BUDAPEST (HUNGARY, 29.09.19)
Four months after Riga, I set off to run marathon 23 in Budapest, Hungary. In that time I had developed a really persistant calf and tendonitis issue but got through my normal training plan until the very last run where I picked up a very painful hip flexor injury. I'd pulled out of a home-coming half marathon and not run a single mile for 4 weeks before taking the start line in late September which made for a few sleepless nights as to whether I could even get around in one piece! With the sponsorship total now over £19K and lots of supportive messages from friends suffering from M.E I was happy to give it a go.
Cat, Lucy and I landed in Budapest in the early evening having just missed the grounding of all flights from Luton due to bad weather (phew!). The next day's exploring on a hot day in Budapest was fun and we saw lots of the sights I would later see on the run. As ever I had probably walked too far the day before and not hydrated enough but when you're only in a beautiful european city for 72 hours you don't want to sit around in the hotel!
Start
I walked the mile or so from the hotel to the start line with Cat and Lucy in tow and lined up in pen 4 of 6 next to a guy dressed as a Rubik's Cube still very unsure what would happen to my right leg as I pushed off into a running stride. There was the usual countdown and blaring euro-pop as our wave eventually made it up to the start 15 minutes or so behind the original start at the ELTE University on the Buda side of the Danube. The course was pretty straight to begin with before turning left and sliding down towards the river. Early on I had to double-take as I saw 5 lads stripped off with cans of lager hopping into what looked like a pond just above the river. Upon close inspection there seemed to be a pipe funnelling water down into it from above, certainly not one of the city's fabled thermal spa's but fair play to them at this early hour. The first 4 or 5 miles I took quite easy as I was admiring the views of the river, Corvinus University and striking green Liberty Bridge which would become very familiar as the run evolved.
My legs seemed OK and the hip wasn't too bad, I kept things at a steady 9 min mile pace and was well ahead of the 4.15hr pacer at this point which was encouraging. The refreshment stations seemed well organised. They were both sides of the road, well-stocked, spaced out and with plenty of volunteers and a 'last bin' warning sign which meant people were a little tidier with their used cups that usual; definitely one of the slickest operations I've seen on the challenge so far. On the left I saw the incredible Liberty Statue up on Gellért Hill as the course continued straight for a good 4 or 5 miles with the turquoise Danube to my right. The clouds dissolved and it was warming up quick. I'd gone with a headband and cap which worked really well as I wasn't wasting valuable energy flicking sweat away from my eyes, probably looked a bit daft though. Running under Margaret's Bridge was one of the few shaded parts to the course and I had a good look across at the island we'd be running on a good 2 hours later. There was another 180 switchback and the route was heading back to the start line (15km) where I knew I'd have Cat and Lucy waiting to cheer me on before they went back to the hotel for a bit. Just before it turned back to the beginning I got to run over the Liberty Bridge which was really cool and past the drinkers at Escobar outside Budapest Gallery where we'd popped in the day before.
Middle
Running down the finish line straight so early in the race definitely felt weird (this was barely the 10th mile afterall) but it did give me a nice boost. I dropped another couple of ibuprofen and grabbed 4 cups of water from the next station, no way I was getting as dehydrated as I was in Riga again. I had some good 80's rock anthems on the Ipod and was happy to show the locals some air-drumming. Relieved at having the sun on my back for a while I managed to keep the pace steady as he we headed up pretty much the same 4 or 5 miles as we'd just done not at the start of the race. Near to one of many very smart riverboar bar/restaurants was quite a large hut constructed entirely of driftwood and it was actually very impressive, I could see it had a larder, cupboards and a worktop! I'm guessing the authorities thought it was too good to tear down too and the dishevelled tenant was sat outside clapping the runners along a few locals who mostly had rattles or kids holding out hands for high-fives. Doesn't matter where you are in Europe, there's always one kid who pulls their hand away at the last minute, little scamp. I unexpectedly saw Cat and Lucy looking over from the road above me. I hadn't heard them or known they'd be there but still caught them, perhaps a paternal instinct thing? Nice to see Lucy up and awake smiling as the course headed north again.
Up to halfway and I saw some men in traditional Hungarian dress playing the Csángó bagpipes and a Hurdy-Gurdy. It was a good break from the garish DJ stuff and drumming groups so far. There was a short separation from the river as the route turned inland through a couple of cobbled streets and towards Árpád Bridge with the chance to run across the beautiful parkland on Margaret Island. I'd been looking forward to this bit and although my hip was starting to lock and feel sore I enjoyed running under tree shade on the big open path that cut straight down. At the 17 mile point I'd started to feel the pace drop a fair bit and saw the 4.15hr pacer come by which was fine. At the halfway point I'd run 2 hrs 3 minutes and I'd resolved to aim for sub 4.45 today given the injury and heat so that was OK. It was really quite hot at this point and most around me were down to a slow trot or walk as I weaved through, one guy was at least 70 years old and I gave him a tap on the back in encouragement. Incredible. I was starting to wilt a bit in the heat and grabbed some banana and pepsi from the next station and gave myself a talking to.
End
After the island there was more super-impressive stuff to look at as we ran past the amazing 30 foot-high WWI Brothers-In-Arms statues before running past the neo-Gothic Hungarian Parliament, the biggest building in the country. It looked a lot like the Houses of Parliament in London, pretty cool, I nearly tripped over trying to take a picture of it, a reminder to concentrate on the running. There was probably only 4 miles left at this point but I knew it would feel more like 10 as my pace had dropped to a jog. I searched for songs on my ipad that I thought might be sacrilege to walk to and got going again. I could see Liberty bridge again in the distance and knew that wasn't too far away from the finish line. It was clouding over a little and getting windy which was nice as more people seemed to be out to cheer on the runners, particularly from the tables outside the bars along the Pest side of the Danube.
We went through a car tunnel and under Liberty bridge before the incline turn-around back at the Budapest Gallery again. I grabbed some magnesium drink on offer at the refreshment station and tried to give my quads a quick wake-up as I knew they'd probably cramp up as they always do just yards from the finish line. Once more over Liberty Bridge and some runners who had already finished were waving their medals at the runners in motivation as some had dropped down to a walk. The bridge itself seems very easy to climb up and there were quite a few people sat high up on it smoking, drinking and clapping away which was funny. There was just over a mile to go now and I had my head down following the broken white line in the road as I often do when I'm struggling and don't want to know how far the line is in the distance. I didn't have much left in the tank but waved at Cat, got over the line with a 'come on' and a downward punch. Relief, frustration, pride at how stubborn I'd been.
Pics
Trip and race pics here
Official photos - £2 each after 1 week wait for them to be published. Only taken in 3 places which was a shame.
Weather
16C start and cloud moving to 22C and unbroken sunshine for the middle 2 hours of the race. Then clouded over for the last hour or so before warming up again later.
Ratings:
Cat, Lucy and I landed in Budapest in the early evening having just missed the grounding of all flights from Luton due to bad weather (phew!). The next day's exploring on a hot day in Budapest was fun and we saw lots of the sights I would later see on the run. As ever I had probably walked too far the day before and not hydrated enough but when you're only in a beautiful european city for 72 hours you don't want to sit around in the hotel!
Start
I walked the mile or so from the hotel to the start line with Cat and Lucy in tow and lined up in pen 4 of 6 next to a guy dressed as a Rubik's Cube still very unsure what would happen to my right leg as I pushed off into a running stride. There was the usual countdown and blaring euro-pop as our wave eventually made it up to the start 15 minutes or so behind the original start at the ELTE University on the Buda side of the Danube. The course was pretty straight to begin with before turning left and sliding down towards the river. Early on I had to double-take as I saw 5 lads stripped off with cans of lager hopping into what looked like a pond just above the river. Upon close inspection there seemed to be a pipe funnelling water down into it from above, certainly not one of the city's fabled thermal spa's but fair play to them at this early hour. The first 4 or 5 miles I took quite easy as I was admiring the views of the river, Corvinus University and striking green Liberty Bridge which would become very familiar as the run evolved.
My legs seemed OK and the hip wasn't too bad, I kept things at a steady 9 min mile pace and was well ahead of the 4.15hr pacer at this point which was encouraging. The refreshment stations seemed well organised. They were both sides of the road, well-stocked, spaced out and with plenty of volunteers and a 'last bin' warning sign which meant people were a little tidier with their used cups that usual; definitely one of the slickest operations I've seen on the challenge so far. On the left I saw the incredible Liberty Statue up on Gellért Hill as the course continued straight for a good 4 or 5 miles with the turquoise Danube to my right. The clouds dissolved and it was warming up quick. I'd gone with a headband and cap which worked really well as I wasn't wasting valuable energy flicking sweat away from my eyes, probably looked a bit daft though. Running under Margaret's Bridge was one of the few shaded parts to the course and I had a good look across at the island we'd be running on a good 2 hours later. There was another 180 switchback and the route was heading back to the start line (15km) where I knew I'd have Cat and Lucy waiting to cheer me on before they went back to the hotel for a bit. Just before it turned back to the beginning I got to run over the Liberty Bridge which was really cool and past the drinkers at Escobar outside Budapest Gallery where we'd popped in the day before.
Middle
Running down the finish line straight so early in the race definitely felt weird (this was barely the 10th mile afterall) but it did give me a nice boost. I dropped another couple of ibuprofen and grabbed 4 cups of water from the next station, no way I was getting as dehydrated as I was in Riga again. I had some good 80's rock anthems on the Ipod and was happy to show the locals some air-drumming. Relieved at having the sun on my back for a while I managed to keep the pace steady as he we headed up pretty much the same 4 or 5 miles as we'd just done not at the start of the race. Near to one of many very smart riverboar bar/restaurants was quite a large hut constructed entirely of driftwood and it was actually very impressive, I could see it had a larder, cupboards and a worktop! I'm guessing the authorities thought it was too good to tear down too and the dishevelled tenant was sat outside clapping the runners along a few locals who mostly had rattles or kids holding out hands for high-fives. Doesn't matter where you are in Europe, there's always one kid who pulls their hand away at the last minute, little scamp. I unexpectedly saw Cat and Lucy looking over from the road above me. I hadn't heard them or known they'd be there but still caught them, perhaps a paternal instinct thing? Nice to see Lucy up and awake smiling as the course headed north again.
Up to halfway and I saw some men in traditional Hungarian dress playing the Csángó bagpipes and a Hurdy-Gurdy. It was a good break from the garish DJ stuff and drumming groups so far. There was a short separation from the river as the route turned inland through a couple of cobbled streets and towards Árpád Bridge with the chance to run across the beautiful parkland on Margaret Island. I'd been looking forward to this bit and although my hip was starting to lock and feel sore I enjoyed running under tree shade on the big open path that cut straight down. At the 17 mile point I'd started to feel the pace drop a fair bit and saw the 4.15hr pacer come by which was fine. At the halfway point I'd run 2 hrs 3 minutes and I'd resolved to aim for sub 4.45 today given the injury and heat so that was OK. It was really quite hot at this point and most around me were down to a slow trot or walk as I weaved through, one guy was at least 70 years old and I gave him a tap on the back in encouragement. Incredible. I was starting to wilt a bit in the heat and grabbed some banana and pepsi from the next station and gave myself a talking to.
End
After the island there was more super-impressive stuff to look at as we ran past the amazing 30 foot-high WWI Brothers-In-Arms statues before running past the neo-Gothic Hungarian Parliament, the biggest building in the country. It looked a lot like the Houses of Parliament in London, pretty cool, I nearly tripped over trying to take a picture of it, a reminder to concentrate on the running. There was probably only 4 miles left at this point but I knew it would feel more like 10 as my pace had dropped to a jog. I searched for songs on my ipad that I thought might be sacrilege to walk to and got going again. I could see Liberty bridge again in the distance and knew that wasn't too far away from the finish line. It was clouding over a little and getting windy which was nice as more people seemed to be out to cheer on the runners, particularly from the tables outside the bars along the Pest side of the Danube.
We went through a car tunnel and under Liberty bridge before the incline turn-around back at the Budapest Gallery again. I grabbed some magnesium drink on offer at the refreshment station and tried to give my quads a quick wake-up as I knew they'd probably cramp up as they always do just yards from the finish line. Once more over Liberty Bridge and some runners who had already finished were waving their medals at the runners in motivation as some had dropped down to a walk. The bridge itself seems very easy to climb up and there were quite a few people sat high up on it smoking, drinking and clapping away which was funny. There was just over a mile to go now and I had my head down following the broken white line in the road as I often do when I'm struggling and don't want to know how far the line is in the distance. I didn't have much left in the tank but waved at Cat, got over the line with a 'come on' and a downward punch. Relief, frustration, pride at how stubborn I'd been.
Pics
Trip and race pics here
Official photos - £2 each after 1 week wait for them to be published. Only taken in 3 places which was a shame.
Weather
16C start and cloud moving to 22C and unbroken sunshine for the middle 2 hours of the race. Then clouded over for the last hour or so before warming up again later.
Ratings:
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