The week of the marathon.
On completion of a small 3.3 mile run on Sunday 13th I decided it was time to rest up a bit more.
Further to this I had a physio appointment on Wednesday, hopefully ideal timing before the race. I decided it best not to do any more training until I got to Amsterdam.
Arrival in Amsterdam was delayed Friday due to heavy fog but on entering we swiftly decided to get our bib numbers sorted and back to where we were staying to get fully sorted before doing a bit of a training run.
Unfortunately this training run of 3.3miles on the evening of Friday resulted in my knee problem flaring up again.
A minor physio session on the previous Wednesday told me everything was perfect so this was a bit disappointing.
In my stubbornness I was determined not to leave it get the better of me. I took the decision to again rest/slightly stretch out the area.
I made it to race day and to the start line. But deep down I knew this wasn't to be my day. 2 miles in, again the knee problem flared getting worse by every mile. A mental game plan set in as now it wasn't how quick I could do it rather than the thought of how could I finish it.
I thought to myself that seeing at 2 miles the soreness was minimum but building, I would try to get as much done as quick as possible because I knew the 2nd half would be a problem. I went through 13.1 miles in a relatively decent time of sub 1hr 42 minutes.
By know knee pain was at its worst and flexibility was at a minimum. My main focus now was to finish.
Unfortunately at later stages I had to stop, which I despise doing, but the pain needed to be stretched out as it was almost unbearable. Stops at 18,20 & 23 miles roughly, had to be done to do this. My last 3+ miles were completed at a very slow pace bit the main intention was to keep going at a constant pace that I could manage.
Although not pleased at all with the time it took to complete a couple of things surprised me. My mentality, resilience and stubbornness helped me to finish. These three attributes to me have never been tested this much before.
3 hours 43 minutes & 12 seconds later it was all done.
968th place in the senior men's category, 3577 overall out of 14 thousand plus race starters is not a bad finish considering all aspects.
Here's hoping to a good recovery and further better things to come.
Please find entailed my running details below:
Results TCS Amsterdam Marathon 2013
Bib number: 1865
Name: Emmet Russell
City: Tipperary
5 km: 24:48 (24:48)
10 km: 48:32 (23:44)
15 km: 1:12:02 (23:30)
20 km: 1:35:57 (23:55)
21,1 km: 1:41:12
25 km: 2:00:43 (24:46)
30 km: 2:27:27 (26:44)
35 km: 2:59:51 (32:24)
40 km: 3:31:05 (31:14)
Net time: 3:43:13
Gross time: 3:51:05
Speed: 11,342 Km/Hour
Distance: TCS Amsterdam Marathon
Place: 968 / Msen
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