Copenhagen Marathon 2.0

Happy, but disappointed.

It’s possible to be both at the same time.

Happy to finish a marathon, but disappointed with how it finished.

Happy with the finishing time, but disappointed to be so far from my goal.

Happy that I kept pushing until the finish line, but disappointed that I had to start pushing with so much distance left.

Happy to finish in 3:40, but disappointed that, for the 3rd marathon in a row, my time had gotten slower after improving my time in each of my first 8 marathons.

It’s also possible to stay that way in the days after and the weeks since.

This year’s Copenhagen Marathon taught me all of these things and more.

Lead Up to Race Day

My stated goal for this race was sub-3:20, but my actual goal (and one that I only told a handful of people) was sub-3:15. I felt ready and believed that this time was possible for me to achieve.

To say that my 14-week training plan went really well would be an understatement. All of my workouts went according to plan, with one minor exception – cutting short a long run about 4 weeks prior to race day.

All my intervals and tempo runs went great. And most of these were even done with a marathon pace that was equivalent to a 3:08 marathon.

In the weeks before I began my training plan, I made it a point to run a lot less mileage and at a lower intensity. I did this in the hopes that I would begin the training plan feeling fresh and ready. And as I said in my post before the marathon (Sub-3:20 or Bust??), I felt really good as the training plan was coming to an end.

As I arrived in Denmark one week before the race, the biggest challenge that I had between then and race day was to try to relax and rest my legs. Admittedly, I didn’t do very well with this in the first few days, but the 3-4 days before the race I took it easy and relaxed a good amount.

With the race only a couple of days away, there were some questions about how warm it would be on race day. Honestly, I thought that the weather forecast looked like decent conditions but, as I would find out, I was wrong.

The race itself

At the start line, clouds kept the temperatures cool and allowed me to be just about where I wanted to be pace-wise through the first several miles/kms.

As the halfway point approached, everything still seemed to be going according to plan.

Then the sun came out fully and right away I knew it would be tough to maintain the pace.

Instantly, it felt like my legs had the energy sucked out of them!

I was able to fight a little longer and stay under my personal best pace until 25 or 26km, but then everything basically fell apart.

If you have ever been in this position, you might know how difficult this is. I had worked for 14 weeks to best prepare myself to reach this goal.

And now, less than 2 hours after the start of the race, the goal was already slowly slipping away.

Of course, I still wanted to finish in the best time possible, but once the possibility of reaching my goal was gone, it became tougher to keep moving forward.

But I also knew that the more I pushed myself toward the finish line, the quicker it would be over. I tried to enjoy it as much as I could in the final kms/miles – by smiling or thanking spectators that were urging me to keep going and even slapping some high fives to kids along the course.

Such was my ‘disappointment’ at my perceived failure, that I just wanted it to be over so that I could go drink a beer with my friend Jan.

Relieved to cross the finish line in 3:40, I was mainly just happy to be done.

Happy, but disappointed.

Then came the messages.

Four different friends messaged me asking “what happened?”.

I know these weren’t intended to be negative; in fact, in hindsight I kind of see them as positives because my friends actually believed that I could achieve my goal.

But at the time, I used these messages as further validation of my ‘failure’.

In the days after, I tried to put the specifics of the race out of my mind as much as I could, so that I could enjoy the last few days of my vacation.

When I returned home, I still did my best to not think too much about the race (hence the big reason why this post is delayed) because each time I started to, I could feel the frustration mounting again.

Then I realized that the frustration I was feeling was because of 2 hours total of the previous 15 or 16 weeks!

And once I realized that I was getting frustrated over such a small amount of time, I was able to change my outlook on the race.

Time (and a bit of perspective) heals most things.

That’s the case here anyway.

I’m not sure what’s next for me, especially as it relates to running marathons. The physical and mental toll of 4 marathon cycles in the last 18 months is evident.

I think that eventually I will run another marathon.

It just might not be until 2024 or later.

Hopefully, when the time comes for another marathon, I can use all of the highs and lows from my first 11 marathons to my advantage and begin to move in the right direction again.

And finish happy, but not disappointed.

Before I finish this up, I have to say a big thank you to everyone that supported me during this training cycle including those people that I inundated with messages in the lead up to the race and the days and weeks after (you know who you are!).