Race Report: 2025 Belgrade Marathon

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.

Race statistics:

Distance:  42.2 kilometers

Time:  3:46:10

Average Pace:  5:22 per kilometer (8:38 per mile)

First Half:  1:53:38

Second Half:  1:52:32

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  542

Boston Qualifiers:  177

Countries:  54

Cities on the Danube:  5

Race Report: 2025 Bataan Memorial Death March Marathon

Deb has a brother who lives in New Mexico, and going there to visit has become an annual trip.  We’ve been timing our visits to coincide with nearby marathons.  For the last two years, we went in January, and I ran the State 47 Las Cruces Marathon.  This year, we went in March, and I ran the Bataan Memorial Death March Marathon.

This race is held in memory of soldiers who died during the infamous Bataan Death March during World War II.  When Japan invaded the Philippines, American and Filipino soldiers made their last stand at the Battle of Bataan.  After the battle, 76,000 soldiers were forced to surrender.  They were then forced to march 66 miles through the jungle to reach a prison camp.  During this forced march in hot humid conditions, they were given very little food or water.  They were beaten and tortured.  Any prisoner who couldn’t keep up the pace was executed.  Of the original 76,000, only 54,000 made it to the prison camp.  Many others died in captivity before the end of the war.

Many of the race participants are armed service members, although civilians are also welcome.  The race venue is White Sands Missile Range, which is a military base about 25 miles east of Las Cruces, MN.

Many consider this to be a bucket list race.  For me, the timing was never right.  It always conflicted with other plans.  This year, I finally ran it for the first time.

Wednesday, March 19

We flew to Albuquerque on Wednesday.  We couldn’t get a direct flight, so we didn’t arrive until late in the day.  We needed to drive to Las Cruces, but we waited until the next morning.  We spent that first night at one of the hotels near the Albuquerque airport.

Thursday, March 20

On Thursday, we drove to Las Cruces.  Along the way, we stopped to visit with Deb’s brother Jim and his wife Kath.  Jim gave us a tour of their new home.

We spent the next three nights at a hotel in Las Cruces.  After checking into our hotel, we picked up a few groceries.  We had dinner at the hotel and stayed in for the rest of the evening.

Friday, March 21

On Friday, I drove to White Sands Missile Range to pick up my race packet.  I’m glad I had a chance to preview this drive before race day, because the entrance to the base wasn’t where I thought it was.  My phone was directing me to a different gate on the other side of the highway.  I eventually found my way to the correct gate.  Once I was on the base, there were signs directing me to the parking area for packet pickup.

The race packet included a program with maps showing the marathon route and where we could park on race morning.  The route was modified this year, so it was different from the route I had seen on their website.  I’m wasn’t sure how the altered route would compare to the previous route as far as difficulty goes.

Years ago, survivors of the Bataan Death March would attend this event, and you could meet them and hear their stories.  Those men have since passed away, but their families prepared picture boards, so we could read about them.

Every runner had the opportunity to dedicate their race to the memory of a fallen soldier.  You could run in honor of someone you know, or you could wear the picture of a soldier who was chosen at random.  I was running in memory of Lance Corporal Ross Carver of the United States Marine Corps.  He was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2010.

In the afternoon, Deb and I did some shopping.  Then we drove out to a rest area on I-10 where you can look back and get a good view of the city and the Organ Mountains.  In case you’re wondering, White Sands Missile Range is just on the other side of those mountains.

At that same rest area, there’s a roadrunner sculpture made from scrap metal.

I had an early dinner and went to bed early, in anticipation of an early morning.

Saturday, March 22

Saturday was race day.  I had to get up early for the drive to White Sands Missile Range, where the race was held.  Runners staying in Las Cruces were advised to leave by 4:30 AM.  I left a little earlier than that, so I could get ahead of the traffic and have a better chance of finding a good parking space when I got to the base.

As usual, I was conflicted about whether to wear shorts or tights.  I normally wear tights if the temperature at the start is less than 50 degrees.  I expected the temperature to be in the 40s for the first two hours of the race, but I knew it would warm up quickly after that.  By noon, it would be in the 70s.  There were two other wildcards.  The midday sun can make it feel much hotter.  Also, this race has a reputation for strong winds, and that could make it feel colder.

No matter how I dressed I would either be cold in the early miles or hot in the late miles.  My body tolerates heat better than cold, so I wore tights.  I wore gloves and a Tyvek jacket to the start, but I could easily take those off before I started running.

Many of the guests at our hotel were there for the race.  As I left the hotel, I saw a table in the lobby with water bottles and grab-and-go breakfasts for the runners.  I had already eaten a few granola bars, so I didn’t need any more food before the race.

I got to the base shortly after 4:30, and there was already a long line to get onto the base.  Obviously, I wasn’t the only one who wanted to get there early.  I was still early enough to get a parking spot in the closest parking lot to where the race started.

I waited in my car until I needed to make a bathroom stop.  Then I took off my warm-up pants, locked the car, and walked over to where I saw port-o-potties.  At first, there wasn’t much of a line.  By the time I was done with my first bathroom stop, a line had formed.  I immediately got back in the line, knowing I’d have to go at least one more time before the race started.

When you register for this race, you need to choose one of four divisions: military heavy, military light, civilian heavy, and civilian light.  Service members are required to enter one of the military divisions, and they’re required to wear their uniforms and boots.  Civilians are required to enter one of the civilian divisions.  They can wear whatever they like, as long as it’s not any type of military attire.

Runners in either “heavy” division are required to wear a 35-pound pack.  I’m not a big guy, and I have a history of back problems, so I chose to enter the civilian light division.

Most people march the whole way, rather than running.  Because of that, most of the race information refers to participants as “marchers” rather than “runners.”

There were separate start corrals for each division, but there was also an extra corral in the front for wounded warriors.  Anyone who was planning to run the course, could line up in front of the wounded warriors, regardless of which division they were in.  I was planning to run as much of the course as I could, so I lined up in front.

I didn’t see many other runners lining up in front.  I suspect many of the other runners didn’t know they could line up there.  I knew because I saw that in the race program.

The race started at 6:30.  I had no idea when I would finish.  This is a difficult race.  In past years, the average finish time has been eight hours.  That’s a bit misleading, since most of the participants were marchers, and many of them were wearing heavy packs.  I’m wasn’t sure what the average time was for runners, but I knew I would be much slower here than I would be in a normal race.

There are two things that make this race difficult.  First, there are sections of the course where we’re running (or marching) in loose sand.  It’s also hilly.  I knew there would be sections where I would need to walk.

There are aid stations along the route, but we were advised to carry water with us as well.  Matchers in the heavy divisions were required to start the race with at least 32 oz. of water.  There wasn’t any minimum requirement for the light divisions, but we were advised to carry 32 oz. of water at all times.  I’m lighter than the average runner, and I expected to finish before the hottest hours of the day, so I carried 16 oz. of water.

They wanted us in our corrals by 6:00, even though the opening ceremony didn’t start until 6:30.  I’m not sure why we needed to be there so early.  I followed directions, but it meant waiting in the corrals for a long time without the opportunity to make another bathroom stop.  By the time the race started, I knew I’d have to make a bathroom stop in the early miles.

The opening ceremony lasted about 10 minutes.  It started with the national anthems of both the Philippines and the United States.  Then they spoke briefly about the Bataan Death March.  There were tributes to the wounded warriors and to all the service members who were marching.  There was a prayer for the fallen, and a prayer for the runners and marchers.

The race started on roads going through the base.  This part of the race was paved, so I started at about the same pace I would run if this was a road marathon.  I probably should’ve started at an easier pace, knowing that there would be some tough miles later.

I hadn’t had anything to drink since breakfast, so I felt thirsty almost immediately.  I only ran for a few minutes before taking a drink from my bottle.

In the first mile, I was passed by quite a few faster runners.  I suspect many of them had lined up farther back, because they didn’t know they could line up in front.

I was surprised when I was passed by a group of runners who were in the military heavy division.  They probably ran the first mile in eight minutes or faster.  They were young, but I was still impressed than anyone could run a marathon that fast while wearing army uniforms, boots, and heavy packs.

Early in the second mile, I saw a row of port-o-potties.  I didn’t hesitate to take the opportunity to empty my bladder.  That was a fairly quick stop.  As I got back onto the road, the runners around me were still going at a good pace.  Even though I was a little farther back in the pack, I started to find the pace to be tiring.

As we turned the next corner, I got a good view of the Organ Mountains.  We were running toward them now.

After about two miles, we turned onto a wide gravel trail and left the base to head north.  The trail was reasonably well-packed, but there were soft spots.  Running on the trail, I was forced to slow down.  For the next few miles, I was averaging about nine minutes per mile.  That’s slower than my road marathon pace, but not by that much.

I don’t like running with a water bottle, because I always feel the extra weight, even if it’s only 16 ounces.  The advantage of having a bottle is that I could take a drink anytime I was thirsty.  It turns out I was thirsty most of the time.  The first time I reached an aid station, I already needed to refill my bottle.  There were aid stations every two or three miles, but I was drinking more than once per mile.

After four miles, I caught up to the same group of soldiers who had passed me earlier.  I suspect they realized by now that their fast initial pace wasn’t sustainable with all the gear they were wearing.

The gravel trail was flat at first, but after a couple miles, I started to feel like we were going slightly uphill.  It was a gentle grade, but it took more effort just to run the same pace.

Just past the six-mile mark, we reached the northernmost point on the course.  We turned and headed south briefly.  Here, it was still slightly uphill.  It was getting more tiring, but we got a different view of the Organ Mountains.

Next, we turned again and started heading west.  As soon as I made that turn, I could see that it was going to be noticeably uphill for the next mile.

I also noticed that the trail was softer here.  If you’ve never run uphill in soft sand or gravel, it’s tiring.  I managed to run that mile without walking, but my pace was much slower.

At the end of that mile, there was an aid station at the top of the hill.  Then we turned onto a paved road that was slightly downhill.  That was a huge relief.  I needed that to recover from the previous mile.

We were only on this road for about a quarter mile.  Then we turned onto another trail.  This one started with a tiring hill.  Fortunately, the hill wasn’t too long.  I ran until I could see the top.  Then I took my first walking break of the race.  It wouldn’t be my last.

That hill was followed by a sharply downhill section.  Then we reached the “sand pit.”

The sand pit is a section of trail with loose gravel.  It’s extremely tiring, and it was almost a mile long.

Running through the sand pit, I was forced to adjust my gait.  I took shorter steps, and I picked up my feet more.  I ran for as long as I could, but this section was longer than I expected.  After running the first half of it, I had to walk the rest.

Running through the sand pit was my slowest mile so far.  The previous mile was slow, but this one was a minute slower.  It also took a lot out of me.

After the sand pit, we got back onto a nice firm trail.  The footing was much easier, but the terrain was rolling.

After 10 miles, we reached a junction in the trail.  If you were doing the marathon, you turned left the first time you got here, but right the next time around.  They also had a 14.2 mile race called the Honorary March.  Anyone doing the Honorary March turned right here.

After that turn, I was headed back toward the base for the next two and a half miles.  This section of the course was slightly downhill.  I really needed that to recover from the hills and the sand pit.

In past years, this race was one large loop.  This year, they changed it to a shorter loop, and we had to repeat about seven miles of it.  As we ran back toward the base, I started talking to a local runner who has done this race seven times before.  We talked about the pros and cons of the new course.

The original course went farther away from the base.  The first half of the race had a long uphill section going up into the mountains, but that was offset by a nice long downhill section in the second half.  On this course, we didn’t have the long climb or descent.  Instead, we had to run the sand pit a second time.  It wore me out the first time, and I wasn’t looking forward to running it again with more miles on my legs.

Somewhere between 12 and 13 miles, we got back onto the same gravel trail leading north from the base.  For the next seven miles, we were repeating a section we had run before.  This time, I started to see marchers who were still on their first loop.

Through the first half of the race, my average pace was just a little slower than 10 minutes per mile.  I knew the second half would be slower.  I had no idea how much slower.

The next few miles were a fairly runnable section, but I wasn’t running as fast as I ran it the first time.  Instead of averaging nine minutes per mile, I was averaging ten minutes per mile.  There were three reasons for that.  First, the tough sections of the first loop took something out of me.  Second, I knew I’d need to run those tough sections again, so I was more conservative in the miles leading up to them.  Finally, it was getting warmer, and the sun was higher in the sky.

I didn’t actually feel hot at this point, but I was constantly thirsty.  I was drinking more than I can remember ever drinking in a race, yet my throat always felt dry.

For the first half of the race, I was only drinking Gatorade, and it always seemed to be mixed too strong.  In the second half of the race, I had to switch to drinking water about half of the time.  The overly sweet Gatorade wasn’t sitting well in my stomach.

At 15 miles, I caught up to a runner who was in the military heavy division.  For the first 15 miles of the race, he had been ahead of me.  I was impressed that he could maintain that pace with everything he was wearing.  I made a point of telling him he was on an excellent pace.

Heading north on this trail for the second time, I was passing marchers, but it was only one or two at a time.  Then I got to the uphill mile with loose footing.  Suddenly, there were lines of marchers all over the road.  I was catching up to the main pack of marchers.

This time around, the footing was worse.  Thousands of marchers had already been through here, and anything that was firm before was now loose.

The marchers weren’t very good about leaving room for runners to get through.  Sometimes, the only was to get around was to run on the edge of the trail.  That’s where the footing was the worst.

The first time I ran this uphill section, I was slow, but I managed to run the whole way.  This time, I had to take a few walking breaks.

There were a few places along the course with pictures and info about soldiers who were at Bataan.  Some died during the Battle of Bataan.  Some died during the Bataan Death March.  Some died in the POW camp.  Some were survivors.

Again, I was relieved when we briefly got onto pavement and ran downhill.  This time, however, I knew that relief was going to be brief.  The hill that follows is short, but it’s steeper than any of the other uphill sections.  Once again, I ran until I could see the top, and then I took a walking break.

After that, the trail got narrow.  It was only About 10 feet wide, and I had to work much harder to get around the marchers.  Then I reached the sand pit again.

My second time through the sand pit had an additional challenge.  It was tough to get through all the marchers.  I was tempted to just fall in behind them and walk this whole section.  I resisted that temptation.

Just like the first time, I adjusted my gait.  I took shorter steps and I lifted my feet more.  I couldn’t go as far before taking a walking break, but I tried to limit my walking to only a minute at a time.  I had to take several walking breaks before I got through this section.

Before I got to the sand pit, I wondered if all the marchers would make the sand even softer.  They didn’t.  It was already as bad as it could get.  The marchers did, however, raise a cloud of dust.  Breathing all that dust wasn’t fun.

I eventually got back onto firmer footing, but the damage was done.  My first trip through the sand pit was tiring, but I was able to recover.  My second trip through the sand pit wore me out.  I never recovered from it.

After the sand pit, I encountered a different obstacle.  There were so many marchers on a narrow section of trail that the trail was clogged for as far as I could see.  I wasted a lot of energy weaving back and forth to find a place where I could get through.  I’m sure dozens of other runners had passed these same marchers, but it never seemed to occur to the marchers that more runners would need to get through.

Finally, at the 20-mile mark, I reached the junction in the trail where I previously turned left.  This time, I turned right.

Any marchers who were doing the marathon turned left here.  The only marchers who turned right were the ones doing the 14.2-mile Honorary March.  I could still see marchers ahead of me, but it was much easier to get around them now.  It also helped that the trail was wider for the next few miles.

The next time I came to an aid station, my bottle was empty.  I considered just drinking at the aid stations, so I didn’t need to carry any extra weight.  Without knowing how many more aid stations there were, I filled the bottle.  That was a good call.  I really needed to keep drinking more than once per mile.  I’ve never taken in this much fluid during a marathon, but it never seemed to be enough.

The previous few miles had worn me down.  In theory, I was now on an easier section of the course.  In practice, anything uphill forced me to take a walking break.  Mile 21 was rolling, so it was a run-walk mix.  Mile 22, was gently downhill, as we were now headed back to the base, which was the lowest elevation on the course.

Now that I was going steadily downhill, I could force myself to do continuous running.  My pace, however was still slow.

I ran downhill for about a mile and a half before I reached the edge of the base.  By the time I got there, I was feeling pressure building in my intestines.  I needed to make a bathroom stop.

With about three and a half miles to go, I reached an aid station.  There was a row of port-o-potties.  After pausing to drink some water, I made a bathroom stop.  It took a long time to get emptied out, but waiting wasn’t an option.

As I resumed running, I was much slower.  I was done with the downhill section.  The rest of the course was flat.  After running downhill for a mile and a half, running on level ground felt more tiring.  Also, my legs stiffened up a bit while I was in the port-o-potty.  Stopping for three or four minutes can do that.

The winds were unusually calm.  Up until now, I seldom noticed the wind.  When I did, it helped keep me from getting too hot.  On this stretch, I felt a headwind.  For the first time, the wind felt tiring.

Although I wasn’t moving as fast, I forced myself to keep running.  Midway through the 25th mile, I reached the point where the course for the Honorary March diverged from the marathon route.  Now, the only people ahead of me were other runners.  I could see a few runners in the distance, but I was running by myself.

For the next half mile, I was gradually catching up to two runners who were running together.  I was almost to the 25-mile mark when I suddenly saw them running toward me on a paved trail that was right next to the gravel trail.  I assumed I must be coming up on an abrupt turnaround onto the paved trail

I reached a point where the two trails were almost touching.  At the edge of the trail I was on, I saw some markings in orange paint.  This must be the turn.

Where was an orange line at the edge of the trail.  Over the middle of it, there was an orange “X.”  That’s an odd way to mark a turn.

I looked over to the other trail, and I saw an orange arrow pointing in the direction those two runners were going.  I began to make a U-turn onto that trail.  Then I looked back along that trail and saw another orange arrow pointing toward me.  It was coming from farther up the trail.

That’s when I knew that these two runners had made a wrong turn.  I’m sure it was an honest mistake, but they had cut the course.  I continue running on the gravel trail, and I quickly reached the 25-mile sign.

As I continued along the gravel trail, I eventually reached the point where I was supposed to turn onto the paved trail.  There was an aid station there.  They also had chip transponders.  The guys who made a wrong turn probably didn’t get credit for running the whole course, because they missed this timing point.

I had been forcing myself to keep running, even if it was slow.  In the last full mile, I finally broke down and took two walking breaks.  The first one was on a small hill.  The second one was just because my legs felt like cement and I could no longer force myself to run.  It wasn’t until I reached the 26-mile sign that I could force myself to run to the finish.

I finished the race in 4:45:56.  Before the race, I was wondering how much slower I would be on this course, compared to a more typical marathon course.  The answer is almost an hour slower.

I may have been overheating in the second half of the race, yet I rarely felt hot.  I felt dry, and I was getting increasingly tired, but if I was hot, I wasn’t consciously aware of it.

The finisher medal has the race logo, but it’s also in the shape of New Mexico.  That was a nice touch.

All runners and marchers received certificates of participation at packet pickup.  All finishers had the option of purchasing a finisher certificate as part of a photo package.  I didn’t buy the photo package.

After finishing, I drank a bottle of water.  Then I made my way to the results tent.  I typed in my bib number, but I didn’t get a result.  It showed my times at the first five timing points, but there wasn’t a finish time.  I assumed the system had some lag, so I went to see if I could get some post-race food.

There was a building with food, but it was only food for purchase.  I was surprised that they didn’t have any post-race food that was free to runners.

I went back to the results tent to see if they had my official result now.  I still didn’t have a finish time.  Two other runners who had finished recently also didn’t get results.

I walked over to the RV where the timekeepers were.  After I told them about my missing result, they went inside and did something and told me they could see my finish time now.  They told me to wait five minutes and then try again at the results tent.   When I went back, I was able to print my result.

The finish area was a distance away from where we started, but they had a shuttle that would take us to any of the parking areas.  I considered just walking back to my car, but I didn’t know how far it was.  Instead, I waited for the next shuttle.

Getting back to my hotel turned out to be complicated.  Because of streets being blocked off for the race, I couldn’t leave the base the same way I entered.  I had to drive east several miles to get to a different gate.  As I reached the road that would take me back out to the highway, the cars ahead of me all stopped.  For the longest time, I didn’t know what the delay was.

We eventually started moving.  As I turned onto the road leading out to the highway, I saw what the problem was.  That road was under construction, and there was only one lane open.  They could only allow traffic in one direction at a time.

I was done with the race by 11:30, but it was 1:00 by the time I got off the base and back out to the highway.  It was 1:45 by the time I got back to my hotel.

When I came into the hotel lobby, I saw that the table with grab-and-go breakfasts was still there.  I didn’t take one in the morning, so I took one when I got back.

Deb likes to shop at farmers’ markets.  They have one in Las Cruces on Saturdays.  While I was at the race, Deb went shopping at the farmers’ market.  I had the car, but she was able to get there and back by taking Lyfts.  When I got back to our room, I saw that Deb had bought me a pecan praline.  She also bought a bag of pecans.  Between the grab-and-go breakfast and the pecan praline, I now had plenty of food for lunch.  That’s good, because I was starving.  Deb had already eaten.

For the rest of the day, I felt wiped out, and it took a long time to rehydrate.  I didn’t have any sore muscles, however.

Sunday, March 23

The next morning, I still didn’t have any sore muscles.  I was rehydrated, so Sunday felt like it was just another day.  I did some strength training after breakfast.  Then we got on the road.

We needed to drive back to Albuquerque, but we had all day to get there, since we weren’t flying home until Monday.  That gave us another opportunity to visit with Jim and Kath.

When we got to Albuquerque, I had just enough time before dinner to go for a short recovery run.  The elevation in Albuquerque is about 5,300 feet, so even a short run was tiring.

About a week ago, I read an article listing the best diner in every state.  The author considered 66 Diner in Albuquerque to be the best diner in New Mexico.  Deb and I had dinner there on a trip to Albuquerque in 2008.  Since we were back in Albuquerque for one more night, we decided to go there for dinner again.

Monday, March 24

Our flight home wasn’t until early afternoon, so we had time for a leisurely breakfast, and I had time to do some walking.

When I saw the official results for the race, I was surprised how slow the average times were.  Even among men in the civilian light division, the average time was 8:25.  Before and during the race, I wondered how this year’s course compared to the course used in previous years.  The results suggest that this course was tougher.  All things considered, I’m happy with my time.  Within my division, I took 27th place out of the 837 men who finished.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  4:45:56

Average Pace:  10:54

First Half:  2:12:02

Second Half:  2:33:54

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  541