Munich marathon and 10km run

Well, I missed the On On Toytown on the pavement, but I did manage to catch Showem' and Canuck (twice) along the route along with the wife and some other friends who all provided great support. In fact, there was great support throughout the race, although as Canuck says it gets a bit quiet on the East side and then through the park.

As for me, it was a great run. We had a much faster than expected pace through 35km. Unfortunately the last 7km were another story. Luckily, Mrs. theJarvii's aunt dragged me through and we managed to finish. For my first crack at it I was very happy with the results. If only marathons were 35km

Actually, of Mrs. thejarvii's aunt's 40+ marathons she said this might be one of the most interest and scenic routes. And it was her first one that has a stadium finish (well, Myrtle Beach has a sort-of stadium finish).

Thanks to all those out there supporting the runners! I agree that the event as a whole was real fun for both runners and spectators!

For those interested (same info you can find on the marathon website), the official splits were:
10km = 00:52:28
Half Marathon (21.1km) = 01:52:44
30km = 02:44:18

Kept up the pace to 35km and then ...
Finish = 04:25:24 ... yup, the last 7km were THAT slow. Had a complete breakdown of the legs and one knee (ohhh the pain!) and was left slowly walking/standing around stretching for about 4 km before slowly jogging it in for the final 3km.

Happy to have finished though! A great experience!

thejarvii: The pounding of many feet had obscured the Toytown. You were right on top of it when you spotted us.

Oh, I thought it was hillarious how they couldn't have a Munich marathon without beer. And at 38km and 39km there is a beer stand instead of water for the runners. Also, was cool running into the stadium through the mist and lights.

Did anybody see the woman who ran the entire thing backwards?

Oh yah, one other thing, when I was suffering stretching and walking I saw a speed walker pass by, very impressive! That guy was really moving! I think he was on pace with the 4hr runners!

Yeah, I saw her! I was wondering whether she was doing the whole thing backwards or whether she just had muscle cramps.

She wanted to set a world record.

Well done all. Looked a bit warm to me for a marathon. Still, better than the blinking 24 degrees in Berlin last month!

Was it too hot?

The weather would have been perfect to me. But then again...I wasn't running.

I don't think the woman trying to set the WR actually finished...Too bad eh?

What's your pb Canuck?

What's your fav. race?

That's my biggest criticism of the Munich marathon as well. A) the stretch through the East, no less than 9k in total! the stretch through the English Garden. Why do it this early? They could easily reverse the course and have it early on. For example, goosebump parts such as Rosenheimer Straße, Marienplatz etc. would be much later in the race, when most runners are actually hurting and NEED support.

As for the part in the East. I Live out here (Haidhausen) and can assure all runners: the East is NOT ugly. In fact, it is beautiful, but the organizers just wanna torture you and send you through no-mans-land Seriously, why not run it through the heart of Haidhausen?

tench - sent you PM. Defo gonna meet MRRC on Sunday at 9 a.m. for a "free trial" run.

Saw quite a few MRRC club runners on yesterday's course.

When one dedicates so much time and effort to training, one should maximise every last ounce of that by training with a club. These guys have years of collective experience behind them. Its taken me 5 marathons (training alone) to admit this. There's also the attraction of perhaps making some new Fritz mates.

Thejarvii - chin up pal. My splits at Berlin were ridiculous. A decent 1.37 through the first half, and then 2.11 (yes 2 hours 11 mins!) to complete the second.

I think I discovered the word in German for hitting the wall:

"fettstoffwechselverbrennung"

At least they offer you beer in the East. Maybe the idea is to have a beer, continue running and then not notice the drab surroundings next to the rails. The English Garden really is a horror: I remember telling myself on my first marathon in Munich "come on you stupid bitch, it's only 7 more kilometers, how often have you done 7 kilometers you chickenshit!".. And thinking "why is it taking this long today to get to this part of my well-known running stretch"(I trained in the English Gardens as well). I had a serious pain in my hip and wanted to stop directly after the English Garden (I should really have, I found out later..). I started going very slowly and walked a few steps. There were hardly any other women amongst the runners. A spectator, a woman, ran towards me and yelled "come on 5742, don't give up!". She really gave me the strength to continue and I did finish below 4 hours at least, but missed my goal. I was always told that kilometer 28 is the worst, but I personally find kilometer 35 to be the worst. Kilometer 35 is shortly before leaving the English Garden again..

I hope you participants are feeling ok again really soon and congrats on your achievements!

@MajorBummer - Funny, I think I was telling myself the same thing in the Garden. After training in the English Garden, I figured that stretch would be easy since it'd be so familiar. Boy was I wrong. It was just past Aumeister between 34 and 35 km when I crapped out. I contemplated just pushing through it and running it out, but had fears about doing some serious damage to the legs so I did a good bit of walking/stretching instead. Glad I did too. Was able to enjoy the last couple km and the finish in the stadium.

km 28 is tough as well since you just finish the long gradual downhill leading into the garden. Suddenly running on flat ground seems a bit more difficult, and the crowd leading into the garden disappears.

@MTV - Thanks for the kind words.

@MTV: Best time is 3:20. (2 years ago/Paris) Fav race is Paris and Davos Swiss Alpine Marathon (AKA Run of Death).

@thejarvii: Good job. That was def a hard race. How are your legs today?

Is Paris any fast though? My two Aussie mates finished in 3.20 dead each. But they had a lovely run (good weather etc.) I'm thinking about that. London is a circus, and having a ballerina (or Elvis) fly past you at mile 21 is heartbreaking.

thejarvii (if I may answer) is most likely feeling the worse of the following 2 options:

(a) severely abused by an amourous male gorilla; or
( legs run over by a truck . . . that reversed for good measure.

Its all good.

(wild nervous eyes and dribble)

That's a great story MB. There are some amazing things one experiences during a run. At mile 24 in Dublin, this old boy simply started running alongside me, cheering me on. He wasn't half fit either - seemed like one of those running club old-timers with a heart of gold. Helped me to a 3.23.

And again in Prague last year - some silver-haired runner really took me under his wing and even waited for me as I cramped up. As I hit the homeward sprint he yelled "C'mon son - you are on for a break!" And I was - 3.18.

About the wall tho. MB - it really is a "ball of string" question. Depending on your fitness, your general health and your body's hydration/glycogen levels - it can come at any time after about 1 hour 45 mins. I was full of water and gels all through Berlin, but my ill health and the heat made the entire second half of the run seem like wall crawling terrritory. At my fittest last May I hit the wall, but it was a short kinda thing - breathing got heavy, slowed a lot, but was able to push through and finish strongly.

Oh for those young fit happy days.

(Cough hack)

MTV: Paris is basically flat and fast except for a slight incline from km 32-38..roughly...Just enough so that not many records are broken and you probably won't get your PB. Paris is nice cause you run through 2 parks and the crowds and race organization/pasta party are great. The mass start on the Champs d'Elysee near the Arc de Triomphe is amazing.

The backwards runner finished last in 6:27:11.