Pain is Temporary; Glory is Forever!

Each year the Maadi Runners Club of Cairo, Egypt, organizes a group trip to a spring marathon in Europe. The occasion provides an opportunity for expatriate members, who formerly lived and worked in Egypt, to get together for an annual runners' reunion. This year the group chose the Prague International Marathon in the Czech Republic. I had lived in Egypt for three years and had run with the Maadi Runners in Paris, Rotterdam, and Madrid. Since I retired and returned to Reston in 2004, I joined the Spring Marathon Maadi Runners "Old Timers" group to run marathons with them in Vienna and Rome. I started my long distance running mania 28 marathon races ago- 1982 in Caracas, Venezuela.

Seventeen of the 26 members of the Maadi Runners Club who came to Prague ran in the race. The rest cheered them on. The runners represented France, Germany, Holland, England, Australia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and the USA. Ann and I joined up with the main group from Egypt, headed by Mohsen Alashmoni, and we took over the entire Villa Bohemia B&B, several Metro stops from the historic town center where the race would start and end.

From a Czech Phrase Book, I practiced survival phrases such as, "Where's the men's room?" and "Two beers please." The Czech language is famous for its absence of vowels-and many words did not have any. I practiced how to say a well-known Czech tongue twister composed entirely of consonants, "Strch prst skrz krk." It means, "Stick your finger through your neck." Every Czech person I recited this phrase to knew it-and they all laughed.

The race directors cut back on cobblestone streets and chose a fast, level course. To avoid hills, they kept the runners on the corniche, the paved embankments beside the Vlatva River. We would run long stretches on both sides of the river and cross five bridges.

Gerard, from Holland, had carefully analyzed the racecourse before coming to Prague and walked part of it when he arrived. The bad news was that the race began and ended on cobble-stoned streets. He also warned us that the last section of the historic Charles River bridge was being widened so construction barriers would narrow and restrict running. Bridge width would reduce from 35 feet to 11 feet for a hundred yards or so. Gerard expected a major backup on the bridge, as all runners would have to slow to a walk to get through the narrow section. Since it was a chip race that would time each runner when crossing the start line, he recommended everyone start way back so the main crowd would have already passed through the bridge obstruction by the time we approached it.

Gerard's warning about a possible bridge bottleneck (and advice to start at the back) worried me. My usual race plan is to "elbow myself to the front and run like hell." I like to start running as soon as the gun goes off-and stay ahead of the main crowd. Every minute I cut from my race time is critical. A group of us scouted the situation on the Charles Bridge. I ended up agreeing with Gerard's assessment. A bottleneck was highly possible.

I had trained long and hard. I wanted a fast and winning time. Worrying about losing precious minutes on the bridge kept me awake and tossing the night before the marathon.

After breakfast race morning, all Maadi Club runners and our supporters crowded into the Metro and headed to Old Town Square to await the start of the race.

Some of the buildings in the Square dated back to the 12th century when it was Prague's central market. Over the centuries, many buildings of Romanesque, Baroque, and Gothic styles were erected around the market. With its ancient buildings, a large memorial statue of Jan Hus, the 15th century religious leader, and magnificent churches, Old Town Square is one of the most beautiful sites in Europe.

A marching band passed our corral, followed by a line of scantily clad, long-legged Mardi Gras dancers. They added much color and excitement for the crowd.

As I lined up in the first corral, I mentally reviewed my race strategy. In hopes of a competitive finish in my age division, I would need a less than four-hour marathon-a pace of 5:40 minutes per kilometer (9 minutes per mile). I would race hard for the first couple of kilometers to quickly get over the Charles Bridge and not be slowed to a walk at a possible logjam. I inched forward in the front corral to position myself right behind the elite, mostly Kenyan, runners.

It was almost 9:00 a.m. The sun was shining and the weather was cool. Before the morning was over, it would get uncomfortably hot. I was pumped and ready for a good race.

The Race

The starting gun cracked and I crossed the start line in seconds. The Kenyans had sprinted off and all the elite racers disappeared ahead in a flash. I kept up a fast pace but many younger runners passed me as we entered the narrow section that took us through the dark cobble-stoned streets of Old Town. After covering a little more than one mile, we turned and got on Charles Bridge-cobblestones all the way. The last 100 yards of the 500-yard bridge were the dreaded construction area that narrowed by two-thirds. I peered through the crowd of runners ahead of me and was relieved that runners did not have to slow. I kept up my fast pace and heaved a sigh of relief when I got through the construction area and off the painful cobblestones.

Charles Bridge is probably Europe's most lovely bridge and one of Prague's main tourist attractions. It was begun during the reign of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV and is decorated with 30 larger-than-life religious statues. I was too apprehensive racing over the bridge to admire the spectacular art during the marathon.

I had stressed myself about the bridge obstruction and had run way too fast at the start, averaging 5:13 for each of the first two kilometers. I kept looking at my watch to check my kilometer splits and kept telling myself to slow down. I didn't want to wear myself out. My adrenalin was flowing since my fast start. It wasn't until kilometer 6 that I finally slowed to my target 5:40/km pace.

The Race Course

As we came off the bridge, we turned right and ran downriver on the corniche, the paved embankment road that bordered the Vlatva (Moldau) River.

We passed Parliament building, a 17th century palace. The road was generally flat and made for fast running. The Lidensky Bridge was level and wide and we passed back over the river at about 6.5 kilometers and headed upriver toward the corniche and the river road. We ran to the half marathon point and then turned downriver, crossing back over the river at a bridge near kilometer 25 and again headed upriver.

We turned north at kilometer 28 and soon we crossed a bridge to the other side of the river at kilometer 37. Then came a heart- pounding home stretch along the river road to cobble-stoned Parlizska Street, famous for chic shops, French and Italian boutiques, and cafes. We passed the Cartier store on the corner, poured into Old Town Square, and in a moment were on the blue carpet that led to the finish line.

Do We Ever Learn?

Since Prague was my 28th marathon, I should have known better than to start out so fast and keep it up for six kilometers. I would pay dearly for that early speed. For a long time, none of the Maadi Runners were near me. I felt comfortable running up front for almost 30 minutes, ahead of others in my group. Suddenly Lobna of our Cairo group came alongside me. We exchanged greetings; she picked up speed and ran ahead. Anneke, our fast Dutch runner, came next and went by quickly. Next Antje, from Germany, sped by. This was her first marathon and she ran effortlessly. Zohra, Algerian masters runner from Cairo, passed and, as usual, she ran easily despite her foot injuries. Monica, an American now working in Jordan, came alongside and then she too took off fast. Even Amany, also from Cairo, who was recovering from a recent operation and had stopped to use a porta-john, still easily caught me and ran by! Why were all the women passing me?

Because the women were all younger and faster, that's why!

I didn't see the other fast men of our group. Roland, a South African from Saudi Arabia, Michael, a Scot from England, Alex, an Australian from England, and Mohammed from Cairo, must have all passed by without our noticing each other.

Race Support

The race was well-organized and supported with frequent water stops and places to get sponge water, fruit, and salts. As I passed the first sponge stop, I dipped two in the cold-water tubs and thoroughly doused myself. As I ran off, I squeezed out the remaining water from the sponges onto my head-and instead of tossing both to the ground, as everyone else was doing, I stuck one in the waistband of my shorts. The sponge felt blessedly cool stuck in the small of my back. I kept the sponge for the entire race because I wanted to use it later for watercolor painting.

As time went on, I noticed I was dipping my sponge into tubs of dirty water. And the sponges in the tubs were dirt-spotted. Volunteers were picking up the sponges the runners had tossed to the ground and were rinsing them out to remove the dirt particles. Then they placed the rinsed sponges in water for the next batch of runners to use. I was glad I had kept my own sponge. Dozens of runners ran over the sponges before they were recovered and rinsed off. No wonder they were dirty!

I had crossed the half marathon mark at exactly two hours flat. A good predictor of a marathon finish time is to double the half marathon time and add 10 minutes. If I could finish in 4:10:00, that would be a credible time for me and perhaps it would be good enough for a division award. I hoped I could maintain my pace. With each kilometer marker, I checked to see how close I was to my 5:40 per kilometer target pace. I wasn't doing too well. The sun was now higher and the heat was getting to me. With each water stop, I slowed. I was no longer running through the water stops while drinking from the paper cups. Now I was walking and sipping slowly-thankful for the brief reprieve from running.

I passed the 32 kilometer (20 mile) marker where runners are supposed to exhaust their glycogen and hit the wall. I was pleased when I went by the marker without incident. In my experience, 20 miles is only the halfway point in a marathon. I consider the final 10 kilometers of the marathon to be the Bataan Death March. Very painful.

Suddenly I got a muscle cramp in my calf. It struck shortly after that dreaded imaginary wall. Soon the cramp became so painful I had to stop and stretch against a wall or streetlight. I stopped to do wall push-ups twice every kilometer. I was carrying a bottle of analgesic spray and I applied it to my calf often. The stretching and the spray only provided temporary relief. I had to stop frequently.

A gray-haired runner kept passing me whenever I stopped. He appeared to be in my 70+ division. His pace was slower than mine, but because he didn't have to stop, he relentlessly moved ahead of me. So as soon as I stretched to relieve my calf pain, I had to race to catch up and pass him. My calf hurt but I had to play catch-up with that silver fox until the finish. That yo- yoing kept me breathing heavily for the last eight kilometers. I had pushed hard to pass that senior runner (a possible age division competitor) and as I came to the last main street, I made maximum effort to put more distance between us. I kept going as I entered the painful cobblestones of Old Town Square and headed to the blue carpeting that led to the arch with the overhead clock-and the end of the race.

I crossed the finish line in 4:24:17. The calf pain subsided within seconds. I didn't think about the cramp any more. I felt great! Pain is temporary. Glory is forever. I won first place in my age division.

No surprise, a Kenyan was the first to cross the finish line more than two hours before me. But I felt I was the winner. The Maadi Club women runners who passed me early did well in their own age divisions. Zohra won 3rd, Danielle 4th, and Antje placed 6th.

Kenyan Wins Prague International Marathon

The first place male was Kenneth Mburu from Kenya with a time of 2:11:06 and a 16,000 Euros prize. The top ten runners were all from Kenya.

The female winner was Natalya Yulamanova from Russia with a time of 2:31:43. Her first place purse was only 8,000 Euros, half the male winner's prize money!

Is Prague a good place to visit to run a marathon? The racecourse is flat with about two kilometers of cobblestoned streets; it mostly snakes up and down the river, with long stretches on both banks. The city, however, is wonderful-- beautiful and interesting! The towns around Prague are charming. I would highly recommend visiting the Czech Republic and spending a week or more. If you are a runner looking for a special spring marathon in Europe, this may be the one!

The 2009 Prague International Marathon weekend will be May 7- 10. More information can be found on the race Web site.