This weekend it was time to start the intensive preparations for the opening of the racing season (which last year consisted of the grand total of one race). I was kind of sceptic about even making it to the starting line of the annual Teboil 1/2 Marathon held in Espoo, because this year it was held only 2 days after the first of May.
When I was walking towards the starting line (almost missing the starting time) I wasn't feeling very confident since it was packed with spandex in all colours and levels of tightness. With such professional looking opponents I thought I'd be happy to finish in the top 5. Anyway in the end my preparations of first emptying the mind with scotch whiskey and some Russian Standard Platinum and then later on emptying the body with the help of ethiopian coffee hadn't gone all wrong since I managed to actually race rather competitively.
In the start I of course rushed to the front and managed to stay close to it for the first 13km or so. After that I wasn't really feeling too well and actually had some unexpected pain on my chest for a quick moment. After that I decided not to try to follow the leader who was a competitive level orienteerer or something as extreme.
After that it was competing for the second place and when there was like 5km left the guy on the second place - an ultra-runner - had his coach to jump to the circuit and run with him. At that point those two ran away comfortably and I spent the last 5 km securing my third place. I'm not sure if I should try to challenge ultra-runners with coaches running with them in the first place.
In the end, not a bad result at all - official half-marathon at 1:23:something (can't remember) on a relatively slow cross-country circuit and third place. And I still haven't lost a race to anybody not representing an endurance sport team!
I'll post the actual results and maybe some pictures when they appear online - which might take a few days.
Oh, and it was really pleasant eating like 3000kcal of ham&shrimp pasta + more while watching Manchester United get even closer to sealing the Football Premier League title, not to mention El Clásico, which was probably one of the most enjoyable El Clásicos ever especially in my point of view.
Red Devil & siempre Anti-Madridista
- Jason
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Heh, mikä vika siinä on kisata vapun aikaan? ;P Itse vietin lähes koko vapun neljän seinän sisällä osittain senkin takia, että oli/on hiukan flunssaa.
VastaaPoistaUpea aika kyllä - vaatii alle 4min/km-vauhtia, johon mulla luultavasti riittää rahkeet vain vajaan tunnin ajan.
Sitten on vielä kommentoitava noita kahta peliä, jotka itsekin tietysti seurasin alusta loppuun (Virkkusen Tuomas oli taas vireessä). Rooneylta upea syöttö Parkin maaliin, eikä ManU jättänyt mitään tsänssejä. Toisaalta Barca oli vielä punaisia paholaisiakin parisataa prosenttia korkeammalla tasolla, vaikka Messi missasikin paikkoja liukuhihnalta ;).
-Kosti (ManU, Pool, Barca)