Vienna marathon. These marathons are emotional experiences, given they drain you so much physically.

Picking up the race number saturday wasn't as good as I would have hoped - they were missing bags for handing in to the ruhatar etc, but we got it sorted out eventually. This was the only real black spot against what is for me the best marathon in the world (I have limited experience).

I found the Polar shop in the exhibition centre and YES :), they had a sensor that worked, I could finally tell my heart beat when running. :) :)

Sunday morning, we arrived slightly late, but got there in time. It was perfect running weather - 11C little wind, little rain. We started, and tons of people rushed out - whoops heart beat up to 178 at 2km, made myself slow a little and got myself back to 150 BPM, or just under. 

Perhaps I was guilty of relaxing it a bit too much, my pace wasn't sufficient, but it is the eternal dilemna of holding enough back for the second half. My first half marathon was weak (by my expectations) at 1h38m16.A Quick re-evaluation - as much as I really wanted a 3h15 marathon, I want to do as fast as I can . At the begining of the year I would have been thrilled with 3h20, so I settled for that.

From 15km on, it was strange, I stopped looking at the time and looked only at my BPM - maybe experienced runners are used to this, but I only got this sensor yesterday. 152 is ok for me, but I wanted to keep it under that (I am 41 - male).

It got harder and harder at 30km, the first question for me was, can I manage the whole distance, then if that was a yes, when can I push it? kms 31, 32 etc to 36 - ow! I felt my thigh muscle from 21km, then left hip.

Marathon running seems to be about managing discomfort - there are so many areas which can go wrong :) but you need to manage and balance all of those while pushing, pushing and pushing. So I pushed. kms 30-36 were not nice, holding on and keeping going, not letting it get too loose or slow. There is a disconnect between the comfort 'level' in the brain and reality and I needed to push it a bit, so that my time remained within what I expected.

I finally got to 38km and I let go. Well - I mean I started to run fast, it must have been 4m30 pace, and yes it hurt :) BPM went to 165 at after 40km, and 170 at the end.

I passed a lot of people and it is the first time I have run a marathon and been able to properly accelerate the pace at the end.

I have to be honest and admit I am not happy with the time, I REALLY wanted 3h15, but I it seems that in the first half marathon I wasn't  close, but I have to listen to my body and not let my head determine the pace. The good parts of the conclusion are that my second half marathon was 1h40m33 - less that 2 minutes slower thanmy first half. then I practically sprinted at the end  - though I didn't have anything left!

So, I am a bit disappointed, but, it is a new personal best by about 13 minutes. I'm not THAT disappointed, I don't seemd to be injured and I will push on from here. 

Also it seems that the web page at http://www.justgiving.com/Martin-Viennamarathon2012 has delivered, and really that is more important that any small disomforts I might have. My father died with Leakaemia, so for me that matters more than a race time.

For me marathons are emotional things - because you are so drastically drained at the end, but I was and am extremely happy to make that target of 250 pounds (it is coming).

I wonder about ultra running, it must be even more extreme....