Poem

The Marathon

In February I saw a letter about a Marathon run
I thought: “That will challenging and fun”
The 42k race was only 4 weeks ahead
“That’s impossible to achieve” some people said

I started training with much effort and passion
My beard grew and I looked really out of fashion
It was four weeks with lots of running and hard work
Running with my beard and headband I must have looked like a dork

I got a lot of advice from my brother
My family had faith in me, even my mother
The time flew, and soon I was on my way
I travelled with plane so I would be ready for the big day

In Moshi, Tanzania, it was humid and hot
A German said: “Run in 3h30m you will not!”
Even though the run was extremely long
I wanted to prove him wrong

I got up 3 hours before the start
And I think that was pretty smart
I was rested and eager to do well
The start was fast I have to tell

Half way through the race I felt fine
But then, it felt like I stepped on a landmine
The hills approached fast
I was suddenly afraid to finish last

But I told myself I could do it
I had trained for this so I knew I was fit
The last 10k was downhill
The crowd made it a thrill

Into the stadium I finished strong
I did proved the German wrong
I was so out of breath
That I was close to my death

Got a medal and a bottle of water
Thank you I said to the pretty daughter
I am still tired after digging so deep
Don’t even dare to wake me up, I’m deep asleep

After the Kilimanjaro Marathon

The first thing I did after signing up for the marathon 4 weeks ago was to google “Marathon training 4 weeks” and looked for blogs about marathon training over a short period. I did find some, and saw I wasn’t the first one. I hope this blog can be to help for other future runners who wants to run a marathon or a long distance race.

So, it’s time to reflect on the training and running which I have been doing for the past 4 weeks. I decided to run my first ever marathon 30 days before the actual race. Now, after finishing above all expectations at a time 3 hours 8 minutes and 29 seconds, I know that you don’t need 6 months of training to complete a challenging race like a marathon. 

I’ve asked myself some questions:

How did I do it?
I committed to the training and always did my best. If I had decided to run 20km one day, I did so, unless I felt pain/a coming injury. Listening to my body was very important, and not to push too hard when my body wanted some rest. I also did mental training before the race, positive self-talk and visualise the 42 km, gaining my confidence. During my training I got a lot of advice from my brothers who’s done a lot of long distance running (never a marathon though).

Why did I do it?
I knew I would never challenge for the top 10, (which would give me prize money), so Africans here have asked me why I am doing the marathon, and I’ve answered: “because I wanted a challenge”. Running a marathon is getting popular and shows true grit. I have thought about doing a marathon for a long time, and when I read about Kilimanjaro Marathon it was perfect.

How did I feel before the marathon?
I felt ready, but at the same time nervous. The two days’ rest before the run was crucial and I prepared excellent. Having planned everything the two days in Moshi before the run was important for my performance. Even though I wanted to go for a run on Saturday I stayed at my hotel relaxing. At the starting line at 6:30 AM I was focused and mentally & physically very ready.

How did I feel afterwards?
After I crossed the finish line I felt tired, dead tired, but at the same time so happy and like I’d achieved something. I’d been training for this for 4 hard weeks, and the results were above all expectations. I thought it would fight hard to get under 3h 30min, but now I think that maybe if there wasn’t any hills I might have done it below 3 hours?  I feel very proud that I have accomplished the run and I will keep my bib and medal as a memory.

What can we learn from it?
That I had not been running for a very long time (last race was 10 months ago, and I’ve not done any running since then until the day I signed up for the marathon), and suddenly run a marathon in a very respective time tells me that you don’t have to train for 6-12 months for a marathon, but you need to commit. I didn’t drink a single drop of alcohol during my training, I went to bed early and ate/drank as healthy as I could. It was also great to have something to look forward to. 4 weeks ahead was perfect timing, and I forgot about everything else (like it was 4 months until I am leaving Africa). But running a marathon with only 4 weeks of training you will need some sort of solid training background. I’ve always been to the gym several times a week, and having strong legs and core gave me a lot of help.

Can YOU do it?
Can you? Why not? If you commit to it, eat healthy, train smart I don’t see a reason why you can’t. You need some sort of basic fitness, but no one tells you that you have to do it in less than a certain time. A marathon in 5 hours can be a huge achievement for someone who’s never ran before.

Would I do it again?
I told myself this would be the one and only marathon I would run, ever. But if there is a bigger challenge out there, for example 5 marathons in 6 days, then I might sign up for that, just because it’s an extreme challenge. I might train a bit more if I am doing something more challenging than 42 km of running though. 

Kilimanjaro Marathon. The day has come

Friday and Saturday

I landed at Kilimanjaro Airport at 9:30 after less than 4 hours in the air and 5 hours at airports. I booked a taxi and went straight to my hotel, where I checked in and unpacked. The two days before the marathon was all about rest and drink water, so I went to the supermarket and bought a case (12 bottles) containing 18 litre of water. I strolled the town and got convinced to buy some souvenir for 8000 schilling when he wanted 30 000 to start with (I didn’t have more than 8000!).

I used Friday and Saturday well, very well. Everything went perfect. The first night I got about 12 hours sleep, which was the most important night (two nights before the race). I also met some Norwegian sport volunteers here in Moshi. It was really cool to talk to them. And on Saturday when I registered I met some Germans, we started chatting and the guy had done several marathons before, he was fit and had even the same Suunto Ambit watch as me. When I told him I was aiming for 3h30min he doubted and said he couldn’t run that fast in New York in November, and in this heat and in the hills here it would be “impossible” for a first-timer. He had planned to run the full marathon, but after he noticed how warm it was here, he changed it to half-marathon.

The night before the marathon I got very little sleep, but I wasn’t worried. I got up at 3:40 to eat breakfast (oats, milk, raisins and banana) before eating a banana at 4:40. The next hour I did some mental training. I’ve read a book called “Face your fear and do it anyway” which explains a lot about positive self-talk, and I used that in the morning (and during the race). At 5:45 I jogged/walked to Moshi Stadium. Warmed up for about 20-30 minutes and stood on the starting line.

The Kilimanjaro Marathon, 42.195 km At 6:30 AM the gun went off and everyone sprinted out the stadium, hundreds of people ran past me, and I looked at my heart rate monitor and saw we ran at a pace of 3:30-3:45 min pr km. Way too fast. So I chilled and let them pass. After 2 km I started outrun one after another. I kept a brilliant pace and didn’t worry about people sprinting past me, because I caught up with them sooner or later.

There were a lot of local people on the side of the roads, and they cheered for me, I smiled and applauded them back, which made them cheer even more. I smiled a lot on the first 20 km and that was much because of the awesome crowd. I had also written my name on my front and back of my shirt, so people were saying “Come on Ruben”, “Well done Ruben”, “Keep it going Ruben” which encouraged me a lot. Brilliant tip from some of my former PT-clients in the UK. At the turning point (almost 11km) I noticed that I didn't have any white people in front of me, and that gave me more motivation as well! I saw Norwegians running behind me and we encouraged each other (“Heia Norge!”)

At 10 km I looked at my watch and I had ran for 39 minutes (in May I ran a 10 km in just under 40 min, and now I had a faster pace and still had 32.2 km to go! I must have done a lot of things right the past month!). At the 20 km mark it had been 1 hour and 20 minutes since we started! I was flying and felt good! But then  the hills came, and I hit "the wall". It was tough, but I was prepared for it, and just had to slow my pace for a while. So I slowed down, to about 5:30-6 min per km. It was still an OK pace. At about 24-25 km a white guy ran past me, I tried to keep up, but I just couldn’t do it, my goal before the run was to be the best non-African runner, but there he ran away. The people on the roads disappeared and it was tough, but according to the route description it would start to be flat at the 28-29 km mark, so I kept going. At the water station on the top there was a guy drinking beer while holding out a cup of water, and I went for the beer. He laughed but didn’t give me his can. Instead I kept going, and downhill I increased the pace to about 4 min 30sec per km. I was catching up with a lot of people who ran the half marathon and they were shouting: “Well done Ruben!” I loved it. The last 10 km I looked at my watch and saw that I could do this really well, but I almost hyper ventilated when I thought about running in less than 3 hours 30 min. I kept going, and at 1 km left I ran and passed more people from the full marathon.

At all the water stations I poured one cup of water over my neck, and drank one, but about 25km into the run I noticed I had gotten a lot of blisters around my waist, after the rubbing of my underwear/basketball shorts, so it sting like hell when I poured water on myself, but before every station I tend to forget those things. What was funny as well was that I always increased speed through the water stations. I don’t know why, maybe I was concerned about losing time, or maybe it was the music/cheering/people? I don’t know.

At the stadium, which was packed with people we came in and ran the last 100-150m there, I gave everything, I ran absolute the fastest I’ve run for a long time. My watch says 25km/h and I have to tell you, the roar and excitement from the crowd was priceless. They were ecstatic when I past 3 half-marathon runners and one full-marathon runner on the last 100 meters. It was an incredible feeling, but, wow, I was tired when I went to the grass on the field. I looked at my watch, and my unofficial time is 3 hours 8 minutes and 29 seconds, other details are: 42.5 km, average speed: 13.5km (fastest: 25.7km), average of 4 min 26 sec per km, decent: 480m (ascent: the same), heart rate: average: 143, max 156, kcal burned: 2236, recovery time: 71 hours.

I was ruined, my legs didn’t work, and after sitting on the grass for a bit I got up like an old man. I could barely walk. I spent some time drinking water and reflect on the run. My first marathon ever and I did it very well. My medal will be around my neck for a few days nowJ

I’m back at the hotel, waiting for a towel so I can shower and rest, rest, rest and rest!

Thanks for reading!

Pictures will hopefully come