On April 6, I ran the Belgrade Marathon. You might say that this was the continuation of a long-term fascination with the Danube River.
The Danube is the second
longest river in Europe. The Volga is
longer, but that river is entirely within Russia. The Danube, by contrast, flows through 10
different countries. It flows through
the capital cities of four of them.
When I was growing up, I
walked past my parents’ bedroom and heard some music my dad was playing on the
stereo. I asked him what it was, and he
showing me an album of Viennese waltzes.
The selection currently playing was “On the Beautiful Blue Danube” by
Johann Strauss. That waltz was my
gateway to the world of classical music, and it’s still one of my favorite
pieces of music.
In 2012, while on a
business trip in Switzerland, I had the opportunity to drive into Germany on
the weekend and run the Einstein Marathon in Ulm. The Danube River flows through Ulm, and the
marathon route crossed the river eight times.
That was the first time I saw the Danube River with my own eyes.
Three years later, I
traveled to Austria to run the Vienna City Marathon. Vienna was the home of Johann Strauss. As you might have guessed, the Danube also
flows through Vienna. You start that
marathon by crossing a bridge over the Danube.
As you begin running, they play “On the Beautiful Blue Danube” over
several large speakers.
The Danube also flows
through Budapest, which is the capital of Hungary. In 2019, I ran the Budapest Marathon. The course included several miles along the
banks of the Danube, and it crossed the river four times.
Two years ago, I ran the
Bratislava Marathon in Slovakia. The
closest major airport to Bratislava is the Vienna Airport. I flew to Vienna and took a ferry on the
Danube to get to Bratislava. Just like
the Budapest Marathon, this course crossed the river four times and included
sections along both banks of the river.
A few weeks before
traveling to Bratislava, I was on a ship traveling to Antarctica for the
Antarctica Marathon. I was sharing a
cabin with a runner from Serbia. During
one of our conversations, I mentioned that my next race was going to be the
Bratislava Marathon. When I told him it
would be my fourth race in a city on the Danube, he told me I needed to run the
Belgrade Marathon. Two years later, I
took his advice.
Belgrade is the capital
of Serbia. The city is located at the
confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers.
Wednesday, April 2
I left Minneapolis on an
overnight flight to Amsterdam. As usual,
I chose to stay awake on my flight. I
knew I would arrive tired, but that made it easier for me to adjust to the
seven-hour time difference.
Thursday, April 3
I arrived in Amsterdam around
7:00 AM. Serbia isn’t part of the
Schengen zone, so I didn’t have to go through immigration/customs in
Amsterdam. Instead, I stayed on the
non-Schengen side of the airport.
I arrived in Belgrade around
noon. My hotel arranged for my
transportation from the airport. When I
met my driver, I was impressed by how good his English was. He didn’t have any accent at all. As it turns out, he’s originally from Canada,
so English was his first language.
I stayed at the Belgrade
Hilton, which is in the city center. I
had enough Hilton points to get four free nights. From the Hilton, I could walk to every place
I needed to go, so it was ideal as a home base.
I got to my hotel much earlier
than the advertised check-in time, but they had a room ready, so I was able to
bring my bags up right away. As soon as
I was settled into my room, I walked to the race expo.
The expo was at Belgrade Fair,
which is a large event center with multiple buildings. To get there, I had to walk about two miles. After so many hours on airplanes, it felt
good to stretch my legs. It was also
nice to get some fresh air.
Besides my race bib and
T-shirt, my race packet included food & beverage samples, plus two small
tubes of sunblock.
I have horrible luck with air
conditioning in hotels. Before going to
the expo, I adjusted the thermostat, but it didn’t seem like the A/C was
turning on. I set the fan speed to high,
but it didn’t even seem like the fan was on.
I decided to go to the expo and check again when I got back.
After I got back from the expo,
the room was still warm. I asked to have
maintenance come up and look at in.
While I waited, I started doing a strength training workout. More than half of my exercises can be done in
my room. There are only a few that I can
only do in the fitness room.
When maintenance arrived, I
found out that the thermostat wasn’t really on, even though it looked like it
was on. To turn the system on, you need
to press the power button twice. You
also need to press it twice to turn it off again. I’ve never seen one like that before. After that, it worked, but it took time to
get the room cooled down. In the
meantime, I continued with my workout.
After my workout, I only had
about an hour before sunset, so I didn’t do much sightseeing. I had to stick to things close to my
hotel. This is Stari Dvor (the old
palace).
I wanted to also see Novi Dvor
(the new palace), but I couldn’t get a view from directly in front of the
building. The area around of the
building was mostly fenced off. In a
small park in front of the building, there were dozens of tents. In recent weeks, there have been large anti-government
protests in front of Novi Dvor. I assumed
these tents were set up by protesters.
It turns out it’s more complicated than that. The tents were set up by counter-protesters
who support the government. This was the
best view I could of the palace.
A short distance away, I saw
the House of the National Assembly of Serbia.
I had dinner at one of the
restaurants at the Hilton. This was my
first opportunity to try some Serbian dishes.
I also tried a local after-dinner drink called Rakija. Serbian food tends to be heavy on meat and
cheese, so this was a filling meal.
By the time I went to bed, my
room had cooled down somewhat, but it was still much warmer than what I’m used
to at home. I slept well for about four
hours, but only because I didn’t sleep the night before. After that, I was awake more than I was
asleep. By the time I was starting to
sleep well again, it was time to get up.
Friday, April 4
I didn’t need to be up early,
but I set an alarm for 7:00 to force myself to adjust to the local time
zone. The first morning is always the
toughest.
I booked a free walking tour,
but it didn’t start until 10:30. That
gave me plenty of time to enjoy the breakfast buffet at the Hilton. It also gave me time to get organized and
plan my day.
My walking tour began at
Republic Square, which is about a mile from my hotel. I left a little early, so I could visit St,
Mark’s Orthodox Church on the way there.
Republic Square is the main
meeting place in central Belgrade. Local
residents will tell people to meet at “the horse.” That’s a reference to the statue in front of
the National Museum.
I’ve done free walking tours
like this in several other cities. It
costs nothing to sign up. The tour
guides work for tips. At the end of the
tour, you tip whatever amount you feel is appropriate.
Our guide began by telling us
about the various buildings around Republic Square. Next, we walked to Skadarska Street. This street is lined with cafes, and it’s
another place where people commonly get together.
As we worked our way through
the old town, our guide showed us Serbia’s first brewery and the former homes
of several prominent Serbs.
Throughout its history,
Belgrade has changed hands a few times, and different religions have been
dominant at different times. When the
Ottoman Empire controlled the region, they converted all the churches to
mosques. Later, when Christianity became
dominant again, most of the mosques were converted back to churches. This is the only remaining mosque in
Belgrade.
Next, we visited Belgrade
Fortress, which is located on high ground, overlooking the rivers.
From just outside the fortress,
we had a good view of the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers.
This statue, which is on the
side of the fortress facing the rivers, is called, “The Victor.” It was erected after World War I. It’s a symbol of both victory and peace.
Our next stop was St. Michael’s
Church.
Across the street from the
church, we saw Kafana ?, which is the oldest restaurant in Belgrade. This was the last stop on our tour.
The tour lasted about three
hours. By now, I was hungry, and I was
in need of a bathroom break. I walked
back to Republic Square to have a late lunch at a restaurant I had noticed there
earlier. On my way, I saw a protest
march. Their signs were all in Serbian,
so I couldn’t be sure what their cause was, but it may have been another
anti-government protest.
After lunch, I made one more
stop before walking back to the Hilton. I
wanted to see the former residence of
Princess Ljubica. I felt a bit sheepish
when I located it on a map. As it turns
out, it was just around the corner from where the tour ended. I could’ve saved some walking by stopping
there before lunch.
I learned a few things from the
tour guide, but I also learned things about Belgrade just by walking around on
my own. I sometimes noticed what looked
like entrances to subway stations.
Belgrade has trams and buses, but it doesn’t have a subway system. What looked like subway entrances were
actually the entrances to tunnels leading under some of the busier streets. In some places, it’s the only way to get
across the street.
By the time I got back to the
Hilton, it was late afternoon. I had
been on my feet for several hours, and I needed to take a rest break.
During the walking tour, our
guide showed us a place overlooking the river that’s a great spot for watching
the sun set. As the sun got low in the
sky, I walked there. When I left the
hotel, it was partly cloudy. When I got to
my view spot, it was getting cloudier, and I could see that it was raining
farther west.
When it started raining where I
was, I decided to leave. I didn’t want
to stand around in the rain while waiting for the sun to set.
I started walking back into
town, and I eventually ducked into an Italian restaurant that was near my
hotel.
During the walking tour, our
guide also mentioned that rakija can be made from several different kinds of
fruit, and it can also be made from walnuts.
After dinner, I tried some walnut rakija. Walnut rakija has a stronger flavor than any
of the fruit rakijas.
I slept better that night. I still had a restless period in the middle
of the night, but it didn’t take me as long to get back to sleep.
Saturday, April 5
I spent most of the morning at
the hotel. I didn’t do any running
Thursday or Friday, so I did a short run on one of the hotel’s treadmills. Ideally, I would’ve run outside, but it’s
tough to run in the city center. The
sidewalks are crowded, and I would be constantly stopping to wait for traffic
lights to change. This was one of those
occasions where I could get a better workout on the treadmill.
After my run, I took the time
to read all my race information and organize my clothes for the race. Then I headed back to the fitness room to do
a strength training workout.
When I was ready to venture
out, I walked to the Temple of St. Sava.
This church was in the opposite direction from all the other sightseeing
I had done, so it made sense to save it for Saturday.
It was getting warm, so I
stopped briefly at the hotel to drop off my jacket. Then I went to the Nikola Tesla Museum. When I got there, I saw a long line, and I
found out it would be at least three hours before I could get in. I probably should’ve gone there on a weekday
morning rather than waiting until Saturday afternoon.
I still had most of the
afternoon, so I went back to the old town instead. On my way, I saw people setting up the finish
area for the marathon.
I went to a beer garden where
you pour your own beer and pay by volume.
That enabled me to sample different Serbian beers without drinking too
much overall. I had dinner at the same
Italian restaurant where I had dinner on Friday.
I went to bed earlier that
night, and I slept for most of the night.
Sunday, April 6
Sunday was race day. The race started at 8:00. I got up at 6:00, so I would have plenty of
time to get ready. My breakfast
consisted of a cup of tea and food from my race packet.
The start area was near St.
Mark’s Church. It only takes 15 minutes
to walk there from my hotel, but we were advised to get there by 7:30, so I
left the hotel at 7:15.
It was much cooler than it was
the previous two mornings. When I left
the hotel, it was 39 degrees. I didn’t
expect the temperature to change by more than a few degrees during the race, so
I dressed warm.
As I left the hotel, I felt
small drops in the air. I went back to
get a plastic rain poncho that I could keep folded up in my fanny pack. I wasn’t expecting to wear it, but I wanted
to have it with me just in case.
It was windy. I arrived at the start area about 30 minutes
before the start, but I didn’t want to stand around for that long in a cold
wind. I looked around for a building
that was open. At the end of the block,
I saw a Starbucks.
Starbucks was packed with
runners. Some were buying coffee. Some were waiting to use the bathroom. Some, like me, just went inside to seek
shelter from the wind.
We were supposed to be in the
start corrals 15 minutes before the start.
I gave myself two minutes to get from Starbucks to the start
corral. It was cold at first, but as
more runners packed in around me, I wasn’t as exposed to the wind.
Ideally, I wanted to break
3:50, but I wasn’t sure of I could do that on this course. Most of the course is flat, but we started
and finished in the city center, which is on higher ground than the rest of the
city. That meant I would have to go
uphill in the last couple of miles. I
decided to start at that pace and see how it went. I saw a 4:00 pace group, so I lined up just
in front of them.
While I was waiting for the race to start, it started to snow. The snow didn't last long, but it was a reminder that this was going to be a cold race. I wore a Tyvek jacket to the start. I was tempted to keep it on for the first mile or two, but it's harder to take it off while I'm running. I waited until a minute or two before the start, and then I took it off and tied it around my waist.
I heard some lively music. I would’ve assumed it was recorded music, but
then I saw that it was just one guy above us playing a saxophone. He was good.
He was jumping up and down as he played, and trying to get us pumped
up. I saw other runners jumping up and
down. I conserved my energy for the
race.
The course was marked in
kilometers, but I was pacing myself in miles.
To break 3:50, I needed to average 8:45 per mile.
The first few blocks were on
level ground. I have a tendency to start
faster when I’m cold, so I had to consciously hold back.
After just a couple blocks, we
turned and started running downhill toward the Sava River. I was willing to let myself speed up going
downhill.
After a couple more blocks, I
saw someone down in the middle of the street.
At least two people were tending to him.
I don’t think it was a runner. He
was wearing a yellow reflective vest, which is the same thing the volunteers
were wearing. I’m not sure what
happened.
I ran the first mile in
8:11. That’s much faster than my target
pace, but I wasn’t concerned. I expected
to be faster in a downhill mile.
The next mile started out
downhill, but then we turned and ran parallel to the river. After we turned, the course leveled off. Then, near the end of that mile, we started
running uphill. I wasn’t expecting
that. It wasn’t until I turned the next
corner that I saw we were coming up to a bridge. The approach to the bridge was uphill, but
the bridge itself was fairly flat.
Just before getting onto the
bridge, I saw my tine for the second mile.
It was only six seconds slower than the first mile, even though part of
it was uphill.
We started and finished in the
city center, which is east of the Sava River, but the majority of the course
was in the newer part of the city, which is west of the river. I had read that the west side is mostly flat,
so I was looking forward to several flat miles.
I knew, however, that we would eventually have to go uphill to get to
the finish, which was on high ground.
As I crossed the bridge, I told
myself to relax and ease up a little on my pace. Coming off the bridge, it was downhill before
eventually leveling off. As a result,
that mile was also fast.
Now that I was finally on level
ground, I told myself again to slow down.
To do that, I needed to allow myself to drift back in the pack. If I kept up with the runners around me, I
would keep going too fast.
Starting with mile four, I
found the right pace. My next few miles
were all within five seconds of my target pace.
The first time I came to an aid
station, I didn’t feel like drinking. I
was cold, and the last thing I wanted to do was drink cold water. I knew I’d need to drink during the race, so
I grabbed a bottle from one of the tables.
I only drank a few sips. Then I
tossed the bottle onto the grass.
Races in the U.S. typically use
paper cups. You generally get an
appropriate amount of water or sports drink, but they go through thousands of
cups.
European races more commonly
have bottles of water. Instead of
wasting cups, they waste plastic bottles.
Also, more than half of the water generally gets wasted.
More than once during the race, a runner I didn't know started talking to me in a language I didn't understand. The T-shirt I was wearing was from the Budapest Marathon. I assume these runners were from Hungary, and they assumed I was too.
At about 7K, I ran near a
runner who was listening to a recording that may have been made by a
coach. I overhead a fragment of it. “At 7K, you shouldn’t be going fast. I want you to be in control of your
pace.” That’s about what I was telling
myself at this point. I had found the
right pace, but I needed to control my effort.
I needed to work just hard enough to stay on that pace, but not so hard
that I would tire myself out.
At about 8K, I started to
notice perspiration under my shirt.
Earlier we had been running into the wind. Now, after a couple of turns, the wind was at
our backs. When the wind was at my back,
I felt warmer.
At about 9K, I started to feel
the sun. We were told to expect overcast
skies, but now it was only partly cloudy.
When the sun was shining on me, and the wind was at my back, I started
to feel hot.
I was almost to 10K when I
reached another aid station. The only
fluid they had was water. I didn’t know
if other aid stations would have any kind of sports drink. I needed to start taking in calories. They had bananas at that aid station, so I
ate half a banana.
Somewhere in the eighth mile,
we started going uphill. We were on a
ramp that would take us up to the Ada Bridge, which is another bridge over the
Sava River.
Now that I was running toward
the river, I could see how much higher it was where we would finish. I wasn’t looking forward to the climbing we
would do near the end of the race.
Climbing up to the bridge, I
got hot. I remembered the announcer in
the start area telling us it would be windy, and we would feel the wind most on
the bridges. I was hoping the wind would
cool me off as I crossed the bridge. I
didn’t feel the wind at all, so I decided it was time to take off my
gloves. As I took them off, I could feel
how sweaty they were.
Going uphill and crossing the
bridge, I managed to stay on the correct pace.
As soon as we came off the bridge, we started a short loop that would
take us right back onto the bridge to cross it again. In the middle of that loop, there was an aid
station. I was pleased to see they had
cups of Powerade, in addition to bottles of water.
As I started crossing the
bridge in the opposite direction, I immediately felt a headwind. I was hot earlier, because the wind was at my
back. Now, I had a headwind, and my hands
quickly got cold.
I picked up my effort, so I
wouldn’t be slowed down by the wind. I
overcompensated. After staying close to
an 8:45 pace for several miles, I sped up to 8:25. After that, I gradually throttled it back to
the correct pace.
On the west side of the river,
we ran two loops. The loops were
different, but there were areas of overlap.
As we got onto a common section, I saw the 38K sign for the second
loop. Just beyond it, there was an aid
station.
I drank a few swallows from a
bottle of water. As I continued through
the aid station, I saw bottles of Coke at another table. A volunteer on my right was holding up a
white cup and yelling, “Coca-Cola.” A
volunteer on my left was holding a similar cup and shouting,
“Jägermeister.” I’m pretty sure both
cups had Coke, but that got a laugh from me.
I didn’t drink any Coke this
time around, but I knew I would see this aid station again. I made a note to remember it, as I planned to
drink some Coke the next time I came through here.
Later, I saw a 39K sign. It was nice to know we would still be on this
side of the river with only 3K to go.
That meant we wouldn’t have to start running uphill until the last 3K.
Shortly after that, we turned
to begin the second loop. This loop was
the longer of the two.
As we started that loop, we
were running into the wind. From what I
remembered of the course layout, we would be running into the wind for at least
a few miles. I was hopeful that this was
the last section that was into the wind.
It wasn’t.
Somewhere around 12 miles, I
heard honking. A motorcycle was going by
on our left. The motorcycle was followed
by a police car, then another car, then two more motorcycles, then a group of
four elite runners. These were the
leaders of the half marathon, which started much later than the marathon. They were on their first (and only) loop.
Several minutes later, another
motorcycle went by. One of the runners
following the motorcycle was the lead woman in the half marathon.
Just before the halfway mark,
we reached the point where the two loops diverged. Runners doing the half marathon turned left
where we had turned earlier. Those of us
on our second loop of the marathon kept running straight (and into the wind).
I reached the halfway mark in
1:53:38. I was well ahead of schedule
for a 3:50 finish, but only because my first three miles were fast. Since then, I had stayed pretty close to my
target pace. My plan at this point was
to stay on my current pace until the last two miles. I expected to slow down on the uphill finish,
but I was hoping to have enough of a cushion that I could afford to slow down
in the tough miles.
I wasn’t sure how much longer I
had to run into the wind, but I was determined not to let it slow me down. I picked up my effort so much that I started
running mile times in the 8:30s.
When I finally saw runners
ahead of me reaching a turn, I was relieved.
After making the turn myself, I still felt the wind, but now it was a
crosswind. For one mile, I sped up to
8:29. Then I slowed back into the
8:30s. Earlier in the race, I would have
been concerned that this pace would wear me down. Now that I was in the second half, I was more
willing to push myself.
With 10 miles to go, I told
myself I had eight flat miles, followed by two tough miles. I focused on continuing to run 8:45 or faster
in each of the flat miles. If I could do
that, I could afford to slow down in the last two miles.
All of my sightseeing had been
on the east side of the Sava. The
majority of the race was on the west side.
I was seeing these neighborhoods for the first time. It was mostly residential. There was very little overlap between the two
loops. On the second loop, I wasn’t
seeing any landmarks I recognized.
The second loop had more turns
than the first loop. There were so many
turns that I lost my sense of direction.
The only clue to my direction was the wind, but it seemed to be shifting. It always seemed like we were running into
it. I kept up my effort, but my pace
settled back into the 8:40s for a couple miles.
With six miles to go, I told
myself I had four more flat miles. I
picked up my effort enough that I ran the next two miles in 8:24 and 8:29. I was building a bigger cushion for the
uphill miles. For one mile, I eased back
to 8:45. Then I sped up again, running
mile 23 in 8:28.
During the next mile, we came
back to a street that we had run before.
As we turned right, I saw a larger group of runners coming from the
opposite direction. They were turning
left onto the same street.
This was the point where the
marathon and half marathon merged together.
The half marathon runners outnumbered us by about ten to one. I quickly realized that their average pace
was slower than ours. To maintain my
pace, I had to weave through them and not be distracted by their slower
pace. That was easier said than done.
I when I got back to the aid
station with Coke, I grabbed a cup from the guy shouting, “Jägermeister.” It was Coke of course.
When I finished mile 24, I was
pleased to see that I didn’t slow down.
I ran it in 8:28, even while weaving through the thick crowd of slower
runners.
Next, we crossed the same
bridge that we had crossed early in the race.
The approach to the bridge was uphill, but the bridge itself was flat. For most of the race, I was cold. Running uphill with the wind at my back, I
quickly got hot.
I expected to slow down in that
mile, but I ran another 8:28. I just had
1.2 miles to go, but I knew it would be mostly uphill.
At this point, I could break
3:50 just by running the last 1.2 miles in 15 minutes. I didn’t have to maintain a fast pace. I just had to run. As long as I didn’t walk, there’s no way I
wouldn’t break 3:50.
You might think we would be
going down a ramp as we came off the bridge.
Nope, we started climbing. I may
have slowed down, but I kept running at whatever pace I could.
We turned a corner and briefly
ran downhill. I enjoyed it while I
could, because I knew it would be short-lived.
Soon, the road leveled off. Then
it turned slightly uphill.
I knew eventually we would turn
left and run away from the river. I had
done enough walking in this part of town to know that going away from the river
always meant going sharply uphill.
When I reached that turn, I
knew it would be steep. Thankfully, we
only ran in that direction for one block before turning again. A lot of people walked up that hill. I kept running at the best pace I could
manage. That was my only rule at this
point. No walking.
I was relieved when we turned
again. It was still uphill, but only
slightly. The hardest part was over.
I remembered reading in prerace
instructions that with 400 meters to go, marathon runners would go to one side
of the street, and half marathon runners would go to the other side. I couldn’t remember which side of the street
I was supposed to run on. I thought I
was supposed to keep left, but I wasn’t 100% sure. I stayed in the middle of the street and ran
directly toward a volunteer who was directing traffic.
When she saw my marathon bib,
she directed me to the left. After that,
I could focus on looking for the finish line.
When I saw a balloon arch over the street, I picked up my effort.
My time for mile 26 was
9:07. That’s only 22 seconds slower than
my target pace, even though it was an uphill mile.
That balloon arch wasn’t the
finish line. By the time I got there, I
could see that there were two balloon arches before the actual finish
line. The street leveled off, and I was
able to run hard to the finish. I
finished in 3:46:10. That surprised
me. I didn’t think I could run that fast
on this course, but I keep surprising myself.
For the last four months, I’ve felt sluggish in most my training runs,
but on race day I always run strong.
Amazingly, I actually ran negative splits, even though the first half
was net downhill, and the second half was net uphill.
After finishing, I kept walking
forward until I got my finisher medal.
Then I paused to put on my gloves.
One glove was wet. I remembered
spilling water on it at one of the aid stations. That was early in the race, when I was hot.
As I continued walking through
the finish area, I was handed a plastic bag with post-race food. I didn’t open it until I got to the
hotel. I also never took the time to put
on the jacket that I had tied around my waist.
I didn’t think it would take long to get back to the hotel, and I just
wanted to keep moving.
I didn’t bring my phone with
me, because I didn’t think I would need to it find my way back to the
hotel. I was wrong.
The entrance to the Hilton is
on Kralja Milana. This is the street I
always took when I was walking to and from the old town. I thought the race would finish on the next
street over, and after exiting the finish area, I could just turn right and
follow Kralja Milana to the hotel.
As it turns out, we finished on
Kralja Milana. I was so focused on
looking for the finish line that I didn’t notice any of the buildings around
me. Making matters worse, when I exited
the finish area, I wasn’t even going in the right direction. I didn’t know it, but I was on a street that
runs perpendicular to Kralja Milana.
After walking for a few blocks,
I realized I wasn’t recognizing any of the buildings around me. I thought I was at least going in the right
direction, so I kept walking.
After walking for several
blocks, I reached a street corner that had a map. From where I was on the map, I could see that
I was well northeast of where I expected to be.
I was still confused about how I got there. I didn’t know which direction I was heading.
I stopped a local resident and
asked her if she spoke English. She
did. I showed her on the map where I was
trying to go, and asked her which direction I should be going. She pointed in the direction I should go, but
told me I wouldn’t be able to get through the park. Looking at the map, I could see that the
National Assembly was that way. I asked
her if going that direction would take me to that building. She said it would, and I told her I knew the
way from there.
I eventually got back to the
Hilton, but it took much longer than I expected. By the time I got there, I was pretty
cold. After getting out of my sweaty
clothes, I took a long hot shower to get warmed up.
When I opened my snack bag, I
was disappointed to see that there wasn’t much solid food. There were large bottles of water and
Powerade, but the only solid food was an apple.
For dinner, I went to a place
called Bucko Pizza. This is a pizzeria
that has a style of pizza that’s unique to Belgrade. I seek out local styles of pizza when I
travel, so this was a must.
Their pizzas all have the same
base, which has a few toppings built in.
What makes it unique is that you can top each slice with one of eight
sauces. You can order a whole pizza, but
they also sell pizza by the slice. I got
three slices, so I was able to try three different sauces. On one slice, I got their cheese
topping. On another, I got their sesame
and cheese sauce. On the third, I got
their “vitamin salad,” which is a veggie blend.
The slice with the cheese topping was delicious, and tasted fairly
conventional. The other two slices
looked weird and tasted weird, but I’m glad I tried them.
I usually sleep poorly the
night before a race but sleep like a rock the night after. This trip was the opposite. I slept well before the race, but I struggled
to get much sleep the night after.
Monday, April 7
I had an early flight back to
Amsterdam, so I had to leave the hotel at 3:30 AM. The hotel arranged for my transportation to
the airport.
I still needed to pack, so my
alarm was set for 2:00. I was already
awake at 1:30. I probably only got four
hours of sleep, which is not what you want when you’re starting a long travel
day that will include a seven-hour time change.
My flight to Amsterdam took two
and a half hours. I’m posting this from the
Amsterdam airport, where I have a four-hour layover. I still have a nine-hour flight back to
Minneapolis. When I get there, it’ll
still be mid-afternoon, but I’ll have been awake for 21 hours. The next challenge will be adjusting back to
my own time zone.
