№32 — Vienna City Half Marathon
This blog series started with my first attempt at a marathon and after over half a year, I decided it was time for another attempt. As my company, EY, sponsors all employees participating in any event of the Vienna City marathon, I decided to go for that.
My initial goal was to beat my previous time at roughly 3:58 hours, with the two stretch goals of running a sub 3:45 and possibly even sub 3:30 marathon. Back in January, this all seemed feasible. But then, I got staffed on my current project and my motivation to run dropped to almost zero. During the weeks leading up to the marathon I only ran on the weekend and hardly ever during the week — not the ideal setup.
On race day, it was surprisingly hot for April in Vienna with around 25°C already at the start. After running the first few meters from the Vienna International Center over the Reichsbrücke, I knew this will not be the day where I beat my previous personal best.
I kept up a pretty reasonable pace given my training up until the opera, where you start running on the “Wienzeile”, an uphill stretch with almost no shadow. The sun was burning, I was exhausted and it was only kilometers 12 to 15. It was then, when I ultimately decided to only try for the half marathon.
In addition to the marathon, I was also running the first leg of a relay together with Silia, her brother and my sister. At Schönbrunn I handed over to Silia and was looking forward to the final five kilometers of the race.
I crossed the finish line at 1:55:14, setting my first official time for a half marathon. While I was disappointed that I did not run the full distance, I am glad I decided against it. It would have been very damaging to my body and even dangerous given my current training.
My personal takeaway is to shy away from your goals if they are truly damaging. At least I set a half marathon personal best which I can reasonably beat next time I run. Maybe already in June during the Traunsee Half marathon. As for Vienna, I will be back next year, hopefully with more kilometers in my legs to beat that personal best.
