WARSAW MARATHON 2013

(Below report by Scott Martin)

On Sunday September 29^th 2013, Connell Drummond and myself found ourselves in Eastern Europe where we took part in Poland’s 35^th staging of the Warsaw Marathon.

Arriving on the Thursday prior to the race we had ample time to find our bearings, get our race numbers and goody bags at the EXPO, and generally get carbo loaded, chilled out and rested up prior to the big day.

From my own point of view, I certainly couldn’t complain the way my training and racing had gone in the past 12 months. Down to a number of reasons, the most important thing was that I had been more or less injury free for the first year in a while. In this time I had ran numerous personal bests over various distances, started to pick up a few prizes, and having been in the sport for a dozen years now, hopefully that fact may spur a few others on who maybe think that they have reached a peak with their athletics.

Without divulging too much of my training, I had been following the same Jim Young Marathon schedule as Connell and, although we both trained mainly at different times, any time I or anyone else saw him on the road or track it was commented on that he looked to be running as well as ever. When asked how I personally thought he would do, I always commented that I was pretty sure that he could easily run a personal best, but I also know that however fit you are, or how hard you train, anything can happen over 26.2 miles.

Thus, after the part of Marathon training that freaks me out most (the taper), the situation was that the Kilmarnock Harrier duo were both in good nick…….despite the usual feeling that the legs were about to fall off.

Connell had thankfully chosen the Hotel we were in perfectly. As it was less than a mile from the race start, at 7am on race day we walked/jogged to the National Stadium and got organised for the start gun going off at 9am to kick of proceedings.

I like a good warm up before any race so I took my position right on the start line. Although the race was chipped (meaning our official time would be from when you crossed the start line and NOT when the gun went off) I didn’t really fancy jutting in and out of other athletes for the first couple of Kilometres, so I figured that I’d try and get into a rhythm from the off hence I headed right to the front. Another benefit of starting where we did was that there was ample room for drills and strides – as I say I like a good warm up, no matter the race distance. Another minor advantage we had was that we knew people who had run the race in the past, including Harriers Alasdair Murray and Mark Hamilton. Both were happy to chat about the course so we did have a bit of an added bit of insight.

I had a plan in my head as to how I was going to run the race and despite advice from a number of people I stuck to it like glue. One thing I have learned over the years, and this year in particular, is that once I have something settled in my mind I will stick to it. Touch wood it has worked so far, so hopefully that would continue on Marathon Day.

Thankfully I had no major issues at the start, soon got into the rhythm I was hoping for, and as the Kilometre Markers clicked off I was happy with the way things were going. Getting into a group of 3, this was reduced to 2 before halfway and despite a language barrier between myself and the Hungarian bloke beside me I was delighted to have company. The plan was to be anywhere around 81 to 82 minutes at 13.1 miles feeling comfy, and running 81.26 it was spot on.

Another boost I got was at just before 25K (Kilometre markers in my opinion are much better than Miles in a Marathon) as around this point the race doubles back and this was the time in the race that I saw Connell as he was running the other way and not too far behind. A quick calculation in my head (I’m a bit of a numbers geek) told me he was in massive pb shape so it was onwards and upwards for the last, and toughest, part of the race.

Around the 30K mark I dropped my Hungarian running partner so for the next part of the race it seemed like a solo run for me. Although this coincided with my slowest few Kilometres (albeit minorly), with 5K to run we headed back into the main part of the City and the National Stadium (and finishing line) was in sight. I also started to chase down a couple of people and, as any marathoner will tell you this is the biggest spur you can have approaching the finish.

A quick check of the watch told me that unless I totally blew up, then a sub 2.45 Marathon was almost certain. As this was my goal (and as I felt as good as I ever had in the latter stages of a Marathon if I’m being honest), I ran my fastest splits of the race at this point. Putting in a “sprint” for the line I had clocked 2.44.01 and a pb by over 3 minutes so my pre race target of a London Marathon Championship Start (sub 2.45 qualifies you for this) was secured with a bit to spare. Whether or not I actually do London in 2014 I haven’t decided, but the option is now there until January.

Chuffed to bits, and despite getting nagged to leave the finishing area by the brilliant volunteers, I dodged back in to see if Connell could smash his previous pb of 2.56. As the clocked moved to just over 2 hours and 50 minutes I could see him flying towards the line and was delighted to see he had knocked a whopping 5 minutes off of his time by running 2.51.16 – brilliant………and a great days running!

One of the benefits of being up the top end of the field is that when we got to the “free massage” area there was next to no queue so we both took advantage of that. I must admit, I personally was very happy to get a lie down and my legs rubbed by a young lady for 10 minutes….! A quick bit of pasta later and the early results were up. We both had finished well inside the top 100 so yet more good news for ourselves and Kilmarnock Harriers.

Post race was all about recovering (beer in the room, pub crawl, Polish Vodka bar, food, more pub crawl, more Polish Vodka, don’t really remember getting back to the Hotel), while the day after the race was spent doing some sightseeing including a bus tour and a trip to the World War 2 Museum, as well as more beer and a cocktail bar. Over 3,000 calories had been burnt off during the race, so these had to be replaced somehow…….

All in all, Warsaw is an amazing City and the Marathon would be highly recommended if you have never run it before. Not the fastest course in the world but definitely quick enough to target a pb during a City Break.

Times and positions in a field of 8,506 finishers were –

41^st Scott Martin 2.44.01 (pb)……81^st Connell Drummond 2.51.16 (pb).