Race Report: 2019 Budapest Marathon

On September 29, I ran the Budapest Marathon.  I’ve wanted to travel to Budapest for about five years, but it always conflicted with another race.  This year, I was finally able to fit it into my schedule.

Buda and Pest were originally two different cities.  Buda was located on the west side of the Danube River, and Pest was on the east side.  There wasn’t a permanent bridge connecting the cities until 1849, when the Széchenyi Chain Bridge was completed.  The two cities merged to form Budapest in 1873.  The names Buda and Pest are still used when describing different neighborhoods.

Thursday, September 26

I arrived at the Budapest airport in the early afternoon and took a train into the city.  I stayed at the Hilton Budapest City, which is in northern Pest.  After checking in, I went for a run.

I started by running toward the river, where I crossed a bridge onto Margaret Island.  Margaret Island is a 2.5 kilometer long island in the middle of the Danube.  An interesting feature of this island is a running track that goes around the perimeter of the island.  The surface is just like your average 400 meter track, except a lap around this track is 5.5 kilometers, and you have river views.  After one lap around the island, I ran back to the hotel.

I had dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant.  You guessed it.  My first meal in Hungary was pizza.

After dinner, I walked down to the river to board an evening cruise on the Danube.  I got there early, so I could be among the first to board.  There are a limited number of tables around the deck.  Those seats have the best views.

By the time the cruise started, it was already dark.  At night, the bridges and buildings are lit up.  On the east bank of the Danube, we saw the Hungarian Parliament Building, which is best viewed from the water.

On the west bank, we could see Fisherman’s Bastian and Buda Castle.

We passed under several bridges, including Margaret Bridge, the chain bridge, and Liberty Bridge.

I got back to the hotel around 9:00.  I didn’t sleep on my overnight flight, so I was ready to crash.

Friday, September 27

I got up early and went for another run on Margaret Island.  This time, I ran two laps.  There are markings on the track indicating when you’re passing drinking fountains or bathrooms.  There are also markings for every 500  meters.

After eating breakfast at the hotel, I walked to Elizabeth Square to meet the tour guide for a free walking tour.  I’ve done tours like this in other cities.  The tour guides work for tips.  There are usually multiple guides who speak different languages.  I had one of the English-speaking tour guides.

Our first stop was St. Stephan’s Basilica.

On the Pest side of the river, our guide showed us examples of different architectural styles.  Along the way, she taught us some of the history of Budapest and Hungary.  Then we crossed the chain bridge to reach the Buda side.

We gradually worked our way up castle hill to reach Fisherman’s Bastian.

From Fisherman’s Bastian, you get a great view of the Hungarian Parliament Building from across the river.

Our last stop was Matthias Church.  This was originally a Catholic church.  During 150 years of Ottoman occupation, it was converted to a mosque, and a minaret tower was added.  Later, it was converted back to a church, and the minaret tower was converted to a bell tower.

After the walking tour, I went to a nearby restaurant, where I had a simple Hungarian lunch of goulash and bread.

After lunch, I toured the Buda Labyrinth, which is a maze of tunnels under castle hill.  The tunnels are very dark.  In most, there’s just enough light to find your way.  On one section, it’s completely dark.  It’s spooky.  From time to time, I encountered plaques on the walls that talked about important people in Budapest’s history.  One of them was Vlad the Impaler, who was the inspiration for the character of Count Dracula in

Bram Stoker’s novel, “Dracula.”

After the labyrinth, I continued to explore castle hill on my own.  Then I gradually worked my way south until I reached Eötvös Loránd University, where I picked up my race packet.

By now, I had walked more than eight miles, and I needed to get off my feet.  For the rest of the day, I used public transit.  I went back to the Hilton and rested my feet for about 30 minutes, while I recharged my electronics.  Then I went to dinner at a ruin bar.

Ruin bars are bars which are built inside abandoned buildings.  There are dozens of them in Budapest.  Some are working-class pubs.  Others are trendy night-life spots.  This one had a restaurant, a craft beer bar, and a spirit bar.

Saturday, September 28

After breakfast, I did another free walking tour.  This one followed Andrássy Avenue from Elizabeth Square to City Park.  Andrássy Avenue has three distinct sections.  The first part is a shopping and theatre district.  Here, we saw Budapest’s first department store and the opera house.  The next section is mostly residential, but is also home to a museum called the House of Terror.  During the communist period, this was a government building where people were detained, tortured, and killed.

The last section of Andrássy Avenue is the business district.  At the end is Heroes’ Square.  The front of Heroes’ Square was blocked by a huge stage, because the city was getting ready for a free concert in the evening.  In the center of Heroes’ Square is the Millennium Monument.  Like many of the city’s prominent buildings, it was built in 1886, when the Hungarian people were celebrating the 1,000 year anniversary of their arrival in Europe.

Beyond Heroes’ Square is City Park, which is Budapest’s largest green space.  It includes a zoo, a lake, and a castle.

The Széchenyi Thermal Bath is also in City Park.  This is one of numerous thermal mineral baths in Budapest.  This is where the walking tour ended.  It was a beautiful day, and I wanted to stay in the park a little longer, so I had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the lake.

After lunch, I went back into the city center to see St. Stephen’s Basilica.  On the walking tour I did Friday, I only saw the outside.  I went back on my own, so I could see the inside of the basilica.

St. Stephan’s Basilica is the tallest building in Budapest, equal in height to the Hungarian Parliament Building.  There’s an observation deck at the top, where you can get panoramic views of the city.

Next, I went to the Great Synagogue.  This is the largest synagogue in Europe and the second largest in the world.  I could only see the outside, however.  Because of the observance of Rosh Hashanah, the synagogue was closed to tourists.

By mid-afternoon, I felt the need to take a break and get off my feet.  I went back to the hotel to rest, which also gave me a chance to recharge my electronics and get my running clothes organized for the race.  I was tempted to go to one of the thermal baths, but I saved that for after the race.

When I went back out for dinner, it was raining, so I went to an Italian restaurant that was only a short walk from the hotel.

Sunday, September 29

Sunday was race day.  The race didn’t start until 9:00 AM, so I had time to eat a light breakfast at the hotel before leaving.  The start/finish area was on the campus of Eötvös Loránd University.  The university was on the opposite side of the city from my hotel, but they were both along the same tram line, which made it easy to get there.

The start area was sprawling.  It was like a carnival, with several small tents offering food samples.  Some, like chocolate mile and yogurt seemed like reasonable pre-race foods.  Others, like small salads, struck me as the last thing I would put into my digestive system right before a race.

I made a bathroom stop and located the tent for gear check.  Then I found a place to sit down and relax.  About 10 minutes before the gear check was scheduled to close, I took off my warm-ups and checked my gear bag.  Then I made a final bathroom stop and found my way into my start corral.

This is a large race, but it was divided into waves.  Each wave had five start corrals.  I was in the third corral of the first wave, which was for runners who were going to average 5:00 to 5:30 per kilometer.

Most of my recent races have been trail marathons.  The last two that I ran for time both had downhill courses.  This course is relatively flat, so I wasn’t completely sure how fast I could run it.  My best times this year on similar courses were around 3:27, but I wasn’t confident I could run that fast.  My last race took a lot out of me, and I didn’t know if I was fully recovered.

I was reasonably confident I could finish in 3:35, which would be a Boston qualifying time for my age group.  I already have a qualifying time for the 2021 Boston Marathon, so I wasn’t under any pressure to run fast.  Still, I’ve always considered a BQ to be a standard of excellence, so I set that as my goal.

I needed to average 5:06 per kilometer, which was near the fast end for the corral I was in.  I lined up near the front of the corral.

When the race started, I was expecting a lot of congestion.  We were packed pretty tightly into the corrals, but the start was surprisingly smooth.  Almost from the start, I was able to run my own pace.

I always have trouble gauging my pace in the first kilometer.  I felt like I was running too fast, but I decided to wait and see what my time was at the one kilometer mark.

We started out running south, but quickly made a U-turn and started heading north on a road that was right next to the Danube River.  Most of the course was close to the river.  For the next five kilometers, we were right at the water’s edge.

My time for the first kilometer was 5:03.  I had mixed feelings about that.  On one hand I had started pretty close to the right pace.  What was unsettling is that it felt much faster.  It seemed like it took more effort than it should.

In the second kilometer, I sped up to 4:53, but it felt the same.  That was too fast, so I tried to relax a bit.  For the next several kilometers, I settled into a pace that was just under 5:00.

At two kilometers, we passed underneath the Liberty Statue, which was high on a hilltop, in front of the Citadel.  We were on the Buda side of the river.  We ran past many of the same sights I had walked to on Friday, but my gaze was focused on the river.

The next landmark was the Elizabeth Bridge.  By watching for the bridges, I had a good feeling for where I was.  Next, we ran under the Széchenyi Chain Bridge.

The aid stations had water and Gatorade.  Some had other drinks as well.  The first time I reached an aid station, I ran past all the volunteers handing out water and looked for the Gatorade table.  There were volunteers standing in front of the Gatorade tables, but they weren’t handing out any cups.  Maybe they weren’t expected the faster runners to drink Gatorade this early, but I always try to take in as many calories as I can.  I momentarily stopped to grab a cup from the table.  Then I resumed running as I drank.

At five kilometers, I was directly across the river from the Hungarian Parliament Building.  Looking farther ahead, I could see Margaret Bridge, and just beyond it was Margaret Island.

Shortly after running underneath Margaret Bridge, we made a U-turn onto a ramp that took us onto a wider street that was higher above the river.  Now we were running south.

In international races, I always wear my Marathon Globetrotters gear.   Somewhere around eight kilometers, another Globetrotter recognized me.  He looked familiar, but I couldn’t quite place where we met before.

Next, we turned away from the river and ran through a long tunnel.  Pest is fairly flat, but Buda was built on large hills overlooking the river.  Most of the marathon route was in Buda, but we avoided all the hills.  Most of the course was flat.  Where there was a slope, it was gentle.  The only hills were ramps and bridges.

After going through the tunnel, we gradually looped around back toward the river.  At 10K, we turned onto the chain bridge for our first of four river crossings.

After crossing the river to the Pest side, we starting running south along the east bank.  I saw a sign that said, “11” and briefly mistook it for a kilometer marker.  Then I looked at my watch and realized it couldn’t be.  In fact, I had missed the 11 kilometer marker.  I was already almost to 12K.

After going under a bridge, we came up a ramp and turned around onto another street.  As I reached an aid station, there was a section of cobblestones.  Other runners were spilling water and Gatorade, so the street was wet in spots.  I know how slippery wet cobblestones can be, so I ran cautiously through this section.

We crossed the river again on the Liberty Bridge.  Then we turned left in front of Hotel Gellért and started running south toward the start/finish area.

As I reached the 14K mark, I checked my time.  I was roughly one third done, and I was on pace to finish in 3:30.  I asked myself how I felt.  For now, I was fine, but I questioned whether my pace was sustainable for the whole race.  It seemed like I was working harder than I should be.

At 15K, we ran through the start area again.  I thought we would repeat the first few kilometers of the race, but this time we went about a kilometer farther south before turning around.  Somewhere between 17 and 18K, we began retracing the early kilometers.

It was here that I started to speed up.  Now my kilometer times were between 4:50 and 4:55.  I was worried about going too fast, so I finally forced myself to ease up a bit.  In the 20th kilometer, I slowed to 5:05.  That was much more reasonable.  Then in the 21st, I slowed to 5:11.  That was too slow.

I reached the halfway mark in 1:44:46.  I was still on pace for 3:30.  I again asked myself how I felt.  I felt about the same as I did at 14K, except now I was getting hot, and sweat was dripping into my eyes.

At the start of the race, it was 55 degrees, but it was a sunny day, and it was getting warmer.  By the end of the race, it would be close to 70.  I worried if that would make my pace feel more tiring.

The next time I ran under a bridge, I noticed how much cooler it felt in the shade.  When we were next to the river, the only shade was under the bridges.

I sped up significantly as I started the second half of the race.  I think I did that subconsciously as a reaction to slowing down so much in the previous kilometer.  I started consistently running kilometer times between 4:50 and 4:55.

Lately, I’ve been running almost every day.  Most of my training runs are between 11 and 13 miles.  At 24K, I told myself the remaining distance was less than my average training run.  That made it seem manageable, even though I was getting hot.

We retraced our previous route as far as Margaret Bridge.  Then instead of turning around, we continued past Margaret Island.  Just north of Margaret Island, there’s another island.  We continued north alongside a narrow channel before eventually making a loop through a residential neighborhood.

At 28K, I was roughly two thirds done, so I again took inventory of how I felt.  My pace felt manageable, even though I was going a little faster now.  My biggest concern was overheating.

In the next kilometer, we reached the northernmost part of the route and start running south again.  I immediately felt a cool breeze.  It wasn’t strong enough to feel tiring, but it was enough to cool me off.  This breeze was going to keep me from getting too hot.  It also helped psychologically to know I was now running toward where we would eventually finish.

We were far enough north that I wasn’t familiar with the neighborhoods.  At 30K, we ran through an area with uneven cobblestones.  It was tiring and uncomfortable.  I was glad when we got through that section.

A short time later, we turned onto Árpád Bridge.  This is the bridge that crosses over the northern tip of Margaret Island.  On the bridge, another runner recognized me.  I passed him too quickly to get a good look at him, but I think it was a runner I met at breakfast that morning.  He was doing the 30K race, which started in a different place, but finished with the marathon.

We only went halfway across the river.  Then we took a ramp that led us onto Margaret Island.  In two training runs, I had already logged 17 kilometers on this island, so I felt at home there.  We were running on a road, but it was right next to the track where I had run before.

The road swerved to the left.  Now we were running up the center of the island.  I never saw the 31K sign.  When I got to 32K, I was pleasantly surprised to realize I only had 10K to go.

We left the south end of the island on a short bridge that makes a T with Margaret Bridge.  This bridge was part of my running route, so I knew it was uphill in the direction we were going.  I challenged myself not to slow down here.  For the first time in the race, I started to get out of breath.

We turned left onto Margaret Bridge to finish crossing the river.  This bridge was also part of my running route, but this time I got to run in the street, instead of on a narrow sidewalk.

As we came off the bridge, we started running north again, but this time we were on the east bank of the river.  I missed the 34K sign.  At 35K, I computed my pace for the previous two kilometers.  They averaged 4:49, making them my fastest so far.  That surprised me, since it included the hill coming off of Margaret Island.

We were on an out-and-back section.  As I got close to the turnaround, I saw a pace group going the other way.  I realized it must be the 3:30 group.  They started in corral 2, so they crossed the starting line about two minutes before I did.  By the time I made the turn, I could no longer see them, but I knew they weren’t too far ahead of me.

After turning around, I felt the wind again.  Next to the river, it was stronger.  Now I had mixed feelings about it.  It helped keep me cool, but now the headwind was tiring.

Despite the tiring wind, I kept up my pace.  We were running right next to the river, underneath the bridges.  After passing the chain bridge, we started to repeat a section that we ran earlier in the race.  I didn’t realize it until I saw the same “11” sign that confused me earlier.

Between 38 and 39K, I heard a yell from the crowd.  I turned my head in time to recognize a woman from Germany whom I met on one of my walking tours.  She and her husband both run marathons.  They knew I was doing this one, and she said she would watch for me.  I waved to her.

The 39th kilometer was my fastest of the race.  I ran it in 4:40.  Now I knew I would break 3:30, even if I began to fade.  With only 3K to go, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t fade.  Just ahead of me I saw the 3:30 group.  I did my best to catch up to them.

At 40K, we made a sharp turn and reached the aid station with the cobblestones.  After the aid station, we crossed Liberty Bridge again.  I was right behind the 3:30 group, but I couldn’t catch them on the uphill side of the bridge.  When I reached the downhill side, I raced past them.

After coming off the bridge and turning left, I was running straight toward the finish.  Ahead of me, I saw the Petőfi Bridge.  That’s the same bridge the tram crossed.  After that, I would be close to the finish area.  I remember checking my watch at 42K, but I have no recollection of my time.  I could see a banner saying, “100 meters to go.” Beyond it, I could see the finish line.

I finished in 3:27:14.  That exceeded my wildest expectations.  Only the headwind in the last 14K kept me from overheating.

Usually, when you cross a finish line, the first thing you receive is either a medal or a bottle of water.  Instead, I was handed a chocolate candy with a marshmallow center.  I walked a long way before finally reaching the volunteers with the finisher medals.

At the end of the chute, volunteers were wrapping runners in plastic heat shields.  I didn’t need one.  It was 70 degrees and sunny.  It was scary how comfortable I was walking through the finish area with bare arms and legs.

They had a food tent where I received a large bag of snacks, plus a banana and a can of non-alcoholic beer.  A volunteer also handed me a huge bottle of water, but I knew it was more than I could drink, so I gave it back.  After retrieving my gear bag, I sat down to eat the banana and drink the beer.  I saved the rest of the snacks for later.

I felt no need to put on my warm-up clothes.  Instead, I made a bathroom stop and started walking toward the tram stop near the bridge.  On my way, I saw the woman from Germany again.  I don’t know how she got to the finish area so quickly. I last saw her on the other side of the river.  It’s even more amazing that we bumped into each other in the finish area, where there hundreds of people going in different directions.

I went back to the hotel to get cleaned up and change clothes.  Then I ate more of my snacks.  There was a bottle of tea, a granola bar, at least two candy bars, a bag of potato chips, and a larger bag of crackers.  I ate as much as I could, but I still had some leftover.

I spent the rest of the afternoon at Széchenyi Thermal Bath in City Park.  They have several pools of varying temperatures.  I spent most of my time in the warmest pool, which was just warm enough to feel warm, but not so hot that I would perspire.  Even before going there, my legs felt OK, but I felt even better when I left.

After a race, I usually celebrate with pizza.  Instead, I ate the rest of my post-race snacks and supplemented them with appetizers from the hotel lounge.  I had a little Hungarian cash leftover, so I used that to buy some celebratory beers at the taproom of a local brewery.

Race Statistics

Distance:  42.2 kilometers

Time:  3:27:14

Average Pace:  4:55 per kilometer (7:54 per mile) 

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  386

Countries:  37

Boston Qualifiers:  126