On April 2, I ran the Bratislava Marathon. Bratislava is the capitol of Slovakia, but it’s right next to the Austrian border. Bratislava is located on the Danube River, less than 50 miles downriver from Vienna.
Bratislava has an airport,
but the Vienna airport is larger, so it’s easier to find flights to
Vienna. In 2015, I traveled to Vienna to
run the Vienna City Marathon. At the end
of that trip, I wished I had an extra day or two in Vienna. This trip gave me a second chance to see
Vienna again by flying in and out of the Vienna airport and staying in Vienna
for the first and last nights of my trip.
Thursday, March 30
I arrived in Amsterdam
after an overnight flight from Minneapolis.
When I travel overseas, I always book my flights with a certain degree
of pessimism, as small delays can easily turn into major delays if you miss a
connection. In this case, my flight from
Minneapolis was delayed by more than an hour.
I originally gave myself a three-and-a-half-hour layover in Amsterdam. Even with the delay, I still had more than
two hours between flights.
My second flight arrived at
Vienna International Airport in the early afternoon. I didn’t sleep on either of my flights. I’ve found it’s easier to adjust to the local
time zone if I arrive tired and then stay busy until it gets late.
The airport is 18
kilometers from the city center, but there’s a direct train into the city. For the first night of my trip, I stayed at
the Hilton Vienna Park, which is the closest hotel to the train station. This is the same hotel where I stayed on my
first trip to Vienna. You can’t beat
this hotel’s location. It’s right next
to a city park called Stadtpark, and it’s also close to a transit hub. Finally, it’s a short walk from the inner
city, where I wanted to start my sightseeing.
Having stayed here before, I knew my way around.
I got to the hotel around
2:30 PM. After checking in and unpacking
a few things, I walked into the city center, to do some sightseeing.
On international trips, I
usually do a lot of walking and outdoor sightseeing. Over the years, I’ve been fortunately to have
dry weather for most of these trips.
This time, I wasn’t as lucky. For
most of my trip, I had to contend with periods of rain.
It was raining that afternoon,
so I stayed close to the hotel and did mostly indoor sightseeing. I started at Mozarthaus. This is a museum about the period in Mozart’s
life when he was living in Vienna. The
top level is all about Mozart’s life in Vienna and his relationships with other
composers, Vienna’s aristocracy, and the Freemasons. The next level is about the music he composed
during his time in Vienna, which includes his operas and his best-known symphonies. The ground level is the apartment where he
lived from 1784 to 1787. The highlight
was seeing original manuscripts of some of Mozart’s compositions.
Next, I went to St.
Stephen’s Cathedral. I’ve been there
before, but it was only two blocks away from Mozarthaus, and it was worth
seeing again.
After spending so many
hours on airplanes, I wanted to get some exercise, so I set aside some time
before dinner to do a workout at the hotel.
Then I had dinner at a pizzeria that wasn’t too far from my hotel.
On my first trip to Vienna,
I attended a Strauss and Mozart concert.
I enjoyed it so much, that I decided to attend another concert on this
trip. There are several concert halls in
Vienna. On any given night, there are multiple
classical concerts at different venues.
Last time, I attended a performance of the Salonorchestra at Vienna Kursalon. This time, I went to Palais Auersperg to hear
a concert by the Vienna Residence Orchestra.
It was a small ensemble, with just enough instruments to recreate the
sound of a larger orchestra, yet few enough that I could notice what each
musician was doing.
The first half of the program
was mostly Mozart, and the second half of the program was mostly Strauss. Those are two of my favorite composers, and
they both lived in Vienna. A few of the selections
were opera arias, featuring a soprano and/or a tenor. There were also two numbers that featured a
pair of dancers. I thoroughly enjoyed the
concert.
The only thing I didn’t
like about my hotel was the inadequate air conditioning. I set the thermostat for 20 C (68 F), which
is as low as it would go. It was 20 when
I went to bed, but warmed up to 22 during the night. I woke up hot and sweaty, and had to throw
off the blanket. Only my exhaustion
allowed me to get back to sleep.
Friday, March 31
I set
my alarm for 8:00, but I got up as soon as I could see that it was getting
light outside. It wasn’t raining that
morning, so I took advantage of the good weather by going for a run after
breakfast. A lap around the perimeter of
Stadtpark is just under a mile. I had
enough time to run five laps before I needed to get ready to leave.
To get
from Vienna to Bratislava, I took a boat trip along the Danube River. The boat was a fast catamaran, so the trip
only took about an hour and 15 minutes.
We started out in the Danube Canal, but once we got into the river, we
went pretty fast.
Along
the way, I saw the ruins of Devin Castle.
I had
my first view of Bratislava from the river.
As we got closer, I had a good view of Bratislava Castle and the
cathedral.
After docking
in Bratislava, I had a 15-minute walk to get to my hotel. I was able to follow a sidewalk along the
river until the last few blocks, so I didn’t have to cross any busy streets. There was rain in the forecast, but I only
felt a few drops as I walked to the hotel.
For my
three nights in Bratislava, I stayed at the Sheraton. Aside from being a familiar brand, it was the
most convenient hotel for the race. The
starting line for the marathon was in front of the hotel entrance. The Sheraton was also just a short walk from
the old town.
After
checking in at the Sheraton, I picked up my race packet for the marathon. Packet pickup was at Eurovea Square, which is
right next to the Eurovea shopping mall.
The Sheraton was in the same building as the shopping mall, so packet
pickup couldn’t have been any closer.
After
picking up my race packet, I walked over to the river. There were viewing platforms at the edge of
the river where I could get views in either direction.
I had
dinner at a pizzeria about half a mile from my hotel, making Slovakia the 46th
country where I’ve had pizza. When I
left the restaurant, it was raining. I
spent the rest of the evening at the hotel.
I went
to bed earlier that night. I slept well
for half the night, but then I woke up and had trouble getting back to sleep.
Saturday, April 1
I set
my alarm earlier, so I could get on the same schedule I would need to follow on
race morning. It wasn’t easy dragging
myself out of bed.
I had breakfast
at the hotel, and then I walked into the old town to meet the tour guide for a
free walking tour. I’ve done free
walking tours like this in several other cities. The guides work for tips. You need to sign up ahead of time, so they
know how many people to expect. After
the tour, you tip whatever you feel is an appropriate amount. This tour was in English. They had another guide doing the same tour in
Spanish.
Our
tour started at the main square, outside the old town hall. If you look closely, you can see a black dot next
to one of the windows near the bottom of the clock tower. That’s a cannonball. It’s a reminder that Bratislava was once
attacked by Napoleon. His army was
bombarding the city from the other side of the river. The city took up a collection to pay him to
leave them alone, but several buildings have been adorned with cannonballs like
this one to remember that Napoleon was once here.
This
sculpture is called The Watcher. It was
put there by an actor as a prank, to see how people would react to it.
This
theater is at one end of Bratislava’s largest square. It was deliberately built outside the city
walls, as fires often started in theaters and could spread quickly through the
city.
There
used to be fountains of this style outside of each of the city’s gates. The water is turned off for the winter, but
when it’s operational, the top level provides water for birds, the middle level
provides water for people, and the bottom level provides water for dogs and
cats.
This
is the catholic cathedral, which I previously saw from the river. At the top, there’s a small crown. That signifies that this was the coronation
church. From 1526 to 1848, Bratislava
was the capitol of Hungary, and coronation ceremonies took place at this
cathedral. That ended when Joseph II
moved the capitol to Pest (now Budapest).
Next, we
saw the former site of the city’s first synagogue. During the communist period, it was one of
several old building which were torn down to a bridge could be built. As we left the old town to make our way up to
Bratislava Castle, we got a view of the bridge.
It’s called the UFO bridge because of the shape of the observation
tower.
As we
were going up the steps to the castle, we got a view of the only remaining
section of the city wall. In medieval times,
it went all the way around the city and was surrounded by a moat.
We spent
a considerable portion of our tour at Bratislava Castle. It was renovated during the reign of Maria
Theresa. Later, it was destroyed by a
fire, but it was rebuilt during the 1950s to look as it did during Maria
Theresa’s life.
Within
the castle, this Baroque Garden was patterned after the much larger gardens at
the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna.
We
finished our tour outside of the only remaining city gate from the medieval times,
when the city was protected by walls and there were only four entrances to the
city. Each one had an inner gate and an
outer gate
The
marathon and half marathon were on Sunday, but there were also shorter running
events on Saturday. When I got back to
the hotel, I did a workout, which took about an hour. I finished my workout just in time to go
outside and watch the 4.2K mini-marathon.
My
race packet included a ticket to a pasta party that went from 2:00 to 6:00. People doing the Saturday races could go there
right after their race as a post-race meal.
People running on Sunday could go there as a pre-race dinner. When I was done watching the mini-marathon, I
went to the pasta party.
Being
right next to the Eurovea Mall was convenient.
I was able to buy a croissant for my pre-race breakfast, and I also
found an ATM there that accepted my bank’s debit card. The ATMs I saw in Vienna only took credit
cards, which charge higher fees.
Besides
pizza, I also seek out craft beer when I travel. I found a beer bar called Beer Dock that was right
next to the river, not far from where I got off the boat from Vienna.
On my
way back from Beer Dock, I saw this bronze relief map of the city as it was before
the city wall was destroyed. If you look
closely, you can see the city wall around the historical center and the moat. You might also notice that the castle looked
different then. That was before Maria Theresa
had it redesigned t make it aesthetically pleasing and livable, rather than just
being a fortress whose sole function was to protect the coronation jewelry.
I
usually organize my clothes and pin on my race bib before going to bed. It was unclear whether it would rain or not,
so I had to wait until Sunday morning. There’s
a big difference between 40s with rain and 40s without rain.
I got
to bed early that night. I still woke up
during the night, but this time I eventually fell back to sleep.
Sunday, April 2
Sunday
was race day. The marathon didn’t start
until 9:00 AM, so I didn’t have to get up too early. I made some tea and had breakfast in my room.
It was
50 degrees, but I expected it to be breezy, so I wore a short-sleeve T-shirt
and tights. I still wasn’t sure if we
would have a passing shower during the race, so I tied a jacket around my waist,
just in case. Because the starting line
was so close, I didn’t need to leave my hotel until 20 minutes before the race.\
As I
was walking through the lobby, I heard a crash.
At first, I thought someone had broken a dish. Besides the marathon and half marathon, there
was also a marathon relay, and the relay runners had to carry metal batons. The sound I heard was a runner dropping his
baton on the floor.
It
didn’t look like it was raining when I looked out the window, but as soon as I
got outside, I started to feel drops.
They were tiny drops – more like mist, and they weren’t very frequent. Still, it was drizzling, so I decided to wear
my jacket for the start of the race, but keep it open in front.
There
were four start corrals for the marathon.
I was assigned to corral B, which was for runners who expected to have
times between 3:45 and 4:15. I don’t
know what time I submitted when I registered for the race, but I expected to be
at the slow end of that range. Based on
my most recent results, even 4:15 seemed optimistic. Accordingly, I lined up near the back of my corral.
With
the marathon and half marathon starting together, it was a fairly large
race. I was in the second of four corrals,
yet it seemed like I was pretty far back from the starting line.
I put
my watch in run mode about five minutes before corral A was scheduled to
start. That should have given it plenty
of time to find the GPS satellites. I
had used that watch the day before to measure a walk that ended right in front
of the hotel. Usually, when I’m using my
watch in the same place I last used it, it finds the satellites right away.
Corral
A started. My watch was still searching. We gradually moved up toward the starting
line. My watch was still searching. It was overcast and slightly drizzly. Maybe that made it harder to find the
satellites. I was also surrounded by tall
buildings. That never helps. When the race started, I had four bars, but I
never got the “GPS Ready” message. I
started my watch as I crossed the line and hoped it would work OK.
As we
left Eurovea and made the first turn, it was congested enough that I had to run
slowly. Within a minute, I had room to run
at my own pace. I tried to keep the pace
comfortable. I didn’t want to go out
aggressively and then run out of gas in the second half of the race.
I had
seen a map of the course, but I didn’t pay close attention to it, so I didn’t
really know what to expect. I knew two
things. It was a 21.1K loop that we
would run twice, and at some point we would cross a bridge over the Danube.
Right
away, I noticed we were running into a headwind. I could feel the wind catching my
jacket. It wasn’t long, though, before
we turned. When I was no longer going into
the wind, I started to feel a little bit of perspiration under my jacket. Because of the light drizzle, I decided to
keep my jacket on.
The
course was marked in kilometers, but my watch was giving me splits for each
mile. I finished the first mile in 9:30.
That was faster than I expected. I felt about the same as I did on my short
training run around Stadtpark, but I was going about a minute per mile faster.
Although
it was drizzly, it took a long time for the road to get wet. After two kilometers, I noticed a slight loss
of traction, but the pavement still looked dry.
It wasn’t until the end of the third kilometer that I could see the road
was starting to get wet.
The
first time I reached an aid station, I couldn’t tell what the volunteer was
saying. She was speaking in Slovak. I grabbed a cup without knowing what was in
it. It was water. As it turns out, that aid station only had
water. I drank just a few sips and then
dumped the rest. I didn’t want to fill
up too much on water. I was anticipating
drinking the sport drink at other aid stations.
At
some point, I started seeing faster runners coming back on the other side of
the street. That’s when I realized we
were on an out-and-back section. After
seeing several fast runners go by, I saw a large pace group. I don’t recall their target time, but it was
a half marathon group.
A
while later, I saw the 3:15 pace group for the marathon. Aside from going at a faster pace, they had
also started in corral A, so they had a head start of about five minutes
compared to my corral.
The
next pace group I saw was 3:30. They had
also started in corral A. The first
group I saw from corral B was the 3:45 group.
When I
got to the next aid station, I skipped the first few tables. They just had water, and I was waiting until
I saw something different. Finally, I
saw a volunteer holding a clear plastic cup with an orange liquid. That was the sport drink I had been waiting
for.
My
second mile was faster than my first one.
I sped up to 9:14. I knew I was going
too fast, so I eased up a little as I started the third mile.
When I
reach the turnaround of this out-and-back section, I saw two pace groups a
short distance behind me. One was the
2:00 group for the half marathon. The
other was the 4:00 group for the marathon.
I was on pace for about 4:10, so I was surprised to see those groups behind
me. They should’ve started in the same
corral as me, but maybe they were farther back.
In my
third mile, I slowed to 9:30. Shortly
after that, I reached the 5K timing mat.
After that, I eased up a bit more.
Instead of keeping pace with the runners around me, I was beginning to
drift back through the pack.
Occasionally,
I saw a runner near the side of the road, passing everyone around them. Invariably, these runners were holding
batons. It seems like there were some
fast runners on relay teams who were lined up too far back. I’m not sure how they did corral seeding for
relay runners. Maybe these runners were
faster than the rest of their teams, and it was the expected team time that had
them seeded so far back.
Somewhere
in the middle of my fourth mile, I heard my watch vibrating. It was way too soon for another mile split. I looked at my watch and saw a “GPS Ready”
message. Better late than never I
guess. I wondered if I should be taking
those early mile splits with a grain of salt, but it seemed like the distance
was accurate.
By the
end of the fourth mile, I was feeling too warm with the jacket. It seemed like the drizzle might be ending,
so I took off my jacket and tied it around my waist.
In
mile four, I slowed to 9:44. For the
next several miles, my times bounced around between 9:12 and 9:44. I never felt like I was going too fast. I still felt relaxed.
Somewhere
in the next mile, something surprising happened. A runner I had never met came alongside me
and started talking to me. She was
speaking in Slovak, so I didn’t understand her.
As soon as she realized that, she switched to English.
She
said I was an amazing runner. I don’t
recall exactly what else she said, but I got the impression she felt honored to
be running with me. That puzzled
me. I wasn’t doing anything
amazing. She was running just as fast as
I was, and so was everyone around us.
I asked
her why she thought I was a good runner.
At first, she said my form looked better than anyone else. Then she said that I was running fast, even
though there was a big difference in our ages.
She was much younger than me.
I guess
that’s the stage of life I’m in now. I’m
running at a pace that seems slow compared the pace I could run a few years ago,
but apparently, I look fast for a guy my age.
The
next aid station I reached had only water, to I skipped it. Since taking off my jacket, I wasn’t perspiring
much. I didn’t need to drink much to
stay hydrated, so I decided to only drink at aid stations with sport
drink. As the race progressed, I noticed
the pattern. They had sport drink at
every other aid station. I skipped the ones
in between.
Somewhere
in the sixth mile, I entered the historic center of the city. The streets were narrow, and there were sharp
turns. Instead of smooth blacktop, we
were now running on cobblestones. Some
streets had a fairly smooth brick surface, but others had a surface that seemed
treacherous for running.
As we
left the historic center, I started to recognize where we were. We were getting close to the river. After a few more blocks, we turned left and briefly
ran eastbound on the street that follows the river. We only ran in that direction for about a
block before turning around and going westbound.
After
making the U-turn, I again saw the 2:00 and 4:00 pace groups. They were right behind me. I was surprised they hadn’t passed me
yet. We were several miles into the
race, and I was on pace for a time between 4:10 and 4:15.
As we
continued running westbound, I saw the UFO Bridge on my left. Looking to my right, I saw the
cathedral. Also on my right, but beyond
the bridge, I saw the castle.
Running
in this direction, I felt a stronger breeze.
I was glad it was no longer drizzly.
As soon as that thought entered my head, it started to drizzle
again. For most of the race, the light
drizzle came and went. I thought I might
get cold running into the wind, but I remained fairly comfortable. I was wearing polypro gloves, and my hand
still felt warm enough. As long as my
hands weren’t cold, I would be OK.
Somewhere
during the eighth mile, the 2:00 half marathon pace group and 4:00 marathon pace
group finally passed me. By now the two
groups had merged.
At the
end of the eighth mile, we turned from the street onto a promenade that’s right
next to the river. We continued west a
little farther, but then made a U-turn. Running
east on the promenade, I was right alongside the river.
When I
finished mile nine, I saw that I was slower than 10 minutes for the first time
in the race. I was tempted to pick up
the pace, but I thought better of it. I
was only a third of the way through the race, and I needed to save my energy
for later.
The
promenade is mostly concrete, but as I got farther east, I reached a
cobblestone section. Having walked this
part of the promenade a few times, I was expecting that. It was uncomfortable, but it wasn’t very far
before we came back out to the street.
We ran
on the street for just a few blocks.
Then we turned right and came up a ramp onto this bridge. It occurred to me that the ramp up to the
bridge was the first hill in the race.
Before that, everything was flat.
As I
got onto the bridge, I saw the 17K sign.
Up until now, we had been running on the north side of the Danube. Now we were crossing over to the south side,
which is mostly residential. It’s a
relatively new neighborhood, having been built about 50 years ago.
It’s
worth noting at this point that this is the fourth time I’ve run a marathon
that crossed the Danube River. All four
of them were in different countries. The
other three were the Einstein Marathon in Ulm, Germany, the Vienna City Marathon
in Austria, and the Budapest Marathon in Hungary.
Before
the UFO Bridge was built, this bridge was the only one connecting the two sides
of the city. Now there are at least four
bridges.
After
descending from the bridge, we ran a loop through a park. We were only on this side of the river for
about two miles. Then we climbed back up
to the bridge to cross back over to the north side of the river.
It was
on the south side of the river that I first noticed that I was having to work
harder to go the same pace. For the
first time in the race, I was beginning to feel fatigued. I felt more fatigued climbing back up to the
bridge. The approach to the bridge from
this side was a more noticeable hill.
As I
came off the bridge, I realized I was almost done with the first loop, but I
didn’t remember how far it was from this bridge to Eurovea. Then I looked to my right and got my answer.
The
second half of the bridge was downhill, but even after the bridge it was still
downhill for a long time. I realized
this was something I could look forward to when I was finishing my second loop.
When I
reached the bottom of the hill, I could see the start/finish area a couple
blocks away. I realized I should start
looking for signs, since most of the runners around me were finishing the half
marathon, and I needed to head out for another loop.
I
heard a volunteer yelling instructions in Slovak, but I didn’t know what he was
saying. Then I saw the first of two
signs. The signs were pretty clear. To finish, keep right; to do another round,
keep left.
As I finished
my first loop, I was on pace to finish the race in 4:15. I didn’t know if I would be able to sustain the
same pace in the second half though. I wasn’t
going as fast in the last few miles as I was in the first few miles. I also felt like it was taking more effort now.
I had
to make a decision now. I knew I wasn’t
running as hard as a could. I could pick
up my effort, but I didn’t know if I could sustain a harder effort all the way
to the finish. Earlier in the race, I
was reluctant to push too hard. With the
race half over, I was ready to give it a try.
I immediately picked up my effort as I began the second loop.
I knew
I was working hard enough to keep from slowing down. I didn’t know if my effort would be sufficient
to get back to the faster pace I was running at the beginning of the race. Finally, I didn’t know if I could sustain
this effort for 13.1 miles, but I was determined to try. For the first time in the race, I had
concrete goals, other than finishing. I
wanted to run negative splits. If I did
that, I would break 4:15.
I was
running on the same streets that I ran on at the beginning of the race, but
everything looked different now. In the
early miles, the streets were crowded.
Now all the half marathoners were gone, and the marathoners were spaced
farther apart. The course was sparse
now.
For
the first time since early in the race, I passed another runner. He was carrying a baton. For the next few miles, every runner I passed
was a relay runner. The solo marathoners
outnumbered the relay runners by a wide margin, but it was always the relay
runners who stood out. Earlier, it was
only relay runners who were passing everyone.
Now it was only the relay runners who were going much slower.
In
mile 14, I sped up to 9:26. That was my
fastest mile since early in the race. I succeeded
in getting back down to my faster early pace.
Now I had to keep it up.
In the
second loop, I knew what to expect. In
particular, I knew which aid stations had sport drink and which ones only had
water. For the time being, I continued
to only drink at the aid stations with sport drink.
I
could also divide the course into segments and focus on one segment at a
time. I was starting the out-and-back segment
that went through the eastern end of the city.
I focused on maintaining the same effort through each mile of this segment. I didn’t think too much about all the miles
ahead.
I never
noticed my split for mile 15. When I
finished mile 16, I saw that I ran it in 9:30.
Assuming I ran the same pace in mile 15, I was starting the second loop
at the same pace that I ran the first loop.
A minute
later, I passed the timing mats for the 5K mark. On this loop, it was actually 26.1K. From here, I had 10 miles to go. When I’m fading in the second half of a race,
10 miles seems like a long way to go. I
wasn’t fading. I still had enough gas in
the tank that I could tell myself, “Only 10 miles. That’s manageable.” At this point in the race, I was reasonably confident
I could sustain my effort for 10 more miles.
To
ensure I kept up my effort, I started to focus on reeling in the runners ahead
of me. I’d pick a runner in front of me
and lift my effort enough to gradually catch and pass them. Then I’d pick another runner in front of me
and do the same thing. Now I was
consistently passing runners who weren’t carrying batons.
When I
got back into the old town, I didn’t focus as much on my pace or effort. Instead, I focused on watching my footing
carefully. Instead of running the
tangents, I picked the line with the best footing. Sometimes, the edges of the street had smoother
footing than the middle. I kept up my
pace through that section, but the important thing was getting through safely.
Eventually,
I got back onto the street that follows the river. The remainder of the race now had three major
segments. First, I had to run west for A
couple miles. Then, I had to run east
for a couple miles. Then I had to run
the portion of the course that’s on the other side of the river. I focused on one segment at a time.
I went
back to trying to reel in the runners ahead of me, but it got more difficult. Increasingly, the runners ahead of me were
running strong. It took effort just to
keep up with them.
When I
made the turn from the street to the promenade, I was relieved. Then I remembered that we still had to head
west a while more before turning around.
I stopped at an aid station to drink, even though they just had
water. I did that twice in the second
loop.
Coming
back, I started to get tired. At 21
miles, I was still maintaining the same pace, but each mile took more
effort. I started to question whether I
could keep this up for another 5.2 miles.
With 10 miles to go, it seemed manageable. With 5 miles to go, I wasn’t sure.
I
reminded myself that I was on the last long flat section before I had to run up
to the bridge again. I worked harder to keep
up a fast pace on this section.
As I
continued along the promenade, I started to see spots on the sidewalk. It looked like it was getting peppered with
large rain drop. Then I started to feel
the drops. Up until now, we never made
more that a light drizzle. Now we were
starting to get real rain.
I
looked at my watch. I had 3.5 miles to
go. I never seriously considered putting
on my jacket. At this point, it would
take took much time and effort to untie it and put it on. I didn’t want to do anything to disrupt my rhythm. With 3.5 miles to go, I should be able to
tough it out, even if I got so wet that I start getting cold.
When I
got to the cobblestone section, I was nervous.
The cobblestones were tricky to begin with, and they might be slippery now
that they were wet. Fortunately, I didn’t
have too much farther before I would come back out onto the street.
I was
only on the streets for a few blocks.
Then I turned onto the ramp up to the bridge. My goal coming up to the bridge was simply to
keep up with the runners in front of me.
It’s OK is I slowed down temporarily.
I just didn’t want to tire myself out.
I felt
like I was falling behind on the uphill side of the bridge, but I really picked
up my pace as I started the downhill side.
I kept that going coming off the bridge.
My
recollection was that the loop around this park was fairly short. Then I reminded myself that I had not seen
the 18K sign yet. I still had more than two
miles to go. In fact, the loop was
longer than I remembered. At the easternmost
part of this loop, we came all the way back to the foot of the UFO Bridge.
When I
passed the 18K sign (really 39,1K now), I could tell myself I had less than two
miles to go. I felt like I was
fading. I questioned whether I could
maintain the same pace the rest of the way.
I told myself I didn’t have to. I
just had to run as hard as I could. My only
goal, for the time being, was to not get lazy.
It
wasn’t until half a mile later that I realized I had missed reading my 24 mile
split. I didn’t know if I was keeping up
my pace. I just had to keep up my effort
and hope for the best.
When I
made the turn next to the UFO bridge, I found that I was not only feeling
fatigued, but I was also getting short of breath. That’s how hard I was pushing. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I really
sped up here.
By the
time I started up the ramp to the bridge, I realized I had also missed the 25
mile split. When I looked at my watch
again, I had roughly six tenths of a mile to go.
On the
uphill side of the bridge, all I could do was limit the damage. As I reached the downhill side of the bridge,
I switched into my downhill racing stride.
Coming
off the bridge, I knew it was still downhill for a long time. This was the section I was looking forward to
ever since running it the first time. I
ran this downhill for all it was worth.
When
the road leveled out, I thought I saw the finish line. As I got closer, I realized it was the
scaffolding where spectators going do up steps to cross a bridge over the
course. The finish line was a little
farther.
When I
got past that scaffolding, I saw two things I didn’t remember. The last block was on cobblestones, and it
was slightly uphill. How did I not notice
that before?
I saw
the clock over the finish line, and I momentarily got discouraged. It read 4:15:55, and I wasn’t quite there
yet. Then I realized that was the elapsed
time since corral A started. It wasn’t
my time.
I raced
to the finish line and stopped my watch. I finished in 4:11:08. I ran negative splits by roughly four
minutes. I’m still about eight minutes
slower than I was in early January, but it’s much faster than my last four races. It’s also the first time I’ve run negative
splits since July.
After
I crossed the finish line, a volunteer put a plastic rain poncho on me. She had to help me put it on. Having that poncho made it possible for me to
take my time in the finish area. Without
it, I would’ve needed to rush back to the hotel.
The design
of the finisher medal featured the UFO Bridge.
I saw
bottles of water, but went past them and picked up a can of N/A beer instead. Then I picked up a protein snack in a squeeze
bottle. It had a soupy consistency.
I looked
around to see if there was a tent where I could get my official result. I was curious to know my official time, but I
also wanted to know if I placed in my age group. I wouldn’t ordinarily expect to be competitive
with a time as slow as 4:11, but that conversation I had early in the race put
lofty ideas in my head.
I didn’t
find a results tent, but while I was looking, I saw a tent labeled “Finisher
Shirts.” Usually when you get a shirt
after finishing, you get it right at the finish line, just like your
medal. I went into the tent and got my
T-shirt. The back of the shirt had a map
of the marathon route.
When I
got back to my hotel room, I was soaking wet, and my hands were cold. It took a long hot bath to warm them up.
It
took a while before I saw my official result online. I was nowhere close to being competitive
within my age group. I was 23rd.
I
spent the rest of the afternoon at the hotel.
When I was sure the rain was done, I walked to dinner. At end of my walking tour on Saturday, the
tour guide recommended some Slovak foods and beverages to try. She also recommended two restaurants. One of them was 1. Slovak Pub, which was a mile
from my hotel. I was torn between two of
the dishes she recommended, so I had them both.
It was my first solid food since breakfast, and I only had a croissant
for breakfast.
The
first dish is called Halušky. It’s
potato dumplings with sheep’s cheese and bacon.
The
second disk is a garlic cheese soup in a bread bowl. I didn’t have room to eat all of the bread
bowl, but I was mostly interested in trying the soup.
I also
tried a beverage she recommended. It’s a
Slovak distilled beverage that can be flavored with different kinds of fruit. I got a big thumb’s up from the server when I
ordered that.
I got
to bed late that night, but I slept well all night. I always sleep better after the race.
Monday, April 3
Ordinarily,
I would fly home the day after the race, but I wanted to have one more day for
sightseeing in Vienna. Ideally, I would’ve
returned to Vienna by boat, but the only departure time on a Monday was 4:00
PM, which would get me to Vienna too late to do any sightseeing.
There
are trains and buses from Bratislava to Vienna, but none of them were direct,
plus I would need to take a tram to get to the train or bus station. Rather than figuring out ticketing for two or
more forms of transit, I just took a taxi.
It was more expensive, but quicker and more convenient.
I
stayed at the same hotel in Vienna. When
I checked out on Friday, I requested an early check-in when I came back. I arrived at 11:00 AM, and my room was ready.
A cold
front moved through the area on Sunday.
On Monday, it was much colder, but there wasn’t any rain in the
forecast. All things considered, it was
a good day for sightseeing.
I saw
a lot of the city when I visited Vienna in 2015, but my biggest regret was never
making it to the Schönbrunn Palace. On the
last full day of my trip, I dedicated the afternoon to touring the palace and
the adjacent park.
I
could’ve bought my ticket online, but you have to pick your arrival time. The ticket times are in 15 minute increments,
and if you’re late, your ticket is invalid.
I didn’t know when I’d would arrive in Vienna, and I didn’t know what
the weather would be, so I chose to wait and just go to the ticket office when
I arrived. I was taking my chances that I
might have to wait.
As it
turned out, I got lucky. I was planning
to do the Grand Tour, which is a self-guided tour that includes 40 rooms. While I was in the ticket line, I saw there
were two guided tours available that day.
One was in English, but it didn’t start for an hour and a half. I bought my ticket and started touring the
palace grounds while I was waiting for my tour to start.
I say “started,”
because the palace grounds are huge. An
hour and a half is barely enough time to scratch the surface. It was enough time, however to climb the hill
to the Gloriette. Look back from there,
I also got a good view of the back of the palace.
I also
saw a few nice fountains.
The
tour of the palace was excellent. Aside from
the obvious advantage of having a guide, I got to see parts of the palace that
aren’t available to people doing the self-guided tours.
I had dinner
at an Italian restaurant near my hotel. After
dinner, I attended a performance of “The Marriage of Figaro.” I’ve never been to an opera before, but this
is one of Mozart’s operas, so I knew I would love the music. The lyrics were all in Italian, so I knew I’d
have trouble following the story.
If you’ve
never attended an opera before, they alternative between arias (singing) and
recitative (dialogue that isn’t really singing, but is needed for the story). I enjoyed the arias, even without
understanding the lyrics, because of the quality of Mozart’s music and the
quality of the singing. I didn’t enjoy
the recitative sections, because they aren’t as melodic, and I couldn’t
understand any of the dialog. It was
mostly a German-speaking audience, so they had German subtitles on a screen
above the stage. I don’t know enough
German to be able to understand the German translation, so that wasn’t helpful
for me.
The
story is a comedy, and some of the humor was visual. I could sometimes understand the humor of an
individual scene, but as far as the overall story goes, I was lost. That made it difficult to enjoy the recitative
sections. I found myself sitting through
them, waiting for the next aria. In
general, the recitative sections were longer than the arias, so I found myself
getting bored.
There
was one particular aria at the end of Act II that I thoroughly enjoyed. It was much longer than the others. It started with two characters singing a
duet. They were joined by a third, then
a fourth, then a fifth, and then two more.
By the end of the scene, seven characters were all singing. I enjoyed that, even without understanding the
lyrics.
I
probably would’ve enjoyed the show more if I knew Italian or if there were
subtitles in English. I might have
enjoyed it more if I was already familiar with the story and could follow it
just from the action on the stage. As it
was, I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as I hoped I would.
Tuesday, April 4
Flying home, I had to make
connections in Amsterdam. My first flight
wasn’t until 9:20 AM, and my hotel was right near the train station where I
could catch a train to the airport, so I didn’t have to leave the hotel until
about 6:30. That still meant getting up
early on a day when I wouldn’t get home until late. It didn’t help that I was awake more than an
hour before my alarm went off.
My flight to Amsterdam was
relatively short. I’m posting this from
the KLM lounge in Amsterdam, where I have a four-hour layover. After that, I have a nine-hour flight to get
home. Training for the Boston Marathon will
have to wait until tomorrow.
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