On February 23, I ran the Malta Marathon. I was signed up for this race in 2022, but the race was cancelled that year.
Malta is an island nation
located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, south of Sicily.
Malta has a long
history. The Maltese Islands have been
inhabited for more than 7,000 years.
Because of its strategic location, Malta has been controlled by foreign
powers for most of its history. Malta
gained its independence in 1964. Before
that, it was a British territory.
English is still one of the official languages. Because of Malta’s close proximity to Italy,
many people also speak Italian, and Italian food is common.
Friday, February 21
I arrived in Paris on an
overnight flight from Minneapolis. I
made connections in this airport a month ago, but I was arriving and departing
in the same terminal, so it was straightforward.
This time, I needed to
get from Terminal 2E to Terminal 2D, and it was way more complicated than it
should have been. First, I had to go
through security. Then I had to take a shuttle
bus to Terminal 2F. From there, I took a
different bus that stopped at every terminal before finally making it around to
Terminal 2D. I didn’t reach Terminal 2D
until an hour after getting off the plane.
I still had to go though
passport control, and then there was another security checkpoint with an
insanely long line. Fortunately, I had
scheduled a long enough layover in Paris that I wasn’t in any danger of missing
my connection.
From Paris, I flew to
Malta’s international airport, which is near the capital city of Valletta. My hotel arranged for my transport. I was met at the airport by a driver who took
me to my hotel. It took about 20 minutes
to get to the hotel.
I stayed at the Barceló
Fortina Malta, which is in Sliema. When
I arrived, it was still too early to get into a room, so I charged my phone in
the lobby while I was waiting. The Barceló
Fortina Malta was the headquarters hotel for the race, so I was able to pick up
my race packet without leaving the hotel.
My room had a balcony
overlooking the harbor. Looking across
the harbor, I could see Valletta and the inner harbor.
After getting settled into
my room, I went out to do some sightseeing in Sliema. I started by walked to Tigne Point. From there, I had more complete views of
Valletta. There’s a fort at Tigne Point,
but it’s currently being restored, so I couldn’t see much of it.
After detouring around
some construction, I walked up the shoreline on the east side of Sliema. It’s a rocky shoreline, but there are areas where
the limestone is smooth enough that it’s used as a beach for swimming or
snorkeling.
There are many old
fortifications around the island. Some
have been restored. Others have been
repurposed. This old fort has been
converted to a restaurant.
This is St. Julian’s
Tower, which overlooks St. Julian’s Bay.
As I continued around the
north end of Sliema, I had views of the city of St. Julian’s, which has a more
modern look.
I had dinner at an
Italian restaurant with a view of St. Julian’s Bay. After dinner, I took a different route
through the city to get back to my hotel.
By the time I got back to my hotel, it was getting dark, and I could see
the buildings of Valletta lit up.
I managed to stay awake
until it got dark, but then I was ready to crash. I slept well for the first few hours. After that, I woke up and had trouble getting
back to sleep. Partly, that was because
of the seven-hour time difference, but I was also a bit too warm. I couldn’t get the room as cold as I like it
for sleeping.
Saturday, February 22
My room rate included a
buffet breakfast. I didn’t know if I’d
have time for lunch, so I ate a big breakfast.
The hotel was connected
by a tunnel to another building which had a gym, a spa, and a pool. Before beginning my sightseeing for the day,
I did a workout in the gym.
After my workout, I took
a ferry to Valletta, where I had booked a three-hour walking tour. After getting off the ferry, I walked up to a
vantage point where I got a good view of Sliema, looking back across the
harbor. My hotel is the large building
in the center.
My tour started just
inside the city gate. I had some extra
time, so I walked to the Triton Fountain, which is just outside the gate.
Most of the buildings in
Valletta were built in the 1500s by the Knights of St. John, but our tour
started with the newest part of the city.
The area just inside the city gate was so badly damaged during World War
II that the area had fallen into disrepair.
This area was rebuilt in 2011.
The new project included a new city gate, the parliament building, an
open-air concert venue where the opera house used to be, and a plaza dedicated
to Jean de Vallette.
After that, we gradually
moved farther into the city, focusing on older buildings and the history of
Valletta. I didn’t take pictures of many
of the buildings. This tour was more
about the city’s history.
About halfway through our
tour, we took a short break at the Upper Barrakka Gardens. This break coincided with a ceremony at noon
when they fire the cannons.
From here, I could see
two of the fortified cities on the other side of the Grand Harbour.
After our break, we
gradually made our way to St. John’s Co-Cathedral.
The city’s main square is
normally an open space, but it’s currently occupied with seating set up so
different groups can rehearse for the upcoming Carnival celebrations.
The last stop on our tour
was the Lower Barrakka Gardens.
From there, we could see
the entrance to the harbor, as well as a monument honoring unknown persons who
died during the siege of Malta during World War II. The statue at one end of this monument
symbolizes a burial at sea for anyone who died aboard the various merchant
ships that were sunk during the war.
After the tour, I went
back to St. John’s Co-Cathedral, so I could tour the inside of the
cathedral. It’s called a co-cathedral,
because there are several different chapels inside. The Knights of St. John came from several
different parts of Europe, so they spoke several different languages. There are chapels for each of these
languages. There's also a crypt for the grand masters. I took quite a few photos
inside the cathedral.
The cathedral also
contains two famous painting by Caravaggio.
I made it back to the
ferry terminal just in time to catch the next ferry back to Sliema. I had been on my feet for more than four
hours, so I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the hotel. That gave me time to charge my phone, go
through my photos, and organize my clothes for the race.
I had an early dinner, in
anticipation of going to bed early. As
soon as the sun went down, I opened the door to my balcony to cool the room
down before going to bed. I had to close
it before going to bed, so the street noise wouldn’t keep me up.
I slept well for about
four hours. By then the room had warmed
up again, and I couldn’t get back to sleep.
Sunday, February 23
Sunday was race day. The race started in Mdina, so I had to get up
early to catch a bus to the start. The
bus left from a bus stop near the ferry terminal. It was just a few blocks from my hotel.
I got up at 4:00 to start
getting ready. I was going to miss the
hotel’s breakfast, so I made some tea and ate a slice of cake that I saved from
my dinner the night before.
For the third straight
race, I was conflicted about whether to wear shorts or tights. When I got up, it was 46 degrees. I expected the temperature to be in the upper
40s when the race started, but rise to 60 degrees by the time I finished. If I wore shorts, I would be cold in the
start area and for the first half of the race.
If I wore tights, I would be too hot toward the end of the race. My legs don’t respond well to cold
conditions, so I opted for tights again.
The course was
point-to-point, so I had to take a bus to the start. Buses left from near the ferry terminal,
which was a short walk from my hotel. We
needed to be on a bus by 5:45. I made a
point of getting there a little early, so I was already on a bus at 5:30.
The race started in
Mdina, which was the capital of Malta before Valletta was established. As the crow flies, Mdina less than 13
kilometers from Sliema, so the bus ride only took 20 minutes. The race didn’t start until 7:00, so we were
dropped off more than an hour before the start.
When we were dropped off,
it was still dark. I didn’t see any
signage indicating which way we should go to get to the start area. None of the other runners seemed to know
where to go, so runners were walking in different directions. As it turns out, we were only about 100
meters from the starting line, but it wasn’t set up yet.
I saw several runners
walking through this gate. I didn’t know
if the start was in that direction, but I decided to follow them. If nothing else, it gave me a chance to see
some of the old city.
Before long, I saw
runners coming back after realizing this wasn’t the way to the start. I’m still glad I followed them, because I got
to do some early morning sightseeing.
This was my only chance to see more of Mdina.
I got back to our
drop-off point in time to see the glow of the sunrise on the horizon.
I eventually saw where
they had port-o-potties and where we could check our gear bags. I still didn’t see where the starting line
was going to be.
While I was waiting in
the start area, I starting talking to another runner. Her name was Candice, and she said she was
hoping to run a pace of about 8:45 per mile.
That’s about the pace you need to break 3:50, which was my goal.
They had pace groups with
target times in 15-minute increments.
The pace group closest to my goal time was 3:45, but I didn’t think I
could run that fast. I managed to do it
in my last race, but that was a faster course.
This course has a couple of downhill sections, but most of the course is
rolling hills. I thought I’d be doing
well just to break 3:50.
Candice and I decided to
start together. If all went well, we
might run the whole race together. We
lined up a short distance behind the 3:45 group, but we weren’t planning to run
with them.
The course was slightly
uphill for the first kilometer. We
weren’t keeping up with the 3:45 group, but we kept them in sight. Just doing that felt tiring.
After the first
kilometer, the course turned downhill.
It was quite noticeably downhill for the next five kilometers. This was the fastest section of the course.
The course was marked in
kilometers, but Candice and I were both used to pacing ourselves in miles. We each had watches that gave us our pace in
minutes per mile. I never noticed my
time for the first mile, but Candice said it was 8:15. That was faster than I expected, but it
explained why it felt tiring.
The next few miles were even
faster. Miles two and three were both
faster than eight minutes. Mile four was
8:11. These miles were much faster than
our goal pace, but they didn’t feel tiring.
They were only fast because gravity was doing most of the work.
The next 14 miles were
rolling hills, with very little net elevation change. Our pace varied, but our goal over this
section was to average 8:45 per mile. If
we could do that, we’d have room to slow down in the late miles, when we might
be struggling.
To the best of my
recollection, mile five was fairly flat.
We slowed to 8:28, but that was still faster than our target pace. The next mile was slightly uphill.
During mile six, I saw
that we were running back toward Mdina.
I had my phone with me, so I stopped briefly to take a picture. Candice slowed down until I caught up with
her. That mile took 8:59, but we were
expecting that.
In the next mile, Candice
stopped at an aid station to make a bathroom stop. I walked until she caught up with me.
While I was walking, I
saw the 3:45 pace group go by.
Evidently, we had passed them during one of the downhill miles. I didn’t notice at the time.
When Candice caught up to
me, we were beginning a somewhat tiring hill.
We could still see the 3:45 group ahead of us, but we gradually fell
farther behind them.
In that mile, we slowed
to 9:24. That wasn’t too
surprising. I had walked a fair distance
before Candice caught up to me.
Over the next few miles,
our pace varied. On average, we were
keeping close to our target pace of 8:45.
For several miles, we
were doing loops and out-and-backs, but we never got that far from Mdina. In mile 11, we went up a long gradual
hill. That hill took a lot out of
me. For the first time, I fell behind Candice. Then we turned and started coming back
downhill. I picked up my pace enough on
the downhill that I was able to catch up with Candice, but I wondered if that
would happen again on other hills.
At halfway, we were on
pace to break 3:50, but not by a wide margin.
I knew there was another long downhill section later in the race, but I
didn’t know exactly when it started. Candice
was keeping a good pace, but I didn’t know if I could keep up with her long
enough to reach that downhill section.
There was a spot where we
left the road to run a loop on sidewalks before returning to the road. Right at the beginning of this section, I
fell behind again. I was never too far
back, but I couldn’t catch up to Candice until we were back on the road. I managed to catch up with her, but I was
less and less confident that I could keep up the pace for the rest of the race.
Candice had to catch a
flight later in the day, so she was motivated to finish as quickly as she
could. I told her if I fell behind later
in the race, she would need to go ahead without me. Every time I said something like that, she
told me I would be fine. I don’t think
she realized that I was struggling with the pace much more than she was.
For the most part, the
course was open to traffic. On some
sections, we had a lane to ourselves. In
other places, we had to share the road with two-way traffic. Early in the race, there weren’t many
cars. As the race progressed, there was
much more traffic. At times, it made us
nervous.
Because the course looped
around so much, there were a few places where we could see Mdina in the
distance. At about 16 miles, I realized
we were running the same section of road where I had stopped to take a picture
earlier. Seeing Mdina atop the hill was
a majestic sight, but I didn’t want to keep seeing it. I wanted to start working our way toward
Sliema.
In the next mile, we went
through the same aid station where Candice had made a bathroom stop
earlier. I remembered going up a hill
shortly after that, so I expected to go up the same hill again.
We reached a roundabout,
but this time we left in a different direction.
We both recalled turning onto a sidewalk before, but this time, we
turned onto a street. I was overjoyed
when I realized we wouldn’t have to go up that hill again.
It was here that we began
to have more downhill running. This time,
it wasn’t all downhill. There was a
downhill trend, but we still had the occasional uphill section.
In some miles, we were a
little fast. In others, we were just
keeping up the pace we needed. It was
less tiring, however.
At about 19 miles, Candice
started to speed up running downhill. I
couldn’t quite keep up with her. Then,
we started an out-and-back section that was rolling. Going out, there were two downhill sections
and one uphill section. Coming back,
there was one downhill section and two uphill sections. Each time we went uphill, I fell farther behind.
At the turnaround, I was
already half a block behind Candice. We
were now mixed in with half marathoners, most of whom were walking. There were enough walkers between us, that I
sometimes lost sight of Candice.
Coming back, just as I
crested a hill, I reached an aid station.
I drank half of my water and poured the rest on my legs. I was worried about overheating later, so I
wanted to get my tights wet.
By the end of the
out-and-back, I was about a block behind Candice. When I got my split for mile 20, I saw that I
had kept up the same pace, in spite of the hills. She was speeding up.
After the out-and-back,
we began a long downhill section. The
next mile was comparable to the fast downhill miles at the beginning of the
race. I tried hard to use the downhill
to catch up. At first, I didn’t seem to
be gaining any ground. Candice was
speeding up too. Eventually, I could see
that I was getting closer. Then we went
up a ramp to get to a bridge.
Going up the ramp, I was
forced to slow down. I had to make sure
my effort wasn’t going to break me. I
started to fall farther behind again.
I ran that mile in 8:11. I was pleased with my pace, but I realized I
would never catch up to Candice again. I
was on my own now.
The next few miles were
rolling. I was surprised how hilly this
section was. In mile 22, I slowed to
8:56. I gave back some of the time that
I gained in the previous mile, but I was still reasonably confident that I was
on pace to break 3:50.
Mile 23 had a hill that
was much steeper than the others. Up
until now, some of the hills were long, but none had been that steep. This hill forced me to take a walking break on
the steepest section. If I forced myself
to run it, I would never recover from the effort.
In that mile, I slowed to
9:23. Now I was no longer sure if I was
still on pace to break 3:50.
I knew the last few
kilometers were around the harbor. I
expected those miles to be flat. First,
I needed to get there, and there were still more hills.
At about 38K, I saw a
tall wall made of weathered limestone. I
realized this must be part of the city wall of Valletta. Running alongside this wall, the road turned
sharply downhill. I tried to use the
hill to pick up my pace as much as I could.
This hill took me all the way down to the Valletta Marina. Now, the rest of the race was alongside the
harbor.
It was still a long way
around the harbor, but I fought to keep up the best pace I could. When I saw my pace for mile 24, it was
8:43. Initially, I was pleased to have
kept up a pace that was faster than 8:45.
I was less pleased when I remembered that a good portion of that mile
was downhill. I didn’t know if I could
keep up that pace on level ground.
At an aid station, I
again drank some of my water, but poured the rest on my legs. I was still concerned about getting hot. It was probably 60 degrees by now, and the
sun was high in the sky.
Now that we were next to
the water, I started to notice a cool breeze.
The breeze hitting my wet tights cooled me off. I no longer had to worry about overheating.
I had not taken the time
to figure out if I was on pace to break 3:50.
In a way, I didn’t want to know.
Without knowing, I told myself that I was on pace, but every second counted. I had to fight for it.
At 40K, I could see Fort
Tigne in the distance. I looked for the
finish line. Then I realized that Manoel
Island was in the way. I wouldn’t be
able to see the finish until I ran most of the way around the harbor.
Shortly after that, I saw
my time for mile 25. I slowed to 8:58 in
that mile. That was discouraging. Then, I looked at my total time. It was 3:37 and change. I had more than 12 minutes to run the last
1.2 miles. If I could keep up my current
pace, I would have more than a minute to spare.
That was a pleasant surprise.
In the last 1.2 miles, I
fought hard to keep up my pace. I was
passing as many runners as I could. It
seemed like I had it in the bag, but only if my watch was giving me an accurate
distance. If my watch was reading high,
which is common, it might be too close for comfort.
At 41K, I could look
ahead and see where I boarded the bus earlier in the morning. I couldn’t see the finish line yet, but soon
I saw my hotel, and I knew the finish line was before the hotel.
As I got farther around
the bend, my watch gave me a split for mile 26.
It was 8:50. That would have been
encouraging, but I knew I had more than two tenths of a mile to go. My watch was reading high.
It wasn’t until I could
see the finish line that I knew for sure I had enough time to get there. I ran hard all the way and finished in
3:48:58. I had a Boston qualifier with slightly
more than a minute to spare.
I had lost sight of Candice
at least a few miles earlier, but trying to catch up to her was the only thing
that kept me from slowing down more than I did.
I kept chasing her, even when I knew I couldn’t catch her. That extra effort made the difference.
I figured she finished at
least two minutes ahead of me, but she was probably still in the finish
area. I quickly realizing, however, that
the finish area was too insanely crowded to for me to have any hope of spotting
her in the crowd.
I continued moving
forward and received a banana and my finisher medal. I was surprised by the size of the
medal. It’s about four inches in
diameter. I don’t know if they’re always
this big, or if it’s just because this was the 40th Malta Marathon.
I was about to step onto
the sidewalk and look for Candice, when I remembered that I had checked a gear
bag. I looked for other runners who had
already retrieved their bag, so I could ask where they got them. I knew it was somewhere close to my hotel,
but I wasn’t sure exactly where. I kept
moving forward.
I found out the gear
retrieval was inside the parking garage that’s underneath my hotel. I remembered seeing the ramp that leads down into
the garage, so I kept walking in that direction. When I got there, I saw Candice. She had already retrieved her gear bag.
Candice asked me how my
race went and told me that she had struggled with the last few miles. Then she had to leave to take a ferry to
Valletta, so she could get to the airport.
My hotel was so close to
the finish, that it was only 11:00 when I got back to my room. After taking a relaxing bath and changing
into clean clothes, it still wasn’t noon yet.
After a race, I usually
eat post-race snacks and skip lunch.
This time, I wanted a real lunch.
There are a number of restaurants on the street where the race finished,
but I expected those to be crowded. Near
Tigne Point, there’s a mall called The Point.
I knew there were restaurants there, so I headed that direction instead.
After lunch, I went back
to the hotel to take it easy for the rest of the afternoon. Before long, I started to get sleepy. My lack of sleep didn’t seem to hold me back
during the race, but it caught up to me in the afternoon.
I felt rejuvenated by the
fresh air as I walked to dinner. Several
of the restaurants along the waterfront have outdoor seating under heated
canopies. I had dinner at a Mediterranean
restaurant that I had walked past a few times before.
After dinner, I had a nice
visit with two friends from Denmark who were having dinner at another
restaurant just down the block.
When I got back to my room, it
was much cooler than the night before. I
shut the balcony door and hoped for the best.
I slept well for about four
hours. By then, the room had warmed up,
and I had trouble getting back to sleep.
For the rest of the night, I slept intermittently. I’d open the balcony door long enough to cool
the room down. Then I’d close it and go
back to sleep.
Monday, February 24
I had one more day for
sightseeing before flying home. I slept
a little later and then had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel.
Later in the morning I
took a 90-minute boat tour. That didn’t
start until 10:30, which gave me time to do a workout at the hotel.
The tour began with a trip around Marsamxett Harbour, which is the body of water between Sliema and Valletta. We went about halfway around Manoel Island, giving me a view of Fort Manoel
Next, we went past the
marinas and along the northern shore of Valletta. After that, we left Marsamxett Harbour,
sailing between Fort Tigne and Fort St. Elmo.
After going out to se and
sailing around Valletta, we entered the Grand Harbour. From here, I had views of Valletta from the
other side.
We sailed through every
part of the Grand Harbour, giving me close-up views of the three fortified
cities on the southern side. The cities
of Birgu (Vittorioso) and Senglea are on two long peninsulas. Each has forts overlooking the Grand
Harbour. I had seen these two cities
from Valletta on Saturday, but this tour gave me panoramic views from the
water.
The third city is Cospicua, which is farther inland, between the other two cities.
The tour finished at
noon. Then I had lunch at a nearby
brewery. My lunch included a sampler flight
of seven of their beers. In the U.S.,
beer tasters are typically four or five ounces.
I was surprised to see that these “tasters” were 280 milliliters, which
is about 9 ounces. Had I known they were
that large, I wouldn’t have tried that many.
After drinking almost
four pints of beer, I needed to go back to my hotel and take a nap. I slept through the afternoon, not waking up
until 7:00 PM. I don’t think that was
just from the beer. It was also the
cumulative lack of sleep over the previous three days.
I had dinner a little
later than I planned. Then I went to bed
as quickly as I could, as I needed to get up early on Tuesday to get to the
airport. I only slept for four hours,
but that was on top of a five-hour nap.
Tuesday, February 25
I had to be up early to get to
the airport for a 7:10 AM departure. On
my way home, I made connections in Amsterdam.
This connection was much easier.
It’s a large airport, but it’s all in one building, and I know my way
around.
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