slight mist of rain. The race route would go out for 13 miles and return along the same rout although the route back would be a challenge as we would be going along a road with many hills. The route would be very scenic as we would go through small towns with cobble stone streets – the route took us along Lake Geneva with the French Alps in the background.

My “worst nightmare” for my worldwide marathons for kidney cancer research is that I get hurt during the race and would not be able to finish the race. My “worst nightmare” almost came true when the gun went off for the start of the race, and as I was setting my watch while on my way over to the start line, a runner in front of me threw a plastic bag (that he was wearing to keep warm) in the air, and when it came down it somehow got wrapped around both of my feet. At the time that this happened, I was moving pretty fast to keep up with the group in front of me I went flying in the air and did not have time to break my fall with my hands. I landed very painfully on my left shoulder, hip, elbow and knee and I had to lie there as all of the runners either jumped over me or ran around me.

It felt like I was lying there for about 10 minutes before most of the runners had passed me. I felt like the woman in the commercial – “I’ve fallen down and I can’t get up”. When I finally had a chance to get up my left shoulder, elbow and knee were very sore and scraped. I went to the side of the road to get out of the way of the remaining runners who were just going over the start line. My shoulder, hip, elbow and knee were pretty scraped up but were okay but my left hip was the most serious and painful of my injuries. As I do not have the option to drop out of any of my worldwide marathons I moved onto the race route at a slow pace to finish the race. I figured I had lost between 10 to 15 minutes due to my tripping at the start and felt with the injuries, especially the hip, that I would not come close to my finish time goal of 4:10. I started running again but at a much slower pace than my planned marathon pace of 9:45 min/mile for the next 3 miles.

At mile 4 I was now running at my marathon pace goal and everything seemed to be okay – hurt a lot but not bad enough for me to stop running. At miles 5 to 10 I picked up my pace to around a 9:30/mile pace trying to make up the lost time I lost at the start of the race. Miles 11 to 13 I again increased my pace and when I reached the halfway point [mile 13] my half marathon time was 2:20, which at that pace would give me a 4:40 marathon. At mile 20 my hopes for a decent finish time were over as my injured left hip locked up and it was very painful for me to lift and move my left leg. Mile 21 found me doing a very slow jog to ensure that I would meet my commitment to my donors that I would finish the marathon.

I finally crossed the finish line in a time of 5:03 – I was not a very happy “Camper” when I finished the race. Because of an inconsiderate runner who would not take a few seconds to go to the side of the road to drop his plastic bag I got injured and was not able to meet my marathon goal which I had trained so hard for 18 weeks. After getting my medal and getting something to eat I took the Tram back to my hotel and got some ice and iced down all of my injuries – stayed in that night and kept icing my left hip – painful sleeping. The next morning I took the train to Gstaad [famous ski resort for the rich and famous]. The train that I took was a small train and the ride was fantastic – the route wound up through the mountains with beautiful and scenic views all the way to Gstaad. When I arrived at Gstaad I walked [actually limped] around the small town of Gstaad. I returned to my hotel on the last train out of Gstaad – it was a great day after a miserable marathon day. That night I packed for my return back to San Diego.

Filed Under: Europe, Marathons Tagged With: european marathons, lausanne marathon, marathon guide

#5 – 2003 Budapest Marathon

December 17, 2010 By Bob 1 Comment

Marathon Guide

Marathon Date: 9/28/03

Continent: Europe

Country: Hungary

My Age: 67

My Finish Time: 4:33 * 2^nd in age group

My Marathon Rating: Most Bridges

Memorable Moment: Relaxing in Szchenyi baths after race

Budapest Marathon Selection and Registration:

After reviewing the marathons available in Europe for 2003, I decided on running the Budapest, Hungary International marathon for my 5^th worldwide marathon. I selected the Budapest marathon because it will be celebrating its 18^th successful year and is well known throughout Europe with runners from over 40 foreign countries that run in the marathon each year. Another reason that I selected the Budapest marathon was because it was recommended to me by one of my San Diego running group friends, Gregg White, who ran the marathon in 2002. I registered for the marathon on-line on January 10, 2003, the cost to register for the marathon was $55.52. After registering on-line it only took 10 days for me to receive my race package in the mail. I received my Budapest race package on January 20^th, and the package included, information about the marathon [race route, start time, etc] along with my race number #4105.

Budapest Marathon Training Program:

To prepare for the Budapest marathon I added 3 more long runs of 18, 20, and 22 miles to the marathon-training program that I have used for the USMC, Dublin, Medoc, and Monaco marathons. I also finished a number of races as part of my training program – the races and my results are as follows:

1/19/03 Carlsbad, CA ½ marathon finish time = 1:50 * 4^th in age group

3/23/03 Napa, CA marathon finish time = 4:02 * 4^th in age group

5/10/03 5k race finish time = 23:46 * 3^rd in age group

7/04/03 10k race finish time = 51:19 * 8:17 pace

Budapest Travel and Sightseeing Highlights:

I flew out of San Diego on September 23^rd at 8:00 am for my 14-hour flight to Budapest, Hungary. I arrived in Budapest at the Ferihegy airport on the 24^th after making stops in Washington and Frankfurt, Germany. The weather when I arrived was raining and in the 50’s, and the taxi ride from the airport to my hotel was hectic and slow as there was a lot of construction going on. While in Budapest for 10 days I stayed in the Marriott hotel, which is located on the Pest side of Budapest, where all of the rooms overlooked both the Danube River and the Buda skyline. I arrived at the hotel at 12:00pm, checked in, unpacked and immediately fell asleep – woke up at 5:30pm, cleaned up and went out to get something to eat. On one side of my hotel was the Danube and all along the river there were numerous outdoor restaurants and on the other side of the hotel was the famous Vaci Street, which is a pedestrianized street banking center as well as a shopping venue with souvenir shops, cafes and pubs. Budapest is the capital of the Republic of Hungary and 1/3 of the city is taken up by hilly Buda and Obeda, on the western bank of the Danube, and the remaining 2/3 by flat Pest on the eastern bank.

Prior to and after the marathon I spent time sightseeing and taking pictures of the many unique sites throughout Budapest. Some of the most memorable sites that I visited on the Pest side of Budapest were: The famous Vigado concert hall where I attended a concert, Heroe’s Square where the race started, the zoo, the famous pedestrianized Vaci street, St.Stephen’s Basilica and climbed the 370 stairs to the top where there was a great panoramic view of Budapest, Anderson street with all it’s beautiful old buildings, the beautiful National Museum, the National Gallery, the Szchenyi baths which I used after finishing the marathon, and the Parliament building. Some of the most memorable sites that I visited on the Pest side of Budapest were: The Gellert Monument and Gellert baths, the Royal Castle where I witnessed the changing of the guard. I also walked around Margaret Island on the sponge path that circled the island; the island is Budapest’s most beautiful park and is located in the middle of the Danube River.

Budapest Marathon Highlights:

The day before the marathon I took the Metro, which was only a 10 minute walk from my hotel, and went to the Expo to pick up my race number, chip, and to go over the race route. While at the Expo, which only had about 10 booths, I met a number of runners from all over Europe as well as a runner from Chicago. I spent most of the morning at the Expo meeting runners and trading stories about the marathons we had run over the years. I left the Expo about 2pm to go back to my hotel for an easy 5-mile run along the Danube before I went out for my pre-race Pasta dinner. After dinner I went back to the hotel to prepare my gear for the marathon I was in bed and asleep by 10pm.

Woke up at 6:00am on race day after a very good nights sleep got dressed for the marathon, had a light breakfast and I was on the Metro at 6:45 for the 15 minute ride to the start of the race at Heroe’s Square in City Park. When I got there the start area was already crowded with runners it took me about 10 minutes to find my time slot which was already crowded with runners. While I was waiting for the start of the race I was startled, along with all of the other runners, to hear a very loud beating of many different types of drums. The beat and loudness of the drums had all of the runners yelling in time with the beat of the drums – what a great way to start the race. The weather at the start of the race was cool but the weather report said that it would get very hot while we were running the marathon.

The race started at exactly 7:30am and I was on my way to meet the challenge of finishing the Budapest marathon, my 5^th worldwide marathon. The first 5 miles we ran down Andrassy Street passed the Opera House, St Stephens Basilica and over the famous Chain Bridge, with 2 large Lions guarding the Bridge, to the Buda side of the Danube. While crossing the bridge we had a beautiful view of the Royal Castle of Buda. Once on the Buda side we ran southward along the Danube until we reached our second bridge, Petofi bridge, [mile 6] which we crossed to get to the Pest side. We ran north along the Danube until we reached mile 10 where we got onto Margaret Bridge, our 3^rd bridge, halfway over the Bridge we went down some steps to get to Margaret Island. We ran the length of Margaret Island and again ran up some steps to get to Arpad Bridge, our 4^th bridge, to the Buda side.

At this point of the race we had reached mile 13, the halfway point of the race and my time at the ½ waypoint was 2:01. The weather had changed and it was getting very hot and some of the runners were already walking due to the high temperatures. The route took us along the Buda side for the next 3 miles where we crossed the Petofi Bridge to get the Pest side. At this point in the race I was really feeling the heat as there was no shade along the Danube – my pace started to slow down and it was clear to me that my goal to break 4 hours would not happen. We ran north along the Pest side for the next 5 miles, passing the Hungarian Parliament building, until we started heading back through the city for the last 2 miles of the marathon, which ended very close to the start of the race. Before we reached the finish line we had to run up a challenging hill when I reached the crest of the hill it was great to finally see the finish line. I had a very slow second half of the marathon – losing 32 minutes from my ½ marathon time of 2 minutes. I crossed the finish in a time of 4:33:40 and actually came in second in my age group. There were around 2,000 male runners that finished the marathon and only 9 runners from the U.S. that finished the race.

After taking in some food and water I spent time stretching out all of my aches and pains and walked over to the Szchenyi baths to relax and heal some of my aches and pains. The Baths were just what the doctor ordered, and when I finally left the Baths I did not feel any of the aches and pains that I felt immediately after finishing the marathon.

Filed Under: Europe, Marathons Tagged With: budapest marathon, european marathons, marathon guide

#4 – 2002 Monaco Marathon

December 17, 2010 By Bob 2 Comments

Marathon Guide

Marathon Date: 11/17/02

Continent: Europe

Country: Monaco

My Age: 66

My Finish Time: 4:36

My Marathon Rating: Most unique

Memorable Moment: Finish in Monaco Stadium

Monaco Marathon selection and registration:

As soon as I returned from the Medoc marathon, I started the process of selecting where I would run my 4^th worldwide marathon. I spent a lot of time online looking for my next marathon challenge in Europe and came across a very unique marathon in Monaco – a country of only 1.9 square kilometers in size. The uniqueness of the marathon is that it goes through the borders of 3 countries – Monaco, France, and Italy. The marathon has been held for the last 8 years – the average number of marathon runners each year is between 800 to 1800. I registered on-line [6/4/02] with Activeeurope.com – the cost was 37.75 Euros. I received my Monaco marathon package 14 days later that had my race # [1236] and an elevation map of the marathon race route as well as the events that will take place before and after the marathon. Prior to leaving for Monaco I had to get a letter from my doctor, which stated that I was medically fit to run the Monaco marathon without the letter they would not let me run the marathon.

Monaco Marathon Training Program:

To prepare for the Medoc marathon I used the same 18-week 750-mile training program that I used for the USMC, Dublin, and Medoc marathons. As the Monaco marathon was going to have 2 very steep hills along the marathon route at mile 3 [275 feet] and mile 20 [275 feet] I added weekly long runs that simulated the Monaco marathon route. It was a very difficult training schedule but I felt that if I did not train my body to be able to withstand the steep hills of the Monaco marathon that I might not be able to finish the marathon. Fortunately, I did not injure myself during the 18-week training program and was able to meet the majority of my running time goals. Prior to the start of my official Monaco marathon training program [I really train year round] I ran a number of races to get me ready for my Monaco marathon challenge. The races and results were:

4/06/02 20k race – finish time = 1:49 *1^st in age group

4/28/02 Carlsbad, CA ½ marathon – finish time = 1:53 * 5^th in age group

6/02/02 San Diego, CA Marathon [Rock n Roll] – finish time = 4:20 * 5^th in age group

Monaco Marathon Travel:

I flew to Monaco on DELTA airlines [17 hour flight] departing from San Diego, stopping in NY, and then on to Nice, France. I stayed in the Le Meridien Hotel in Nice, France, which was right on the world famous French Riviera and also next to the beautiful Promenade des Anglais within walking distance to the train station as well as some very famous restaurants. I spent Thanksgiving in Nice but could not find a restaurant that served a traditional thanksgiving dinner, Turkey/etc; so I had a nice steak instead. There was an airline pilot’s strike and I had to stay in Nice an extra 2 days before I was able to fly back to the US. On my way back to San Diego I stopped in Boston, Massachusetts [11/28/02] to see my daughter Lisa. While in Boston I stayed in the Colonnade Boston Hotel until I left for San Diego on 12/02/02.

Monaco Marathon Highlights:

I arrived in Nice, France 3 days before the marathon – after I unpacked I put my running gear on and ran along the Promenade des Anglais for about 5 miles – running along the ocean reminded me of California. The second day, two days before the marathon, I woke early and ran along the Promenade des Anglais for 6 miles – returned had Breakfast in the Hotel and then spent the rest of the day walking around Nice and taking in the sites. On the third day I woke early and took the train to Monaco [about 20 minutes ride] and finally found my way to the Monaco Expo to pick up my number and race chip. I was really surprised to see that it wasn’t much of an Expo with only about 10 booths. After getting my number I did some sightseeing in Monaco and went into the Monte Carlo Casino to take a look around – didn’t try my hand at any of the games.

After seeing most of Monaco I got back on the train to go back to Nice and get in an easy run before I go out for my pre-race Past dinner. I ate my Pasta dinner at a restaurant that was recommended to me by some runners that I met while in Monaco. I ended up eating with them and although they were all from France, they spoke very good English. Got back to my hotel around 10:00pm – watched a little TV and prepared my gear for tomorrows marathon.

I got a very good nights sleep – woke up at 5:30am got dressed and went to get a light breakfast in the hotel before the marathon. After breakfast I walked up to the train station for the ride to Monaco and when I got there I found at least 100 runners standing around waiting for the train. I asked one of the runners waiting for the train when it would arrive he told me that it had broken down and no one knew when it would arrive. It was very apparent to me and the other runners that if the train did not show up in the next 30 minutes we would miss the start of the race. A number of the runners were trying to figure a way to get to Monaco by other means – some of the runners were talking about hiring a Taxi or renting a car and driving to the race. After some very anxious minutes the train finally pulled into the station to a very loud cheer from the assembled Monaco marathon runners. While on the train to Monaco I sat next to a man from Northern California who has run over 100 marathons. When we arrived at the Monaco train station we only had about 20 minutes to get to the start of the race, which was in front of the Monte Carlo Casino. I arrived at the start of the race with little time to spare – after finding my corral it was only about 5 minutes before the Monaco National Anthem was played and the countdown to the start of the race ended when the Prince of Monaco fired the starting gun.

The road at the start of the race was not very wide and runners were pushing and shoving to get out of the pack of runners. It took me about 10 minutes to cross the start line and I was finally on my way for the challenge of finishing my 4^th worldwide marathon. The weather was cool for the start of the race but would get very hot by the end of the race – the toughest part of the race. A number of runners were carrying water bottles due to the fact that the water stations were every 3 miles. The route took us along the beautiful coast with the Mediterranean on one side and beautiful homes built into the cliffs and hillsides on the other side.

The first 3 miles of the race were mostly downhill and went along Monaco’s beautiful coastline where there very few people lined up to cheer us on. Once I passed the 3-mile marker I encountered my first 275-foot steep hill. It took me 3 miles of running up the steep hill before I reached the top of the hill – I was very glad that I did the extra hill training. The decent from the top of the hill took about 2.5 miles and when I reached the bottom my quads were very sore. The route was relatively flat for the next 15 miles tracing the Mediterranean coast, running through the Italian town of Menton, and eventually passing through a very long tunnel on our way to the turn around in Ventimiglia, Italy.

At mile 18 I faced the next 275-foot hill challenge – it took close to 3 miles to reach the top of the hill – along the way I passed quite a few runners who were walking up the hill. The descent to the bottom of the hill was much steeper than the first hill that I faced and when I reached the bottom of the hill I found quite a few runners stretching their quads due to the fact that they came down the steep hill too fast. Even though I did not push it coming down the hill my quads were very sore and I had to stop to stretch them out.

The last 2.5 miles to the Monaco stadium finish line were very flat but to get to the finish line you had to run up a steep ramp to get into the stadium. Once inside the stadium I took one lap around the track to finally reach the finish line. While I was running the final lap you could look up and see yourself on a very large screen crossing the finish line. After receiving my finisher’s medal I went to get some food, shower and head back to my Hotel. It was a very rewarding finish as it was one of the toughest marathons I had run up to that point. After the marathon I had trouble walking because my quads were really hurting me. It took me quite a while to get to the train station for the ride back to Nice. When I got back to Nice I tried getting a taxi back to the hotel but after waiting 1 ½ hour for taxi I decided to walk back to the hotel. The walk from the train station to my hotel normally takes me about 20 minutes – it took me an hour’s walk to get back to the hotel due to my aching quads. During my stay in Nice I had the opportunity to meet runners from France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Holland, Denmark, and Sweden. There were 1,750 finishers in the Monaco marathon.

Filed Under: Europe, Marathons Tagged With: european marathons, marathon guide, monaco marathon

#3 – 2001 Medoc Marathon

December 17, 2010 By Bob 1 Comment

Marathon Guide

Marathon Date: September 08, 2001

Continent: Europe

Country: France

My Age: 65

My Finish Time: 4:38

My Marathon Rating: Most Fun

Memorable Moment: The many colorful costumes

Medoc Marathon selection and registration:

After the rain, wind, and cold of the Dublin marathon in 2000, I started looking for a marathon in a country where the weather would be less of a challenge than Dublin’s weather was. While scouring the Internet for my next marathon challenge I came across a very interesting marathon in France called the “Marathon des Chateaux du Medoc”. The name that it goes by in most of the Literature is its nickname – The Medoc Marathon.

The race is the world’s longest marathon at 26 miles and 385 yards – Runners World ranked it second best marathon after the New York marathon. The marathon is not about the speed at which you run, it’s about fun, food, festivities, and most importantly – the Medoc wine. The race is so popular throughout the world that they have had to limit the number of runners to 8,000.

The marathon is built around the following 4 fundamental pillars: Health – Sport – Conviviality – Fun. The main goal of the Medoc marathon is to attract runners of all types and have them discover the benefits and pleasures of long distance running. The registration form explicitly discourages entries from individuals obsessed with speed records or from anyone who is sad, unfriendly or stressed out. Unlike other marathons, which typically reward the fastest finishers with money and a trophy, this one presents the winner with their body weight in Medoc wine and gives everyone else a colorful medal if you cross the finish line within six and a half hours.

After reading all of the information about the marathon and contacting some runners who had run the marathon I quickly decided that the Medoc marathon would be my 3^rd worldwide marathon. I started my Medoc registration process on January 5, 2001 and it took me 5 months before I received my acceptance slip and Bib#. The main reason that it took so long – other than it’s worldwide popularity – was that in 2001 they did not have on-line registration so you had to FAX the marathon for an application form – it took me about 3 weeks to receive my form. I also found out that only 20% of race places were reserved for foreign runners. After I received the form I found out that I needed a letter signed by my doctor stating that I was physically fit to run the marathon. After I had obtained all of the required information I then mailed the application, my entry fee, and the approval letter from my doctor. It took about 40 days before I finally received my Bib# [2700]. Despite everything that I went through it was well worth the time, aggravation, and waiting to run this marathon – I finished the marathon and also had a fabulous time before, during, and after the race.

Medoc Marathon Training Program:

To prepare for the Medoc marathon I used the same 18-week 750-mile training program that I used for the 1999 USMC marathon and the 2000 Dublin marathon. Even though my Medoc training program was the same as my USMC and Dublin marathons it was much more difficult to complete. The reason that made it so difficult is that I moved from Lexington, Massachusetts to La Jolla, California in the middle of my marathon training. It took me about 3 weeks to get everything packed for the move, take care of all of the change of address issues, and to somehow get rid of the extra furniture, clothing, books, etc. When I finally arrived in LaJolla on May 15^th it took me another 3 to 4 weeks to get settled in my new apartment. Once I got settled I joined a running group in the San Diego area that would meet every Saturday morning and run in different areas around San Diego.

After completing my 750-mile training program without any serious injuries I relaxed and tapered for my last week of training. When I started my Medoc training in Lexington I was running in the rain, snow, and cold of New England and when I finished the training I was running in the sunny skies of La Jolla along the ocean – quite a difference in weather conditions. Due to my move from Lexington, Massachusetts to La Jolla, I only ran one race to prepare for my Medoc marathon. The race and the result was:

04/28/02 Carlsbad, CA ½ marathon – finish time = 1:53 *5^th in my age group

Medoc Marathon Travel:

My daughter Lisa came with me so I decided to spend 3 days in Paris before traveling to Bordeaux. We arrived in Paris on Sunday September 3^rd for a three-day stay before traveling to Bordeaux. While in Paris we stayed at the Millennium Opera Hotel, which was walking distance to the Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, and the Louvre Museum. One of the highlights of the stay in Paris was going to the “Bar Hemingway” – named after Ernest Hemingway- located in the Ritz Hotel.

On Wednesday the 5^th we left Paris and took the Bullet train to Bordeaux – it was a fast and very scenic train ride from Paris to Bordeaux. While in Bordeaux we stayed in the Sofitel Aquinta hotel – which was walking distance to the center of Bordeaux and about 30 minutes to the train station that would take me to the start of the Medoc marathon in Pauillac. We took in some sightseeing in Bordeaux and visited some of the Medoc wineries. We flew to Barcelona, Spain on September 10^th and settled in our hotel – the Utell International Hotel that was walking distance to many of the great restaurants, famous sights, as well as walking distance to the waterfront. We spent the rest of the day getting accustomed to our location and taking in some of the sights as well as eating some of the great food. We were in Barcelona on September 11^th when we received the terrible news about the planes crashing into the Trade Center buildings in New York City. When we returned to our hotel we received a note from the hotel manage “ Please if you need something let us know as soon as possible.”

We were very fortunate that our flights back to the US were on schedule and we left Barcelona as planned and we flew to London where I caught my flight back to San Diego. Lisa missed her flight and had to wait for another flight before returning to Boston. It was a very sad ending to my Medoc marathon.

Medoc Marathon Highlights:

On Friday I took the train to Paulliac and went to the Expo to get my race number – they could not find my information and after an hour of looking they finally found it. The evening before the marathon we went out to get my Pasta and met a group of people from Texas who were also running the Medoc marathon. We went back to the hotel and I was in bed by 10:00 pm. I did not get a good night sleep – had an upset stomach from the Pasta I had the night before. I woke up at around 5:30 am and decided to take the early 6:30am train to Paulliac instead of the 7:30am train that I planned on taking. Took a cab to the train station and found out that the 7:30 train would not be running and the next train after the 6:30 am would not go out until 10:30 – if I did not get up early to take the early train I would have missed the start of the marathon. The train ride to the race start was very interesting as the train was crowded with runners from around the world in their unique race costumes. I arrived at the Paulliac train station around 7:15 and walked to the start of the race – it was already crowded with most of the 8,000 expected runners.

Everywhere you looked there were runners dressed in colorful costumes awaiting the start of the race. While standing in the group of runners I met a number of women who were dressed up as Pigs – including the ears, nose and pink costumes. I found out that they were from Cincinnati – their photo was on the marathon results book that we received after we got home. Some of the more unique costumes were: six runners who carried a casket with someone laying in the casket, a woman dressed as Scarlett O’Hara, a man dressed in a French Foreign Legion uniform, 4 Santa Clauses, 3 men dressed as witches, a clown, 2 Donald Ducks, and a man dressed as a Matador with the red cape.

The presentation of the costumes started at 7:30 am – this is where the runners vote on the best costume – the presentation lasted until 9:15 am. The entertainment started at 9:15 and ended at 9:25 when the wheelchair race started – I have always admired the wheelchair participants. Prior to the start of the race I decided not to drink any wine along the race route because I had set a finish time goal that I wanted to make, and stopping to drink the wine would definitely increase my finish time. The gun for the race start went off at exactly 9:30 am – I was back in the pack and it took about 15 minutes to cross the start line – which is also the finish line. The loop racecourse was surprisingly hilly with many gravel tracks along the way, it starts and finishes in the Center of Paulliac and goes along the storied villages of the Medoc wine region, around village roads, through Chateaux courtyards and rows of ripening grapes. Wine was served at 21 wine-tasting stands throughout the race route and there were also 18 food stands along the route that served - Oysters, steak, cheese, oranges, bananas, prunes, meat, etc. There were 25 musical groups from string quartet to Reggae along the route along with thousands of cheering villagers encouraging the runners. With most of the runners wearing colorful costumes it was more like Halloween than a marathon.

At mile 1, we passed Chateau Grand-Puy-Ducasse which was the races first wine stop, there were so many people lined up to taste the first wine of the marathon that it was time consuming and difficult to get around them to continue my run. As I got more into the race I found that the race route had a lot more hills than was told to me and that some of the paths through the vineyards were not very wide which made it difficult to run. All along the route there were bands playing and tables covered with all kinds of great food. The crowds, numbering around 70,000, were cheering “Allez! Allez! as the runners in their many colorful costumes sprinted, jogged, walked, and in some cases staggered their way through the picturesque vineyards to the finish line. At the ½ waypoint of the marathon a very loud band was playing and there was a very enthusiastic crowd cheering us on – many runners stopped to “high five” the fans. Children would run out to greet you and run alongside of you for a little way.

When I reached mile 18 I was running along a dirt path through the vineyards when I saw a runner on his knees and he looked like he was in pain. I slowed down and yelled out to him to see if he was okay but got no answer as I got closer to him I asked him if he needed any help again – no answer. Finally I stopped near him and was going to help him up when he turned his head toward me holding a glass of wine – it was very clear to me that he had way too much wine. After the encounter I moved on shaking my head – I turned around to see if he had gotten up but when I looked back it appeared that he was lying down to take a nap.

When I reached mile 21 I started to slow down as my Quads were starting to really hurt which made me slow down my pace. A runner next to me saw that I was hurting and he did his best to encourage me not to give up and to continue to the finish line. I continued to run but it was clear to me that I would not meet my finish time goal. After a very long and painful 2 miles I reached mile 23 where there was a very long table setup with literally thousands of Oysters and many bottles of white wine. I still do not understand how after running 23 miles in the heat and dirt of the vineyards a runner can stop to have Oysters and white wine – but from the number of runners waiting in line for a chance to savor some Oysters, there were quite a few of them. After another long and slow mile of pain I reached mile 24 where there was grilled beef on the menu – I did not stop to sample any of the beef for fear that if I stopped running I would never finish the marathon.

When I reached mile 25 I knew that I would meet one of my goals, which was to run the entire 26.385-mile of the Medoc marathon. As I approached the finish line I tried very hard to finish strong – my mind was willing but my body said “not to-day”. There was a long red carpet at the finish line so everyone that finished the race did it in style. After I crossed the finish line I was given a very nice Back Pack with the Medoc marathon logo on it [I still have the Back Pack]. I waited in line with other finishers to have a woman wash the dirt from our faces that we collected while running through the vineyards. After that if you wanted you could get a free massage or if you had an injury, blister, etc there were medical people available to treat you. The only part of my body that really ached were my Quads so I took a lot of time stretching and drinking as much water as possible. Once I was able to walk without pain I walked over to a huge tent where there was all of the areas red and white wines, beer, cheese, meat, fruit, and even ice cream – and a number of different bands playing. I definitely had some of the great wines of the area and ate until I could not eat any more food. It was a very happy and loud scene as the runners were sharing their Medoc marathon stories. After about 2 hours of food and wine Lisa and I headed for the train station and our trip back to Bordeaux.

Filed Under: Europe, Marathons Tagged With: european marathons, marathon guide, medoc marathon

#2 – 2000 Dublin Marathon

December 17, 2010 By Bob 2 Comments

Marathon Guide

Marathon Date: October 30, 2000

Continent: Europe

Country: Ireland

My Age: 64

My Finish Time: 4:09

My Marathon Rating: Worst weather

Memorable Moment: Walking Pneumonia

Lessons Learned:

1. Ensure you have rain gear to run in if you are running a marathon in a rainy climate.

Dublin Marathon selection and registration: I decided to run my 2^nd worldwide marathon, and 2^nd continent, for kidney cancer research in Europe but before I selected the country I needed to renew my passport, which took about 2 months until I received my new passport. After checking out the many European marathons that would be held in the September to November time-frame, I selected the Dublin, Ireland marathon that would be held on October 30, 2000. The reasons that I selected the Dublin marathon was because it had been running for about 21 years, it was well managed, and there would be a large number of US runners entered in the marathon – and what better country to celebrate the start of the new millennium than Ireland. I registered for the marathon in March of 2000, 7 months before the marathon, by mailing in my check for the $50.00 registration fee. About a month later I received my registration confirmation and my Bib #489.

Dublin Marathon Training Program: All of my Dublin marathon training was done while I was living in Lexington, Massachusetts. During 2000 I ran a number of races to give me a sense of my readiness for the marathon and to estimate my marathon pace. The races and results were:

04/30/00 — 10k race – finish time = 52:17

05/13/00 — Queche, VT ½ marathon – finish time = 1:50 *4^th in age group

To prepare for the Dublin marathon I used the same 18-week 750-mile training program that I used for the 1999 USMC marathon. I ran into a medical problem in the 4^th week of my Dublin training, when I had my yearly physical examination, my doctor found a slight spike on my EKG and would not let me continue my training until I had passed a stress test. The test results were okay and I was back training again in a week’s time. I went through the rest of my training schedule without any injuries and met all of my training goals. My only concern was that my weight when I left for Dublin was 164 pounds – 9 pounds over my Dublin marathon goal of 155 pounds.

Dublin Marathon Travel:

After receiving my marathon registration confirmation and my Bib# I made my hotel and air reservations. My daughter Lisa would be traveling with me for the marathon and we would be spending 5 days in Dublin [10/27-10/31] and 3 days in London [11/01-11/04] after the marathon. We flew Aer Lingus from Logan airport on October 26^th at 7:30pm – it was a good flight and I met a number of people on board who would be running the Dublin marathon. We arrived at our hotel around 11:00 am on Friday the 27^th. After settling in our rooms we went out to do some sightseeing and get something to eat.

While in Dublin we stayed at an excellent hotel, the Shelbourne Dublin, a national treasure built in 1824. A luxury 5 star hotel in Dublin City Center overlooking St. Stephen’s Green, Europe’s grandest garden square. It is close to Dublin’s cultural and historic buildings. Near majestic St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Trinity College, and the shops on Grafton Street. The hotel was only about 15 to 20 minutes walk to the marathon start line.

After the marathon, we flew from Dublin to London on 11/01 to spend 3 days sightseeing prior to returning to Boston on 11/05. During the taxi drive from the airport to our hotel I really felt sick and had aches and pains everywhere – didn’t know what was ailing me – took some Advil – didn’t help. While in London we stayed at the Royal Lancaster hotel and did some sightseeing, took in a musical – my daughter Lisa did some shopping at Harrod’s.

The day we were to leave for home from London I became really sick and couldn’t wait to get home. The flight home was the worst flight I had ever taken, I had a constant headache, every bone in my body was aching, and I had trouble eating any sold foods. When I finally got back to Lexington [11/05] I went to see my doctor, he took a chest X-ray and found that I had Pneumonia [left side] and gave me an antibiotic. He told me that I could not exercise for 2 weeks and I had to cancel a trip that I was going to take to San Diego. Fortunately after taking the antibiotics, and resting, I was okay and could resume my training for my next worldwide marathon in 2001. . On my first week back from the marathon I was pleasantly surprised to find out that a reporter for the Lexington minuteman newspaper had heard about worldwide marathons for kidney cancer research and wanted to interview me. The worldwide marathon story was featured in the newspapers 11/30/08 edition.

Dublin Marathon Highlights:

The day we arrived in Dublin the weather was cloudy, cool with a light mist of rain and the marathon day weather forecast was for heavy rains, cold, and windy – “welcome to Dublin, Ireland”. We spent the rest of the day doing more sightseeing and shopping on Grafton Street – I was in bed by 10:00pm. The next morning I got up early and took a taxi to the marathon Expo and even though I was early there was a very large crowd of people waiting in line to get into the Expo. It took me another 2 hours of waiting in line to finally get my Bib# and chip – a very confusing Expo setup. That evening we went out for my pre-race Past dinner – had a great meal at a restaurant around the corner from the hotel – after walking around for a while we went back to the hotel – I was in bed by 10:00pm. I woke up at 6:00 am and got dressed in a heavy long sleeve jersey, gloves, and hat – after a light breakfast my daughter Lisa and I walked the 15 minutes to the start of the race.

Marathon day found the weather to be the worst weather in the 21 years that the Dublin marathon has been run. The weather forecast for the marathon was heavy rain, cold and 30 mph winds throughout the race. I arrived at Ormond Quay, the start of the marathon, about 45 minutes before the start of the race and found that most of the 9,000+ runners were already there for the start of the marathon.The street for the start of the race was not very wide which made it difficult to get into your designated projected race finish time position. The rain went from a light drizzle to a heavy and cold rain, which made for a very long wait for the start of the race.

Finally the race countdown began, accompanied by very loud cheering from the runners and the crowd, and then the 9,000+ runners started walking toward the start line when the start gun went off at 8:30am. It took me about 10 minutes to cross the start line but I was now on my way to running my 2^nd worldwide marathon for kidney cancer research. Miles 1 to 8 were quite flat with a few rolling hills along the route. The first mile took me almost 12 minutes to run because of the many runners and the streets were not very wide – there were a lot of people cheering you on even though the rain was pretty heavy.

Once I got to Dublin’s bustling O’Connell street I was able to increase my pace to 9:45/mile because the street was wider and it was not as crowded with runners. At Miles 2 and 3 we past Trinity College and the American Embassy, at mile 3 there was a water station where the runners were given 20 oz; plastic bottles of water. It was difficult opening the bottles and holding them as my hands were really cold and I had gloves on. From miles 4 to 8 I increased my pace to 9:40/mile as we ran past The Elm Park golf Course, around Dublin College, and over a bridge on the Dodder river. There were very few people along miles 3 to 8 because of the weather and at mile 8 I found myself starting to run against the steady and cold rain as well as some strong headwinds.

Miles 9 to 19 were flat with no rolling hills with hardly any people cheering you on as the weather went from bad to worse keeping everyone indoors. Between miles 10 and 11 we went past University College and St. Stephen’s Green. At mile 13, the ½ waypoint in the marathon, we crossed a bridge over the Grand Canal and went past Harold’s Cross. My overall time at the ½ waypoint in the marathon was 2:06[9:35 pace]-If I kept up my 9:35 pace I would finish the marathon in about 4:12. Miles 14 to 19 were very flat and the route took us South along a highway and past a number of parks and Kimmage Manor.

At mile 19 it stopped raining, and the sun came out, which gave me that extra “boost” to continue running at my 9:35 pace. I knew, at this point in the race, that I was going to finish the marathon by running all 26.2 miles and would break my USMC finish time of 4:39. Miles 20 to 23 is where the “dreaded wall” appears in a marathon but at this point in the race I felt very strong and I knew the “dreaded wall” would not get me in this marathon. The 3-mile route was flat and ran mostly along a highway where there were large crowds of people cheering the runners on. The sun was now shining, the wind decreased dramatically, and the weather was no longer a factor in the race. I stopped looking at my watch to check my pace and just focused on keeping a steady 9:30 pace throughout the rest of the race.

Miles 23 to 24 took us across a bridge on the river Liffey and then onto a highway heading to the finish line. From miles 25 to 26 the road started to narrow and the crowds were the largest I had seen throughout the race. The crowds kept urging us on and that we only had a short ways to go. The last ¼ mile took us to a point in the road where we had to navigate through the huge crowds to get to the finish line- this is where I saw my daughter Lisa cheering me on. It seemed like it took forever to cross the finish line and when I crossed the finish line and looked at my watch I was elated to see that I had finished in a time of 4:09 and I had beaten my USMC time by 30 minutes. When I crossed the finish line I was very surprised, and upset, to find out that they were not giving out medals to the people who finished the marathon.

After walking around and doing some stretching I looked around for some food that is normally given to the runners when they finish a marathon – I couldn’t believe it when I found out that all the runners were given only “tea and candy”! Fortunately I found my daughter Lisa in the crowd she had some food that she brought for me along with some dry clothes for me to change into. It was about 2pm when we started walking back to the hotel – my legs were really sore and I was starting to get a sore throat. It took about an hour to get back to the hotel because it was very painful walking after running the marathon in the rain, wind, and cold.

That evening we went out to eat and stopped by a couple of the many Pubs in the area, there were a lot of marathoners at the Pubs celebrating finishing the marathon under very difficult conditions. The day after the marathon I bought the local newspaper to read about the marathon and the paper called the 2000 Dublin marathon “The marathon of suffering” because of the weather. We spent our last day in Dublin taking in the sites and in the evening we went out to eat. I was starting to feel quite sick with a sore throat, high temperature, and many aches and pains. Little did I know that what was wrong with me was that I had Pneumonia.

Filed Under: Europe, Marathons Tagged With: dublin marathon, european marathons, marathon guide

2011 Antarctica Marathon Report – 7 Continents Finished!

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#8 – 2006 Bangkok Marathon

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2004 – Boston Marathon

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2003 – Napa Valley Marathon

#5 – 2003 Budapest Marathon

2002 – Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon, San Diego

#4 – 2002 Monaco Marathon

#3 – 2001 Medoc Marathon

#2 – 2000 Dublin Marathon

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