Munich Half Marathon - A sob story

Get your hankies ready for my tales of woe.

Having had a taste of running in Munich back in July I signed up for the half marathon and as it was October week decided to take the family for a return visit. Coming off the back of the Dunoon half, some regular running and the training camp I thought I was in reasonable condition to target a sub 1:30 again. That went out the window the week before the Glasgow GSR Half when I developed an injury which brought to an end my 12 consecutive runs at that event. The disappointment was tempered by the need to get fit for Munich which was only 2 weeks away. It was a bit of an emotional roller-coaster of a fortnight, going from just wanting to get round when the injury was bad, to thinking about possible times any time I could walk without limping. Everyone has their own personal preference of physio but for me if it wasn’t for Grant I wouldn’t have got anywhere near the start line. He said he’d get me to the start line (although he followed up with “after that all bet’s are off”) and that he did.

We flew from Edinburgh but a 2 hour delay put us in risk of not being able to pick up our numbers on the Saturday and my miserable preparation was topped off with a 65 euro taxi fare from the airport so that we could get to the Expo on time. I was toying with the idea of asking to swap to the 10k but when I got to the expo I got a bit of a buzz and thought **** It ! Do or die over the HM course.

All runners get free transport across Munich on the day of the race. I was less impressed with the
other Bavarian rules which don’t allow supermarkets to open on a Sunday which meant my banana and energy drink fuelling strategy bit the dust. Just to add to the problems Munich was experiencing a mini heatwave which saw temperatures into the mid 20s.

We arrived at the Olympic Park nice and early and enjoyed the atmosphere. Lots of facilities and the bag drop was well organised. We watched the start of the Marathon (some of the sub 3 hr wave were clearly kidding themselves on) then Frances and Mark lined up for the 10k. This race was broken into 3 starting waves but it was just for logistics rather than time based. Frances and Mark went into the second group but that turned out to  be a bit slow. They ran together to 5k before Mark got bored and ran back at a quicker pace. They both enjoyed the race, atmosphere, and particularly the finish in the Olympic stadium.

I made my way out to the start at the mid point on the marathon course. A bit of jogging about the park in the morning didn’t get any negative reaction from the injury (I wont detail the painkiller count) although I was still unsure if I would make it. For the first time ever I ran with my phone, money and hotel key ... just in case.  I had Grant’s words of “take it very easy at the start” ringing in my ears and had worked out a 4:45/km pace would get me round in about 1:45. Well off what I had been targeting but better than the prospect of not getting round. Its amazing how the excitement gets to you even when there’s very little at stake. A warm up which was more thorough than normal for me got the adrenaline flowing.

I met a couple of guys from Belfast in the starting pen who were targeting 1:37 and suddenly my 1:45 was reassessed. I started alongside them and due to crowds it was a 4:45 first km as planned. However it quickly spread out and the pace quickened. I kept with the guys but by 3km I was feeling good and moved away, averaging 4:35/km up to 10km which wasn’t earth shattering but quite decent coming off the back of no training for 4 weeks. I had a dip between 10 and 11km but got a wee lift again, assisted by some of my German colleagues from work coming out to cheer me on. However somewhere around the 15km my lack of miles really started to show. I even contemplated walking at one point, the only thing keeping me going was that all you lot would see it when I posted it on Garmin !! By this point it was really just a case of getting home. The last few km dragged by but then I got sight of the Olympic tower and I knew I was heading for home.

The entry into the stadium was through the famous tunnel and then three quarters of a lap of the track to the finish.

I got home in 1:38:52, 449th overall, 32nd M45, averaging 4:41/km. This time it was all about getting round but being honest I’m probably thinking about what could have been on the course as it was flat. There’s a saying that talks about leaving it all out on the course. I think some of the finishing photos prove that I did, although quickly recovered with a non-alcoholic beer. I made up for it later with a few steins of beer in the Haufbrauhaus (no photos provided – I was just tired).
Stephen