“It is true that speed kills. In distance running, it kills anyone who does not have it.”
Running season has officially started. Last weekend it was time for the Antwerp marathon aka 42,195km through the Diamond City of Belgium. The weather lady forecasted blue skies and sun, so the first thing to worry about was getting sunscreen. Drinks come later.
Sunday morning, cloudy and chilly. Curse you Sabine. I decided not to run with my camelbag. Phidippides probably made it to Athens without it too. And I guess I was feeling lucky and aimed for a nice finish time without the load.
9h30 am, Run To The Hills running team Piek, Marijn & Nonkel Thierry united. Off we went and kept a comfortable pace a few meters behind the pacers of 3h45 (red balloons). After 2k, we already lost them and they were almost out of sight. Panic. Still, we were running a steady 12km/h. Pacers were going way too fast. Flying reporter Marijn told us not to worry. We’ll get them around 20k. And so did we. The team was doing well, a joke here and there, posing for the photo. Good times.
I passed the 21,097km after 1:49:48. The team fell apart. It was time to leave the pacers behind after 26k. I should have done this earlier, but it is never easy to decide when to do it. I started the chase for the 3h30 pacers and the other half of the team.
Looking forward to the 35k because that’s where we agreed to meet with my favorite provider of energy gels. Just what I needed for my last 7k. On the other hand, I am never taking strawberry-banana combinations ever. Yuk. She painly confirmed that my two other running brothers were at least 5 minutes ahead. I paced up the chase.
I ran into an Irish(?) woman around 36k who was running at a steady 13km/h. It felt fast, but I promised myself that I had to keep up with her in order to catch up with rest of the team. I was feeling good. There was even time to chat and translate all the words of courage people were shouting at her. This was going really easy, I already regret I started too slow. I left her behind around 39k and I saw the black shorts and dito hairy legs of the 2nd team member. With a gentle smile I passed him by and he shouted the last words of courage to me. Thanks Marijn.
Km 41, in the distance, around 300m, I spotted the last remaining team member to catch up with. I started to sprint. Still feeling fresh but my calculations unfortunately confirmed that it was not going to be easy to gain 300m in just 1k to go. Damnit. Well done Piek. I finished in 3:34:58.
Intermediate times:
- 10k at 00:55:21 (5:32/km)
- 21k at 01:49:48 (5:12/km)
- 30k at 02:35:23 (5:10/km)
- 42k at 03:34:58 (5:05/km)
Flowers and gold for the whole team. Great job. Pasta, fries and hugs as reward. Keep on running.
