LUX marathon

This marathon was long awaited one. I have made initial contact to organizers of the event back at the end of 2015 when I was pacing Munich. After some time after that I was contacted by Michael from Luxembourg who is responsible for pacers. We had agreed that 4:14 will be ok time for me, for my first time. And couple months later me and my Wife were in Luxembourg to run and support. I suppose to meet new pacing team and experience new marathon. When I was discussing with Michael times option he has advised me that Luxembourg marathon is one with quite an incline and challenging finish (last 12 km). He told me that usually it takes 15-20 minutes more than usual marathon time to finish here and same thing applies to pacing. So, instead of usual 3:45 or 4 h I was in pair with Holger to pace 4:14.

I have never been to Luxembourg (for Bozena that was already second visit). So, it was as much about running as experiencing new place. First thing… no Ryanair flights there. To get to Luxembourg you need to use Luxair airline. Prices higher but much better quality of service. Flight is little bit over 2 hours but during that time you are getting you free sandwich and drinks. Stuff is very kind and nice. And as I would see that is common in Luxembourg. When I have landed I got phone call from Bozena (she was in Luxembourg already) that there is taxi waiting for me in front of the terminal building. I suppose to look for black estate Mercedes. My thought was that it will be nice ride. And then… ups. Most of the taxis in Luxembourg are either BMW or Mercedes, all estates and blackish. So, had to call Bozena again to give me little bit more details about my driver and after next 5 minutes of oozing for him I was sitting in the proper car. Journey to hotel took a little bit, even that it was just 9 km from the airport. Reason for that was Friday. All working in Luxembourg but not living there were going home. Mostly to different countries , sic! Germany, France or Belgium. Each day population of Luxembourg is increasing by about 180 000 – 200 000 people who driving there to work . And we have been caught by them going back home. Small hotel in exact centre of Luxembourg city, with entrance from ‘Old Town’ market. When I have arrived there Bozena was waiting for me already. I was so glad to see her after 4 days of being alone in the house (in theory was accompanied by 2 not well behaved dogs). I left the luggage and we went for a walk to see what city has to offer. Quick stop for dinner and we started our wandering. Without a clue where to go and what to see we were deciding on the go which direction to take. Saw something interesting in the distance so we went there. This way we have visited Palace, main train station, red district, Cathedral and other sites in the Old Town. We stopped couple of times to enjoy nice views of the city. You could see the ‘layers’ of Luxembourg. being in the highest point of city centre you could see houses and park over 50 meters below. All cause Luxembourg was a citadel and fort. And what is the best way to build fort than on the top of the mountain and then making sure that access to it will be hard – climb that 50 meters up. We went to bed late that day, so next morning wasn’t an early one. For me our second day was quite a tricky one. I was running marathon in the evening. Didn’t  know what to eat, when to eat and so on. Totally new experience. Breakfast, toast with cheese and ham, one small pain du chocolat with tea. Probably that was light enough and shouldn’t affect my stomach during run but there was of course another meal still to go. If I could I would just run with breakfast but marathon was at 7 pm and I would probably starved to death till then and if not I would die during run cause of lack of energy. After breakfast we went to marathon expo to pick up my bib umber and runner pack. And it wasn’t there. Stuff for pacers will be given on pacers meeting later in the day. But to get that info I had to talk to marathon staff at, wait now, ‘Trouble Desk’. Expo itself wasn’t too big. But what you can see straight away is that there are totally different companies with stands than in Ireland and UK. Some of these I have seen in Munich. Most of these were local or from counties near by (Germany, France). Some familiar marathons stands. As usual Ravena, Nice, Düsseldorf. Again questions about pacing have been asked but this time no luck. Most of the marathons have their own pacing teams. On the expo there was Polish team of masseurs and Bozena decided to try relaxing massage. She was really impressed with the whole experience and actually wanted more. Sorry, not this time. But I know that she will ask me to find out if there is any masseur near us. After drinking coffee or tea in my case we have decided to continue sightseeing. Had to come back to city centre to do that. We have visited some of the places we saw day before to see these in the sunlight. We have visited as well Oberweis chocolate factory. Went to see some parts of the marathon route. And what do you know I would run in front of our hotel. Spent really nice morning and early afternoon. We went for lunch and took salads to avoid any potential problems when it comes to marathon pitstops (by the way, worked ok). And than quick visit in our hotel. Even 25 minutes nap…

Our pacers meeting was at 5 PM back where we had expo. Cause my routine was already messed up by timing I took quick shower. Used Vaseline and Sudocream where needed. Put my running gear and I was ready. Even that pacers meeting was 2 hours before the marathon we saw plenty of runners already heading towards starting line. Our bus was packed. When arrived we had to find Michael, which wasn’t too easy cause he was nowhere to find and it is hard to get any info if you can’t speak French, understand German but have problems talking back and person you talk to doesn’t know English. After 5 minutes Michael has appeared and informed us that ‘pacers room’ has been relocated. I have met rest of the gang and noticed that there was more first timers in Luxembourg than just me (there was actually first timer as pacer altogether – she was pacing 5 h). Really nice bunch of people. Met my partner in crime – Holger. We talked little bit about tactics and our run. He has introduced me to others. And it looks that I made an quite an impact with amount of marathons I have run (members of Marathon Club Ireland I know that for us it is normal to have some many runs under our belts). On girl actually recognised me from Munich. That was a nice surprise. We got our bibs and gear. Luxair running shirt sponsor, calf compression sleeves by gococo an these were customized. Each of us had pacing time on back of the calf. Left one hours, right one minutes and of course some of us put these other way around (not me, I was ok). After briefing we went to take photo for sponsors (and to get extra 15% discount for other products). Photos done. Now was time for last toilet visit and after that I was heading to starting line. With 30 minutes to go I started my stretching. Checked our coral group. And what has surprised me no one actually was asking me questions about tactics for a run. Usually I would answer same pace all the way but this time there specific tactic had to be executed. with 12 km before the finish route was going just up and up. Not too much but incline of 100 m over the last 12 km may ‘kill’ race for some. So, this time tactic was to go slightly quicker till 30 km mark to have maybe 2-3 minutes spare and then we could go slower on the last, long uphill. Couple of minutes before start Holger joined me. He tried before to find his daughter who was running half marathon. He was unlucky before the race and during. After the race me and Bozena met Holger’s daughter. She got great time of 1:27. When me and Holger were discussing our tactics one of of pacer joined us. She was pacing 4:45 (I think). She mentioned that she remembered me from Munich marathon. Was nice to hear that. That was just confirmation that marathon runners are meeting each other all over the world. Sometimes don’t even realise that…
Start now. All the starting line probably about 10000-11000. Rest is waiting on the relay change points. Took us about 9 minutes to actually start our run. We knew that there is on runner who wants to follow us. She was preparing herself for half IronMan. And that supposed to be training run for her. First marathon as well. First 2 km took us through relatively narrow streets considering runners crowd size. Really was hard to got into proper pace and rhythm. Took about 3 km to find free stop where we could run our pace without being disturbed. Me and Holger started to chat about our runs and different experiences during races. He explained me that Luxembourg marathon is specific when it comes to supporters. Told me that part when we are running towards Old Town and Old Town itself is brilliant when comes to cheers. Reason for that is simple – city centre. Plenty of people and tourist. And that is dying out when you are leaving city centre and running towards suburbs. Even that there are still cheers on the way that is really not type is support which could lift spirit of runner who needs that. But, having said that I need to add that whoever was on the side of the road to support was very responsive to our gestures. When Holger and I asked them to ‘make noise’ they did that. Increasing cheer – not a problem. We were showing them what they should do for runners and they did. At least we knew that whoever was running with us was having good time. Yes, and now we got to the point where I should mentioned our runners group. Even that 30 km from starting line was mostly downhill and flat, so, should be easier part, we have lost all runners. To be honest on the half way point we were running with Holger alone. Our group was forming for couple of minutes when we caught with runners in front of us. They run with us for some time then drop back leaving us alone again. That was not the first time when I have experienced that but never in marathon were was about 3000 runners. At about km 16th we have run through market place where our hotel was located. Before that, we run on the main streets of Luxembourg City. But just 2 km after passing our hotel we were in the suburban area. Less support more discussions between me and Holger. We were really counting on our group that it will find us, eventually. Our GPS watches were showing about 200 meters more than km markers. But it was constant. 200 meters and difference wasn’t growing. Until km no 21. At this stage we were 300 m behind (according to watch, so lost 500 m). That was unpleasant surprise. Meant that we lost our 2-3 minutes cushioning. Actually were 3 seconds behind the schedule. That was km 21. Of course same story with halfway point gate. We lost our group, were 3 seconds behind the schedule and need to go slightly quicker to get some spare time before incline. Not great. Me and Holger were trying to work out what was wrong. His idea was that marker for 22 km will come faster than we think. And he was right. marker 22 and our watches again were showing that we run just 200 m more. Back on track then. But still no sign of our group. When I have asked Holger about that one girl who said that she will be following us he couldn’t say when she slowed down and lost us. Sun light started to fade and we were still before lowest point of the race – 30 km mark. With still 5 km to that point of the route we were running over the bridge and we saw below 40 meters below were we will be in about 30 minutes. Small loop now and we were down there. At this stage it was already dark. In the park where we were running there was lightfest. Lampposts, fires along the route. Very mystique surroundings. At the end of the park climb to finish line has started. Pace looked about same. Still just me and Holger. When we climbed up to level of city centre I have dropped for couple of seconds into pub to check result of Champions League final game between Real and Atletico. Did that cause saw through the window that Atletico players are celebrating. That was equalising goal. 1-1. We had now about 6 km to go and still one bigger push. Now we had to slow down to get proper time and try to motivate runners who were now started to slow down. Small group has now created. Most of the runners who joined us for whole race was in front of us. Now we caught them and were trying to push them to get 4:14 with us. Just about 3 km to go there was small pub in the park. They were serving ‘alcohol frei’ beer. Really nice touch. Earlier in the race we were discussing with Holger that we will make as tiny beak in here to get a zip of that beer. 2 km to go. We have still over a 1 minute to spare. 41 km mark is the highest point of the marathon. After that slightly down and flat. Between 40 th and 41 st we had to push others quite a bit. We could see tiredness on their faces. Most of them was struggling but was trying to get over the line. We lost our cushioning at this stage. But there was just 500 m left. Access to Luxexpo grounds and than into entrance 8 where we were finishing inside of one of the exposition halls of the expo. Most of the runners who we were pushing on the last 3-4 km was with us. Don’t know if they got their time, all that was depending on their starting time, but they wee with us. We crossed the line with couple of seconds before 4:14. Timed that exactly as we wanted. I think both of us have nice time running with each other. We had to split just after the run. I went to look for Bozena and Holger went to look for his wife and daughter. Promised to stay in contact if we won’t see each other later. Found Bozena and we went to ‘pacers room’. I had to change my clothes. Decided that will take shower in hotel. Will be easier. Meanwhile Atletico lost on penalties and I forgot to give back my time chip. So, needed to go back to finish line and go through whole area to leave chip at the end. When come back to Bozena we met Holger with his family. He introduced us and informed us that his daughter run quite a race with (as mentioned before) 1:27. We talk for a while and after that went to bus stop.
Maybe we can repeat that next year. Who knows… Maybe I will be invited again.

Little bit more pictures than last time.