Ambition
- Goal time: to see 2:4x:xx on the finish clock (Old PB was 2h56)
- Ideal time: Beat 2:45:00 for bragging rights
Preparation
Writing about my training year leading up to this marathon took up too much space to include in a single post.
To spare you the number-heavy running-geekiness, this post will focus more on the actual race.
Location
Argentina was the second South American country I visited after a high-altitude family trip to Peru. To prepare, I had read a wee bit about the eventful (and at times bloody) history of the Ciudad de Buenos Aires. While the European influences are not exactly subtle, I cannot think of any place in the world where dancing, fine wine, football ( and the occasional pothole) form such an exquisitely vibrant metropole.
Highlights
- Eating a wonderfully mixed Peruvian/Japanese dish at Páru during a business lunch. I did not want to leave that sushi buffet.
- A bike tour with our expert guide Sander took us through several of the main quarters of the city. Coincidentally, we biked alongside a good third of the marathon course (read: strategic advantage). Salacious anecdotes about the locals, literary coffee in La Poésia and the unique perspective of our guide, an erudite Dutch native. Five stars!
- Meat. They warned me in advance that not eating beef nor pork was going to be difficult while in Argentina. The speed with which I broke my 2017 resolution was nothing short of flabbergasting. Delicioso.
Logistics
I was lucky enough to find a travel partner for the South American leg of the 7 Continents project. My godfather Frits, a New York City marathon veteran, helped with the logistics and transformed himself into a fully-fledged coach by closely monitoring my psychological wellbeing as well as my carbohydrate intake:
He also made sure there was enough photo evidence of our trip, for which I cannot thank him enough 😉
Race day
Come race morning, our hotel seemed to be filled with other marathon runners. Given my usual non-runner accommodation, this was an entirely new experience. Even more so because of the rooster-alarm clock of the Brazilian running team that woke the entire building at 4.30 AM.
True to form, I was drinking coffee in the shirt of my most recent marathon race (Gold Coast 2016).
The starting line was a brief 20-minute walk from our hotel, which was quite pleasant in the cool morning hours slightly north of 15 degrees Celcius.
Due to the better-safe-than-sorry amount of water and coffee at breakfast, I quickly found myself waiting in line for a port-a-potty for about 10 mins before realizing there weren’t enough to accommodate 8000+ runners.
Doing a number one against a wall alongside to the crowded main street would have embarrassing had there not been a de-pantsed Argentian man casually dropping a deuce next to me. #Runnersbelike #whatachamp
After avoiding eye-contact with the first 200 bystanders, I warmed up and did some strides.
I flashed my pacing band ( sub 2h50 finish was the first corral) and was ready to go.
Race overview
Minus 50 meters – starting line:
Two days earlier I had fought hard to convince the race organization at the expo to give me my white pacing bracelet to be able to start in the lead pack. Obviously, I did not want to get stuck behind the sub-3-hour balloon (purple bracelet), so I pressed until they gave me my exclusive bracelet.
Imagine my surprise when I spotted some tiny, beer-bellied and suave locals amongst the otherwise hyper thin and focused sub-elite marathon pack. What these folks lacked in pre-race intimidation power, they compensated in sheer number strength.
Starting position when the gun went off: 250th -_-
0-5 km:
A 2h45 marathon requires an average pace of 3:54 min/km. The first 5 km was mostly about side-stepping, weaving and at times elbowing my way through the excited runners going out at 4:30 min/km pace. After the 3 km sign, I spotted an open lane and found myself right on goal pace.
Estimated position: 180th.
6-10 km:
After passing the 5km mark, I relaxed somewhat as I was hitting goal pace with ease. Towards the end of this segment lie the only real ‘hills’ on the pancake-flat course. Barring the middle kilometer, this segment qualifies as “Quite Alright”!
Estimated position: 150th
11-15 km:
This part was the hilliest section of the marathon course. Paradoxically it was also my fastest 5K of my entire race. Ideally, you don’t want this to happen until after 25-30 km.
In reality, I suspect running across highway bridges was something I did not want to do. Oh well.
Estimated position: 115th
16-20 km:
As the race continued, the temperature slowly crept up to 18ish degrees Celcius. Anything above 12 degrees is enough to cost you time, so an intervention was needed.
In other words, I was dumping half a bottle of ice cold water over my head at every water stop. It might have been the accidental Powerade-cup, but right around here my heart rate strap decided to die on me. That makes 3/4 marathons where my HR-monitor finished before I did -_-
Estimated position: 110th
21-25 km:
The halfway point proved to be a meet and greet with a less-than-gentle headwind. Luckily I was able to tag along to a 5-man locomotive that was busting out 3:53’s like clockwork. Through this post, I would like to thank those 4 dudes for being excellent windshields. You guys are the real MVPs.
Estimated position: 106th.
26-30 km:
The problem with marathon courses is that they are often longer than that there are nice things to look at. After passing the 26 km sign, the sightseeing quality of the course dropped considerably.
We are talking ugly industrial sites, gloomy docks, and unfinished roadworks. On the other hand, running at marathon pace for 30 km evokes serious tunnel vision. Can’t be disappointed by scenery you are not registering.
Estimated position: 94th.
31-35 km:
My godfather had parked himself right around here to collect some live action footage of my crystalized willpower in motion.
The fact that no such clip exists should give you an indication of how I looked coming out of the water stop at 35 km.
Pro-tip: sports gels are to be consumed, not used as sun cream.
Estimated position: 74th
36-40 km:
Though I was getting annoyed at not seeing goal pace showing up on my watch anymore, the steady stream of positively splitting runners I overtook in this section boosted my confidence.
The scariest part of the race happened at the First Aid stand at 39 km when my heart muscle decided to hurt a fair bit. I held back (so my mom would not kill me) as, recovered and went for the final push.
Estimated position: 50th
41- 42.195 + GPS error of 0.5 km:
During the conclusion of the Gold Coast marathon I had been unceremoniously bested by a girl and a 55-year old marathon champ at the finish line.
In passing the second woman of the Iberoamerican Championship and her camera crew at 41 km, I did find a quantum of solace. Strangely enough, speeding past that random dude roughly 100m for the line felt equally rewarding. Goes to show that equality works best when you get to beat both sides in the sprint ^.^
Estimated position: low 40s
Overall Results
- 2:45:44 net finish time (or a bittersweet 45 seconds above the Tokyo marathon sub-elite qualifying time o.O)
- Relatively even halves, with 1:22:56 and 1:22:48. Huzzah for even pacing!
- 40th to cross the line (39th finisher out of 8400+ finishers)
- 74.18% age percentile for a 26-year-old marathoner, which is close to a solid 5% increase! 🙂
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