Exactly one
year ago I wrote blog article about my First Half Marathon 2016. The first time running such a distance with so many competitors. And I was so excited by that event, two days ago I was standing at the starting line again.
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| 5 minutes to go |
The morning
was beautiful. Sunny, more summer than spring, the weather nobody predicted. It was only a few weeks the snow and ice melted and we were running in mud or icy roads not even thinking the spring will come so fast. Even days before the race, the
weather forecast seemed to be more rain, less sun. Windy and lower temperature.
We had many discussions about waterproof cloths, to be aware of slippery sidewalks, what should be the best
shoes for winter/spring run. But... on Saturday
morning, April 1st, 2017 we woke up into amazing sunny blue sky day
with no clouds or rain. Nobody expected how warm the day will be by the noon. Since this
morning nothing was that day the same as the year before.
I arrived
to the facilities for runners around 9:15 where we had our adventrunning meeting
point. It was so amazing to meet all the people I knew from running personally
or through social channels before the start. Suddenly it was not just about the
race but also the common goal, experience and huge support. When we
found our corridors it was a few minutes before the start. Last year I felt
really nervous, this time, the atmosphere with girls was much more relaxed, we
had fun and slowly moved to the starting line. As we were quite far, it took us
around 6-7 minutes to cross the check point and then it came again.
Strong,
powerful feeling the running gives and happiness to be in the race. In this
moment I knew I will finish this race whatever time it will be.
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| 5K |
The first 5K
went really fast, I was surprised there is the first refreshment already. Until
the 10K I was still keeping my race mood, running in my usual pace and enjoying
seeing familiar faces. But after 12K something changed. Maybe the nice warm
weather, a lot of sun or just my thoughts. I realized I don’t have so much
energy and motivation to stay in the faster pace. I was thinking about last year when I
kept the pace but didn´t remember so much from the second part of the race... where we ran, what places we passed, how was it like… and my legs slowed
down.
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| 12K |
Now
probably most of the runners would say, hey, this is race, there is no space
for thinking back but actually I don´t care. I felt great. I was watching other
runners, unfortunately also a lot of injured and collapsing people due to the hot weather in
care of rescuers. I was also looking around, so many people were cheering, kids giving high five. By that time I was already behind my PB, so I sent message to my husband waiting with children on 20K not to be surprised I will be slower. Probably I needed such an experience, to run with 11.500 people and feel the atmosphere from the start to the finish fully. My mind decided to remember each part of the road, almost each step I made. Something like tracking some memory I missed the last time when my goal was to have a nice finish time and do my best in pace. Suddenly it was not my race, it was really interesting form of enjoyment and beautiful sunny day in the city full of enthusiastic people forming this wave of energy.
Of course the result was slow. Passing the finish line with the time 2:23:22, position around 7.000 out of 11.500, 10 minutes behind my last year result. But I was happy and satisfied. I found my limits. This is the time I can run half marathon quite easily and with no stress. Since this on I can start to search for the way of improvement with the goal to work on speed but keep the joy from running :-)
Thank you for all your support! ❤ Thank you, my running friends, buddies and my family. I would never be holding this beautiful medal without your support and motivation and have never imagined half marathons would become one of my favorite hobbies. Keep running and enjoy it!
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| Sportisimo Prague Half Marathon 2017 |
When your legs can´t run anymore
run with your heart.
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| Sportisimo Half Marathon 2016 |
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| Sportisimo Half Marathon 2017 |
