Mission Accomplished!!!

Some three weeks ago now (27th November) I took part in my third marathon, in Valencia, and after two disappointing efforts over the distance I finally got it right! After the previous two efforts I felt a mixture of relief at finishing, a little joy, but the overriding feeling was of disappointment at not being able to complete the races running all the way round and feeling that I hadn't done myself justice. This time it was pretty much just joy!

I finished the race in 3:12:49 with a chip time of 3:11:04 (although with my watch I had 3:11:10 and given that the leaders had this same difference of six seconds between chip and real I'm going with my watch) which is an improvement of about 55 minutes from my previous best. As with any other race I've ever done, I still feel I could have done better, hindsight is both a blessing and a curse, but I am content that I was close to reaching the limits of my performance as they stand. I ran all the way round, with a steady pace most of the way. I slowed a bit from kilometre 35 to 40, but even in that split I was still about 20 seconds per kilometre quicker than in my fastest 5k split when I ran in Madrid.

Thank you Valencia! I have to say the course was perfect, the weather was perfect, there were plenty of people on the street cheering us on, live music around the course, it was set up perfectly for me to have a great run, and thankfully I could take advantage of the opportunity. You can see my run here Maraton de Valencia de elmaratonero en Garmin Connect: Detalles.




Like many people, occasionally I suffer from moments of self-doubt, what I gain from running is the self-belief that comes from seeing that if I put my mind to achieving a goal with persistence and hard work I can achieve it. November 27th 2011 will be a day I will be able to look back on in those moments of self doubt and say 'yes I can', there aren't many harder challenges than running a marathon, if I can do that well I can do anything.


Thanks for reading and accompanying me on this journey.


I'll be back soon with more stories from the roads.


Hasta pronto


El maratonero