MUNICH MARATHON report Chris McCarthy

Munich Marathon 2015

On Saturday 10th October Aidan & I arrived in Munich for our 2nd Marathon of 2015.  We were very fortunate that afternoon to meet up with our great friend Bernie who moved to Germany last year and had travelled 4.5 hours by bus to meet us.

After locating our apartment & collecting our race packs from the Olympiahalle it was a matter of counting down the hours until 10:00 the next morning.

My training for the race had been destroyed by calf injuries to both legs.  The 1st strain occurred the day after I registered & the 2nd occurred 12 miles into what I had planned to be my longest training run.  This all left me badly short of mileage but I decided to try for a PB & so started with the 3:45 pacers with the intention of staying with them for as long as possible.

I was strangely relaxed at the start & felt particularly strong from halfway through to 20 miles.  So strong in fact that I forgot to take my 2nd gel until about 22 miles in.  With 2 miles to go I finally began to drop off the pace.

In the last mile however I got my 2nd wind as we re-entered the Olympiapark towards the finish on the track in the Olympiastadion, the 77,000 capacity stadium where Donie Walsh finished in the 1972 Olympic Marathon.

I crossed the line with a PB of 3:46 & consider it a blessing in disguise that I received an unsuccessful notification for London 2016 as the last thing on my mind is another Marathon. . . for now :)