Dobry den

On the way to Prague now. It is very cold on the plane. Feeling little tired after a whole week of heavy running and heavy eating (especially yesterday). We are probably 40 minutes away from landing in Prague. Not decided yet what we will be doing tonight. Probably just relaxing because it will be too late to visit Expo and Running Mall. I’m excited about my first pacing race. As usual I forgot to pack a few things. This time it’s nothing major like watch or shoes but quite handy when pacing – a pacing band. I have prepared a small excel spreadsheet which is calculating for pace and time based on finishing time goal – ‘very fancy’. Have my logo on the top and branding, but (yet again) forgot to prepare and print it. Maybe they will have a printer at hotel or on the Expo… Will see. Not long to go, cabin crew is starting to sell duty free products. And we have announcement about preparation for landing. Great, couple of minutes left and we will be in Czech Republic for the first time (that one time passing by in the bus doesn’t count). That’s all for now, will continue from the city of Kafka…

Prague has welcomed us with lousy weather and an avalanche of tourists. I hated that city on the Friday evening. We went out for a walk to see Carl’s Bridge and the Old Town. I haven’t seen so many tourists in a long time. All heading in the same direction. After walking for some time we have decided to step into one of the small restaurants/bars. This one was cozy and had a friendly name – “Café Domecek” (Little house cafeteria). But that was the only nice thing about it. We ordered beer and water plus some food. Don’t even remember what exactly because after 1 hour and 15 minutes I have decided that it is enough of waiting and we left. When we had asked staff about the food they couldn’t explain what the problem was… and when they finally brought food it wasn’t ours! At almost 10 PM, on the day when Czech hockey team was playing World Cup game against Sweden the only option was McDonalds. Hmmm, not a great start of Prague adventure… I was grumpy and the whole trip was doomed… That is until next morning and my morning run (7am). Prague suddenly became beautiful. Morning sun, the lack of tourists, friendly joggers and Old Town. On my jog I have met some people preparing for next day marathon. Few of them elite runners. Came back to hotel happy. Had breakfast and we left  for the Expo. One hour walk in the morning sun, with Prague Old Town under your feet… great experience. We walked through a park where I saw for the first time sign ‘Let the dog of the lead’. Strangely enough that wasn’t a typo 😉 Expo, smallish but different exhibitors than the usual suspects. Shanghai marathon, people from Japan promoting all marathons and 100km runs and many from Czech, Slovakia and Denmark. As usual I collected plenty of marathon brochures. New marathons, known ones but always interesting. This time was little bit different. This time I have decided to try my luck and ask about pace maker slots. I was lucky with the Munich marathon later in the year. Now, I can say (Monday) that I have received confirmation email in which organizers are welcoming me as a member of the pacing team.

At the expo I met Michal Vitu (link) who is one of the organizers of the Prague Marathon. He was to provide me with Adidas pacing gear and the 4 hours flag. We decided that I will collect everything from their shop called – ‘Running Mall’ – later that day, before the training run. Me and Bozena have both enjoyed the Expo (hockey tournament, pole dancing competition and the climbing wall).

The next thing planned for the day was a trip to the Running Mall where we were greeted by Michal (the organizer). He also gave me the flag and running gear but we still had to sort out shoes.  After trying on a couple of pairs I settled for size 47 1/3. That was a strange one. Huge shoe size, but in the same time only slightly bigger than my Hoka (46). First marathon in Adidas Ultra Boost. Shoes not to bad for wide feet. Had to tighten laces.

Our training run group was not too big but very colourful and energetic. Runners from China, Poland, Italy and of course from Czech Republic. We were accompanied by Czech badminton champion Petr Koukal and his girlfriend member of Czech biathlon team Gabriela Soukalová. Short run with stretching and other exercises (never did so much stretching in my life). Really enjoyed that short run. Met fellow pacers (Martin Mahony, who was my pacing buddy) and marathon organiser, tried new shoes (at that stage they were ok, after 42.2 km I changed my mind). After training session we have decided that it was a good time for dinner and hoped for better luck with restaurant than the day before. Decided to go back to Old Town for a restaurant hunt. Settled for a small Czech cuisine restaurant. Really nice. Great food, quick service, staff very friendly and brilliant knedliki. Came back to the hotel early in the evening and started to prepare gear for run next day. By the time I was finished it was already late. Bed time. Even though it was my 38th (I think) marathon I was a bit nervous. Pacing for the 1st time. Next day our meeting point was quite a walk from the hotel -about 45 minutes. We got there first but in next few minutes rest of the pacers started to arrive. I have met Michał from Poland who was the third ‘amigo’ for 4 hours. For most of the lads that was the first pacing experience. I think I was the only ‘greenhorn’ there, but with plenty of enthusiasm you can do anything. Took a few photos before the race. Then usual toilet call before race and missed the pacers group photo (as usual, important pictures and I’m not in it).  Alan, Martin and Michał, we went to our wave group. Made silly jokes,bit of jogging around, warming up the crowd and so on… only it wasn’t our group but the one for 4:15! But about that and the marathon you will read in another post…

After making sure that runners who followed me are targeting 4 hours, took selfies with Martin and Michał and  other fellow runners it was time to enjoy my ‘first’ marathon again. I was still a little a bit disappointed that I haven’t got a t-shirt (didn’t know you had to purchase one when registering) but happy. Done my task, I was still in great form and Prague was waiting to be discovered. But first we had to go back to the Running Mall to leave flag and  shoes. I took a quick shower there and we went for an early dinner. Opted for Italian food – pizza and calzone, starters octopus and grilled veggies. Little bit tired after run and dinner we went back to hotel for a nap (Bozena was napping, not me). I was trying to put into words all that happened during the stay in Prague. Late walk to see what was up the street from our hotel. Discovered hidden Starbucks and the Prague Castle. Surprise. Went for an evening walk and came back to hotel with plans for next and the last day. I started the day with almost 13 km recovery run and joined Wifey for breakfast. Afterwards visited the Jewish quarter. Well worth visiting, made us very emotional. Just what we needed at the end of the trip. Great coffee in Kafka bar and headed back to hotel to collect our stuff. We arrived at hotel too early and decided to go for a small walk to see more of the Prague Castle and the Vit cathedral. Cathedral is large in size and was made a great impression. We should have visited that site earlier. 30 minutes after we were sitting in the black Skoda Superb heading towards the airport and regretting that we had so little time in Prague…
Pictures below: