VCM 2013: 3:18:14

I ran my third marathon yesterday (14.4.2013) here in Vienna, Austria. I ended up making a new PR, despite some worries I had beforehand.

My training was largely limited this year because of travel (in Austria, Germany, Finland and Spain), and partially also because of a really nasty cold in February. I ended up making only six runs in January and two in February. Luckily, in March I was able to log ten runs, although none of them were much longer than 20km. The weather was also exceptionally cold in Vienna this winter (I remember reading from somewhere that this was the coldest winter in Vienna in 130 years).

The run itself went very smoothly until about 26km (the time for the first half marathon was 1:34:21). This was at about 11 o'clock. Then, the Sun started to show its power, and running became a struggle. Looking back at the readings from my GPS watch, the real problems started at 30km. At this point, I had to take a few extra walking steps after each refreshment point, which shows up clearly both in the pace and in the heart beat rate charts. Nevertheless, I managed to force myself to run until the end and finished the second half with 1:43:52. The official netto time for the full run was 3:18:14, which means I was able to shave away more than ten minutes from my previous race in Wachau.

Out of all marathon runners, I finished with rank 688 (104 in M-30 class). I was the fastest runner carrying the Universität Wien shirt. Out of the 68 Finnish marathon runners, I was the sixth fastest. Overall, I am very happy with the result.

Running at about 41 km (Photo credit: Stella)

My races so far

• 13.5.2006 — Helsinki City Run (half marathon): 1:29:16
• 19.8.2006 — Helsinki City Marathon: 3:24:48 (1/2 1:37:04)
• 15.9.2012 — Wachau Marathon: 3:28:27 (1/2 1:40:26)
• 14.4.2013 — Vienna City Marathon: 3:18:14 (1/2 1:34:21)