Get On, Clip In, Fall Off

Copenhagen '05

Twenty minutes before the start of the Copenhagen Marathon the rain started. It was in a torrential downpour that I squeezed myself into the start area at the bottom of Vester Voldgade, and the gun was bracketed by a couple of enormous thunderclaps before the rain eased off a few seconds later. By the time I crossed the line two minutes after the gun it had stopped entirely.

Given that I'd only had a month to train, my plan was to take things nice and easy and finish... eventually. I started with my brother Dave, and we set a nice easy 5:30-5:40/km pace. The first few kilometres passed gently as my obligatory 5km warmup worked its way out of my system and towards the end of the first lap (Copenhagen is a three-lap course, the first and third being more or less identical) we were running well, knocking off kilometres in the 5:05-5:15 range and passing the 4-hour pacemakers on the cobbled stretch along the waterfront. The first and second loops are linked by a long trip along Kalvebod Brygge and Ingerslevsgade, and it was along here that the race leader passed us going the other way. He was followed a few minutes later by my other brother Rob, who looked to be in pretty good shape and somewhere around the 26km mark.

The second loop was slightly more uppy-downy than the first as it cross-crossed a few overpasses and underpasses, and we passed the halfway mark in 1:57 - just about bang on target. The route then swung through the Carlsberg complex - including a trip through the striking Elephant Gate with its decorative elephants and, yes, swastikas. At the 25km mark we rejoined Ingerslevsgade, and passed the back markers slogging up towards the beginning of the second loop and still with a long, long way to go. I felt a sudden surge of respect for people who were happy to be out on the road for over six hours, given that the sun was now out and it was beginning to warm up a little.

There were knots of supporters more or less everywhere, which was kind of nice - there were also assorted brass bands and samba bands and jazz bands making noise. Occasionally people would read the front of my club vest, and the resulting shouts of "Come on, Serpentine!" certainly helped me along.

A couple of energy gels later it was the beginning of the third (and final) lap. With under 15km to go we were still doing okay, but dropped the pace a little as insurance as we approached the 32km mark - 20 miles, home of (insert ominous chord here) The Wall. The last 10km of a marathon is when most of the race happens - for a lot of people, the marathon is a 10k race with a 20-mile training run beforehand, and your job is to get yourself to the 32km marker with enough energy to see you reliably through to the finish line.

Dave was starting to get some trouble from one of his legs at this point and was happy for me to go on ahead, so as I was feeling okay I upped the pace a little. I was suffering a little, but not unduly, and was able to maintain kilometre splits between 4:27 and 4:56 over the rest of the race. A long-delayed pee break held me up a little, but as I came out of the Fælledparken and back up towards the waterfront I was going well, overtaking a lot of people on the way.

After passing the Little Mermaid (who I didn't notice, again) and hitting the cobbles around the 40km mark I began to feel somewhat tired, but the lift provided by realising that I'd probably be finished in about 10 minutes kept me going - still passing people and now wondering if I was going to see the 3:45 pacemakers appear in the distance. Once off the waterfront there was one of those annoying "gotcha!" bits that tend to crop up in races - up the side of a road and back down the other side to add a bit of distance and make the course up to the required 42.195km. A couple more tight turns and then we were on Christian's Brygge - the home straight - and the crowds of spectators were starting to thicken. I was definitely running out of fuel at this point but kept the pace up anyway, doing both the 40th and 41st kilometres in 4:48. Towards the finish the crowds thickened further until I was running down a narrow strip of road cordoned off by barriers with supporters lining each side. And then there was the 42km marker (the graph I have here claims I did km42 in 4:30-something, but I'm not sure I believe it), I looked over my shoulder at the guy following me, said "So, just the point 195 left, then?", and then there was a timing mat, and then I was finished, feeling pretty washed out but much better than I'd expected.

A young lady placed a medal the size of a dinner plate with a rather fetching view of the new Copenhagen Opera House around my neck, I got handed a plastic sheet to wrap myself in, and I staggered away from the finish. I found a bench and sat on it to eat the (enormously welcome) yoghurt I'd been given, met up with the rest of the party, and went off to have a shower and reintegrate myself into polite society.

In the end I finished 1544th out 4058 finishers (plus a bunch of people who didn't finish) with a chip time of 3:48:18, better than I'd expected to do. The only problem is that one of the first thoughts I had after crossing the finish line was "I wonder how much faster I could do this if I trained properly?". I guess I'll think about that once my legs have stopped hurting.

'Til next time, them...

Posted by mpk at May 24, 2005 1:10 PM