Prague statue baby without face
With settled stomachs and some finer weather our next destination was Prague. We arrived by train on Friday afternoon, and travelled only a short distance before locating our hostel a few kilometers to the east of the old town.
Our first stop was the marathon expo to pick up our race packs. The tram trip afforded us some nice views of the river and a glimpse of some of the older sections of town, to be explored later. We picked up our race numbers and t-shirts (the most important thing - no one can deny you finished the run if you have the shirt!), then walked back down the hill and got lost in some of the back streets on the way to the town centre. This meant we got to walk along the street with most of the embassies though - lots of security cameras and armed guards.
On Saturday we fought the crowds across the Charles Bridge and in the Old Town Square for a bit of sightseeing. After resting up in the afternoon and getting a fairly early night, all that remained was the marathon itself…
With such excellent preparation how could we fail? I mean, in the week preceeding the run we systematically purged our systems of all forms of food and drink as practised by the Tamahumara Indians of Mexico’s Copper Canyons, known for their prowess in endurance running. Well not really, but that sounds better than gastro doesn’t it? And we tapered so effectively that we didn’t go for a single training run over the last month. In the few days leading up to the marathon we both carbo-loaded with magnificent form. Pasta, pizza, pastries, pancakes, panninis (well just ordinary bread but wanted to keep the P thing going) - no delicacy went unsampled by us.
Sunday dawned bright and clear, a bit chilly in the morning but promising perfect running weather. We joined the mobs converging on the Old Town Square on the Metro underground, queued for the ubiqitous Portaloos (bane of runners everywhere) and made our way through the laneways off the square to our allocated starting position. The crowd was pumped and we were ready!
Main square before the marathon
After watching two parachutists make their way to the town square - we couldn’t actually see the landing from our start corral - the gun went off and we waited impatiently as 8000 runners slowly began to move.
The start was pretty awesome, with so many people and music blaring. Here’s a short video.
We began the run fairly well, not pushing too hard in order to save a bit for later. Not sure what happened to it later but we’ll get to that.
The run course winds its way through the historic centre of Prague and does a few out and backs along the Vltava river. We were frequently running on cobblestones, which we quickly grew to dislike. Cobblestones make for attractive sightseeing, but they have no place in running events! So our legs got a bit sore - although in fairness the lack of preparation should come in for more blame than the cobblestones.
The first half passed fairy pleasantly, with lots of sights and live music (including a death metal group) on various street corners. The crowd of runners was then thinning quite nicely for us as we were being left behind, and the second half of the marathon resembled more of a shuffle than a run for us at least. With tight hamstrings, quads and blisters, never have I been so glad to see a finish line before! We cruised across the line in a lackadaisical 5:34 - turns out you actually need to train to run a marathon well!
Us after the marathon
After our glorious finish (at least there were still people lining the finish chute to cheer us across the line) we were honoured with medals then limped our way back to the hostel via the Metro. After flaking out on the bed for a while we headed about 200m up the road to a local restaurant and stuffed ourselves with delicious food (mmm, mashed potatoes). I got some weird looks from passersby as I was walking with great difficulty.