The Prague Half Marathon

Having become a little chunky due to time spent living in the Beer Republic, coupled with my ambition to one day run a Half Marathon, late December 2009 was perfect timing for me to enter the 2010 Prague Half Marathon.

Training started early on a Saturday morning, January 2nd. A regime of 3 visits, weekly, to the gym became habit, impeded only by two weeks of flu and one week of having a sprained ankle - only two weeks before the race, too!


It was great to exercise so much. Sometimes I went with energy, sometimes just feeling tired. But no matter what, I left feeling energised, if a little incapacitated to climb the stairs. Although I started out drinking water followed by Powerade after my workout, I was finally able to drop the blue solution that stained my tongue, and burned my wallet.

I felt better for my eating pattern, too. I focused on protein, adding extra chicken and salmon into my diet, even more so as the race approached. Fresh fruit played its part too, the strawberry and pineapple smoothies really hitting the spot after an hour and a half on the treadmill!

Powered by new Christmas-present-trainers and a new running top, I felt good during my workouts and was gradually able to run for longer and longer. Getting more and more tired though, and every day I was able to fall asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.

Finally the big day came, the day of the race, and despite the promises of several friends and acquaintances to enter the race, or even go to watch, I was alone. As I waited at the start area, the wind was fairly strong and I was jumping up and down just to keep myself warm.

The race started and after the four minutes it took for me to cross the start line (there were more than 8,000 people entered in the race) I was able to stretch out my legs. It felt good running down the outside of the group and passing dozens of people. I wondered whether I was setting off too quickly.

Time passed quickly and I passed the pacemakers for 2:00 and 1:50 sooner than I had expected. Looked like the training on a 3% gradient was paying off. The music choice (DJ EZ - Pure Garage IV) really paid off and was pushing me forward. As we got to the halfway point I was feeling in good condition and the 15 degree cloudy weather with the breeze was perfect for my confidence.

Having set myself a target of 2 hours in which to finish the race, I knew I was going to beat it quite comfortably, but as I saw the "300 Metres Left" sign alongside the final bridge, I picked up the pace and surged past many other competitors. At this stage, my surroundings were just a blur to me, my lungs temporarily reduced to what seemed like 20% capacity, but I pushed on and sprinted over the finish line, trying to take in the time display over the finish line: 1:47:19! I had run a "chip time" of just 1:42:57 and run faster than I'd dared to imagine.

I bowed my head to be awarded my medal, then looked for something to drink and a cup of water. I'd done it! So what next?