Mo McCrohan reports on the Rotterdam Marathon 2013: “Kieran (Murphy) and myself chewed over the gels of where things went wrong in terms of our target times in an outdoor cafe after the race. But it was only when we met others at the airport and read some running sites that a tough day at the marathon office was a universal theme!
The temperature dramatically rose out there from a dull cooler morning.! Anyway,at the risk of my review turning into a Tarantino film where the end is at the start and the start at the end,I’ll go back to the build up.
Why Rotterdam again and again?
Amongst other things,its a short flight to the Dam.The race is never oversubscribed,There is a new high speed rail line that cuts the journey from Airport to Rotterdam to 23 minutes! There are plenty of hotels near the central station and you can walk to the race start and finish.So,no queueing for bags,no alarm call at silly o clock to get a bus or Boat to the start line while you should be in bed!.
Kieran found the best pasta restaurant in Rotterdam the night before and we could comfortably leave our hotel half hour pre race!The running pens have portaloos,for the last minute concerns.The
weather was overcast.The singing Dutchman got up on the cherry picker again and sang ,You’ll Never Walk Alone !Boom went the Cannon and we we were off.
It was busy on the course for the first half,not a lot of space and some jostling at the water stations.It was all going to strategy , too well.I entered uncharted territory at half way,1,27! A PB for my humble self!I was distracted mentally by this ,this was too fast!.I held back while, Kieran kicked on!
I found it tough from 22k. I realised after that it had got hotter out there!.It was disjointed out there.I would still overtake some groups ,while others passed me.At 30k ,a sub 3 was still on,but I did not feel good!
A boost came at 37k.My family put up a morale boosting message “Pain is temporary,pride is forever !!.”
I felt better ,if not quicker.! I then saw Kieran and Ailish (Malone) ahead both in difficulty.I caught them up. I knew at 40k, it wasn’t going to be sub three. So I relaxed the last 2k,The running numbers had your name on the front.So in response to the shouts of go on Mo!,I did the Mobot!! I crossed in 3.03 and the pain of the race ebbed away! There was a bit of a walk in the mixed zone to get drinks. Kieran arrived in soon after coming in at a 3.05!The mixed zone was a bit of a war zone
with many laid up!
We noted that London must be the best marathon for racing in costumes.Its’ seemingly the reverse here? There was no one dressed up.We then spotted a couple dressed only in in body paint coming through! The lengths some will go to stop chafing!
Our Hotel had energy drinks waiting,which was a nice touch!We were told we were the first to return,which made us feel better! We dissected the race later in the outdoor cafe,while traffic grew
noisier outside! We had trained well. A number of hard Sunday runs with the Garda HQ group included..But,we concluded that it does not matter how fast you do the long run? Maybe my training needed more endurance sets in the week?But as a sports newscaster might say “on a day when”.. the Rotterdam marathon was won in a minute or two slower than the previous year,maybe the conditions can be a factor?
We headed home. Kieran not ruling out four in a row.Myself looking for a new Spring Marathon next year and as for the autumn,too early to consider?”
Footnote: As many will know Gerry Carr was running today`s Boston Marathon. Delighted to report that he is fine, having finished just before the explosions.