VEM maraton Funchal, Portugal (2023/01/22)

Smiling as long as possible... and then smiling some more 😊

Fick ett påminnelse från Lennart att publicera nåt om loppet.... Varsågod! 🤗🌞🥈

European Masters Athletics Championships marathon (Funchal, Portugal (2023/01/22): 3:18:34
Total 93 (out of 245 finishers), Place 11th female, Age category 2
Silver in team W45

In short: one silver medal is nice, but two is even better.🥈

Let's face it. I came for the sun. Expected some rain. Did not see the rolling hills coming. Wished the wind had stayed home.

Started with a short night, as usual. Took a bus with many other runners... of which none asked the bus driver to stop at the correct place until with all saw the sign km5 of the race... ie we were not close to the start. Bit of stress already with 12 minutes for being in the call room. Taxi shared with British. Made it. Met the other Swedes. Dropped my bag. Got a fake warmup of 3 minutes. Done.

08:00 was the start of the marathon. We waited 5 minutes for the marathon championships to start... with running UP a hill!!! Ok, short, but steep. Did not dare checking the pace until passing km3. Good rhythm for 3 loops, passing the half-marathon in 1:36:57. 4 minutes slower than hoped, but with the rollingstupidhills of those loops, I did the best I could. Kept passing gals during this time. After that, not a chance. Kept with a Swiss, knowing that the two Spanish from the start were a bit behind, and the second Romanian from my AG was off too. We were now 4 races on the course, as a halfmarathon and a 8K had started a bit later than us. Still place around to run comfortably. The 4th lap was dull and tough. Cursing in my head on those stupid hills kept me running. Or was it the annoying guy acting as my shadow and using me as pacer? Reached km30 with a smile. Even with 1hr for the final 12km and I would have a decent time. And then came THE downhill... Ran down at a low pace of 4:16/min for 800m (and my quads will hate me tomorrow). 25% incline?...🤣
Roundabout. Cobblestones (yeaah...not!). Passed the cathedral, and I was in known territory, as I had jogged around this part the day before (on fresh and rested legs... not really the same as racing km36, full sun in the face and still 3 laps to go...). Got the first lap out of the way. Not real fast, but still ok. The turning point was different for marathon and half marathon, but many ended wrong. Not me... I got the full length. Passed the finish line a fist time, got a "Two laps to go" from a judge. Hated fully the 300m of small stones after that, accelerated on the asphalt, got up the little street, aaaaand down to lap#2. Ok, no longer fun. With all the water I threw on me at water station, I felt and was soaked. The legs felt tired, but still moving. One mor turning point. More stupid headwind. Drop in the pace. Saw other runners on their final lap on the other side of the road. Gave a bit of hope. Passing the finish line a 2nd timer. One more lap to go. Hated the small stones once more. Asphalt hot me a smile. Little up. And down. Less than 3km. Still gaff to endure the straight line to the turning point. Done. Headwind. Finally the 41km-sign made sense. Actually got done extra strength. Accelerated. Passed 42km. Pushed a bit more. And Finish Line, I'm all yours.

Stopped the watch. 1 second faster than Annecy marathon last year. Good start considering the 2 surgeries during the autumn the month almost off all training, and all the things around called life, work, and else.

Happy to get a silver podium. Third championships I get this silver, twice at World, and now European. Even got silver for team with 2 other Female swedes. Yeah!

European vice-champion. Not a bad start for the season. More work to get back on track for the speed. Starting up with new challenges next week. Rest planned for a few days, then tune to get crackin'.
A good Sunday run on the sunny fennel city.

Athlete still at work. Impossible is nothing. Trust the process. Consistency is key.