Seriously where the does the time go – I cannot believe that this time last week we had just landed in Prague. Honestly last Friday didn’t get off to the best start – we spent an hour talking-down a very tearful and stressed 11 year old before he would go into school – and then the fur baby chewed through the chord on my hairdryer. Technically she did me a favour because having invested in a new hairdryer I now know how old and ineffective my old hairdryer was but I am not telling her that!!
Finally we made it to the airport and bought all the food for the flight – I hate to be without food!!! Saturday was spent on a quick trip to the super well organized expo to collect our numbers and t-shirts, eating a lot and discussing what to wear for the race – the weather was quite a bit cooler than we had expected which gave us something to stress about!
I had a very clear idea of how I was going to run the race – I wanted to go out at a conservative pace that I knew I could stick with and keep to my nutrition plan. I was also very clear with myself that if my back started really hurting (not the “it aches everywhere” because I am running a marathon but an actual injury pain) then I would pull up. So after final kit discussions and breakfast it was time to drop our bags and get in our pens to start.
I have done a lot of reading and listening to audiobooks and podcasts over the last year – all aimed at upping my mental game when it comes to running – and it seems that some of that work is finally paying off. I spent a lot of the race talking to myself about how I may feel tired but that would be normal given the lack of training and checking in with how I was feeling. And I have to say that the whole race went brilliantly – there was no hitting the wall, no feeling like I couldn’t go on and more importantly no pain!
I stuck to my plan the entire time and whilst marathon number 7 was most definitely not my fastest marathon it ranks right up there in terms of enjoyment. So much went right and I am absolutely buzzing with the result – nothing better than turning onto the home straight with 500 metres to go and realising you have actually got this!
So here are my takeaways from a successful weekend:
I know you will have heard this a million times but your mind REALLY is your own worst enemy and it will most definitely give up before your body – it has taken me a long time to really get this
Don’t let your mind wander to the “dark place” – you know the place that says “I can’t do this and I need to stop” – it is a tough road back from there
Counting in kilometres weirdly made it feel like I was getting done faster – I mean you would think that having 20 miles would sound better than 30 kilometres right but weirdly not!
Nutrition, nutrition, nutrition – when you get it right, you get it right!! It is so easy to misjudge race nutrition or to think you will wait to take a gel because you are feeling good and then before you know it the wheels fall off. This time I stuck religiously to my plan – first gel an hour in and then a gel every half hour after that and it just worked – they didn’t hand out gels in Prague so I carried my own which was actually less stressful than being reliant on gel stations
I think flexible race plans are the new me – it really made the whole thing a lot less nerve-wracking knowing that I had a backup plan if things started to go wrong or not the way I had planned
You know they always say marathon courses are flat – they rarely are (in racing if the course is said to be undulating it will feel like you have climbed mountains by the end!) – Prague is an exception to prove the rule, it really is flat and a great course but the cobbles are brutal!! I am yet to live down the fact that I vetoed Copenhagen and Hamburg because of the cobbles!!
So all in all a really positive race weekend – and a huge confidence boost for Berlin later this year.
Last but most definitely not least huge shout out to my amazing running buddy who ran a blistering 4:07 in only her second marathon – that BQ is within touching distance!! So proud to be on this crazy running journey with you – may there be many more miles, crazy race weekends and memories made!!
Next stop NYC!
Much love xx