5. Kassel Marathon 2011: DNF

May 23, 2011

Right now I ran 3 marathons in my life. So far, all of them went really well and with times between 2:21h and 2:25h I always showed a good performance. This marathon history now has a first black spot. In my 4th try at the marathon distance I didn’t reach the finish. After 28km I dropped out.

With the worst preparation ever for a marathon, the signs were not good and I didn’t expect an astonishing performance or a fast race. However, I thought I could go sub 2:30h and win the German University Championships that were part of the marathon. On a warm day (approx. 22°C at the start) I never found my rhythm and got the first problems already after 15km when my back got tight. The misery continued as my left achilles tendon was aching only couple of kilometers later. Furthermore the legs got more and more heavy and the muscles were getting more and more tense with every step. I reached halfmarathon at around 1:15:30h and at this point I thought I could still make it to the finish with a reduction of pace. The plan didn’t work and at 27k I was stretching my hamstrings because they were about to start cramping. With 15km to go and being in heavy pain, I decided to drop. I don’t know if I would have made it to the finish line. But even if I would have, the time would have been incredible bad and – more importantly – I would have destroyed the next couple of weeks.

Of course the disappointment is there but marathon takes its toll.