Cav's Place

I’ll now be picking up from where I left off, but as I already mentioned, this is initially just a placeholder, once again scheduled to be posted at 11:59 PM, since I’m once again going out in the evening. And, after getting up and doing the day’s squats, I rolled the dice for my little giveaway on the GOG.com forums, even filming the process, though I didn’t upload the videos anywhere… And I forgot the water for the tea on the stove while doing that, so it’s a really good thing that it didn’t spill over badly enough to put out the fire once again when it started boiling, since it was close to an hour before I went back there and realized it, so it’d have been the equivalent of a huge gas leak otherwise, despite the window being left ajar. Either way, doing that, then shaving as well, and then watching the handball match and eating lunch, with an entire large bag of corn puffs instead of bread, means I’m very hastily throwing together this placeholder, limited just to this paragraph and the following one, at half time, since I’ll need to leave right after the match. And it was weeks later, on the evening of February 6, when I finally edited the post in order to add more, and by that I mean four more paragraphs, up to the one about kilometers 30 to 32, while the rest was only added on June 7, by which time I had obviously forgotten even more.

I mentioned in the first part that my calculations started from reaching the halfway point with an official time below 1:50 and, despite failing to catch the 1:50 half marathon pacemakers, I managed to do so, having almost half a minute in hand at that point. That was very little, but it gave me a chance, if I managed to really stick to the plan from then on. And that plan required 5:30 per kilometer until 25 km, then averaging six minutes per kilometer for the next ten kilometers, most preferably staying under that time for the first five in order to be able to go over six minutes by a similar total time for the following five, then averaging 6:30 per kilometer for kilometers 36 to 40, and then seven minutes per kilometer for 41 and 42, which would have left me with a minute and a half, or close to two minutes if I also added what I had gained before reaching the halfway point, for that final portion.
I also already mentioned in the first part a few times obtained in the later part of the race, but now I’ll go through things chronologically and in more detail, starting from the fact that, while the number of runners obviously dropped drastically at the halfway point, when the half marathon runners finished their race, the fact that I was focused on staying ahead of the 3:45 pacemakers until 22 km and then ate that bar, stayed right behind those pacemakers for a little while longer and worked through the numbers and possible strategies, meant that I only really noticed it after turning off Unirii Boulevard, past the National Library, when those pretty empty first couple of hundred meters also made it all too obvious, and quite disheartening, since I found myself without targets to chase… And without people to stay behind, and staying behind others as much as possible was an important part of my strategy, and I tried to do it whenever possible, to use them to reduce air resistance and get whatever advantage I could, especially when I was running against the wind. And this likely made quite a difference because, while the wind was fortunately not that bad, it turned during the run, so I ran against it more than I had to in previous years.
Either way, I was pleased to see that I reached 25 km 21:59 after passing the halfway point, so while that actually meant an average of a little more than 5:30 per kilometer, the halfway point being at just about 21.1 km, it was nevertheless on target. But, while the plan allowed me to get slower after that point, it couldn’t be by much, any gains compared to six minutes per kilometer until 30 km being what I was going to be able to afford to lose compared to that same target until 35 km. And just after 25 km there was a refreshment point and then I was once again running against the wind, plus that I was starting to feel myself tiring, so being careful with my strategy and taking advantage of any chance to stay behind another runner was even more important. And, speaking of that, there was a somewhat funny moment on that part of the route, well before it turned, when I had spent a little time behind another runner and then passed two others just when one was telling the other that during the race that she had been telling him about you’re not allowed to take it easier by staying behind another.
After passing 27 km, so probably before the turn, which was around or maybe a little after 27.5 km, my tiredness became increasingly notable, and while the lack of detailed notes and the amount of time that passed since then make me uncertain about this, I seem to remember being surprised that it seemed like I was still running against the wind, which seemed to have turned pretty much at the same time I did. Then again, I remember checking the forecast and seeing that it was actually supposed to start turning around the time when I’ll reach that turn, but that it was going to take about an hour to completely reverse, yet at that point, if I remember correctly, it really seemed that it was determined to make me run against it in both directions on that part of the route. And it was around 29 km, so probably just before passing that gas station the second time, when I’d say that I hit the wall. The great thing was that I still felt no notable pressing need, the fact that I was also, shall we say, releasing gas whenever I felt something, even accepting the slight risk of something else coming along with it, likely also helping to reduce the pressure which would have otherwise built up. But hitting the wall with 13 km to go, and even before the point from which I could allow myself to get slower, was a serious concern.
I still managed to push myself to cover that 30th kilometer in just under six minutes, but then things got really bad, the fact that there was a refreshment point on the 31st kilometer not being enough of an excuse for how much over six minutes it took me to cover it. I don’t recall whether it was just before or just after reaching 31 km when I took out the first piece of garlic and ate it, but even if it was before that marker, that didn’t justify such a loss of time either, since I seem to remember something around, and possibly just over, 6:30… And then the next kilometer was even slower, around 6:50 from what I recall. It might have been a little less than 6:50 but, either way, it meant that just over those two kilometers I had lost all of the time gained over the previous five, so all that I could afford to lose until 35 km. Admittedly, I ate the salt bar during that 32nd kilometer, before reaching Unirii Boulevard again, and slowed to a walk a couple of times while doing so, but I had done that just because I felt that I couldn’t keep running at that point and really needed those moments of relative rest.
Seeing as I’m only writing what follows on June 7, my memory’s far from reliable, but things obviously looked bad at that point, and while a new personal best, beating what I managed in 2022, still seemed possible, staying under four hours didn’t. But that’d have been too frustrating, getting even closer but still failing, especially after thinking back then that I might have been able to make it if I’d have believed it early enough, so after 32 km I got my head down and dug in, telling myself to embrace the suck, and it gradually started working. I really couldn’t say what the times actually were anymore, but what’s clear is that I did a much better job at keeping the loss of time in check, that additional refreshment point that was on the 34th kilometer and just offered water not making things worse either, so I actually still had a minute in hand at 35 km.
Since after that point the initial plan allowed for 30 seconds more per kilometer, things were going to start looking better if I could just keep doing what I had been doing for the past couple of kilometers… But that didn’t seem likely, so I still thought that it was going to be a matter of keeping the loss of time in check all the way to 40 km, also taking into account the refreshment points on kilometers 36 and 40 and the moments when I planned to take the gel and the liquid magnesium, to give myself every chance to stick to the initial plan on the last 2.2 km and somehow just make it. And I obviously also looked for the 4:00 pacemakers after turning and tried to get an idea of how far behind they were, but it’s much harder to estimate that than it is to see how far behind your are and, either way, I don’t remember what I might have estimated at that point in any way. But what’s clear is that, rather than just limiting the loss of time over those five kilometers, I pretty much avoided it. It’s even possible that I gained a little bit, though I can’t really remember and the difference must have been small either way. But what I do know is that, when I dug in my pocket for that gel, I think on the 39th kilometer, I realized that I didn’t have it. I believe I even took out everything that was left in that pocket, which obviously meant losing a little time, but it just wasn’t there, so I’d have had a pretty serious problem if I wouldn’t have changed my intake strategy, being left with nothing for the latter part of the race, but as it was, it was more of a bonus that I could spare, since I still had the liquid magnesium to take at that point, which I did. And then I had the rest of the garlic, though the large piece was too strong to chew directly, so I kept it in my mouth for a long time.
As I already mentioned in the first part, keeping that garlic in my mouth led to keeping the piece of banana taken from that last refreshment point in my hand for a long time and only finally eating it towards the end. But what did make a difference was that liquid magnesium, which I do believe kicked in to reduce my cramps and perceived fatigue enough to allow me to keep that minute that I had in hand, and in fact add a few more seconds to it by the end. Admittedly, that takes into account the fact that I had planned to cover those last 2.2 km in 15 minutes, so it doesn’t exactly mean that I was faster, but I felt more comfortable, more confident, and I’m pretty sure that it’d have been really tight without it, a matter of seconds, and I’m not sure on which side. But at 41 km I finally realized that I could really make it… And, since the 2024 World Masters Athletics Marathon Championship was hosted by Bucharest Marathon and the participants had their names and age categories listed along with the numbers, seeing those people in their 60s and 70s, and even one who was 80, get past me and easily pull ahead, especially during those final kilometers, was both humbling and inspiring, and it might have spurred me on just a little harder. So I just kept pushing, having gone from wondering whether I was even going to finish to thinking that there was no way to do so in less than four hours, then that I was likely to end up no more than a few seconds on either side of that target, then to wondering whether I could keep a minute to spare, and finally to believing that I had finally done it, which belief turned to certainty, to knowledge, as I watched the time above the finish line as I approached it, the official time being 3:58:47, with a net time of 3:57:49.