Kampala Marathon 2012

So, I completed the Kampala Marathon last Sunday and it turned out to be even tougher than expected. MTN, the mobile phone company sponsoring and organizing the event (and my former employer by the way), again this year had decided to focus their attention on the 10K run. Me and the other amateur runners on the full marathon distance faced ridiculous conditions:

 

1) There was no map in my starting kit nor was there any information about when the races would start (resulting in me starting 30 minutes late)

 

2) There were no marshals on the last 5-6 kilometers so on one occasion I ran the wrong way

 

3) Big parts of the route after the first 10km had no separate lanes for the runners, so getting hit by a boda boda or a vehicle was a real risk

 

4) There was no water or sucrose at the last two supply stations, just what you need after 3½ hours of running in 30+ degrees sunny weather

 

5) There was no water or sucrose of any kind at the finishing line

 

I did quite well up until around 38 kilometers and then the dehydration forced me to slow down to a walk. I was feeling really dizzy and uncomfortable, and at the same time I could not believe how the organizers had just let the runners down completely - an almost true copy of what happened two years ago at the same event. If my friend OT had not come to my rescue 1½ kilometer before the finishing line and given me some juice I could have gotten really sick. Unreal. Shocking. Stronger words comes to mind by I'll try and keep this blog family friendly.

 

In my honest opinion, MTN should never, ever be allowed to organize another Kampala Marathon. Let them do their 10K run where they get lots of people to come and wear their merchandise and let some other organization with a real interest in organizing a proper marathon come in and do the necessary. It really is not that hard. MTN has proven beyond any doubt that they have zero interest in organizing a proper marathon - which is incredible considering that it is their single biggest and most costly marketing event of the year!?

 

Enough is enough. I'm done with running the Kampala Marathon for as long MTN organizes it. The only good thing I can say about that day was that our BBQ afterwards was much better organized and  at no point did we run out of beverages or beers ;-)

 

Time to focus on the Comrades training. More about that in the next blog.

 

Marathon Madsen

Lemming Day

There's a week to go till the Kampala Marathon. The last couple of weeks haven't gone exactly as planned and I've had to cut a 32 km and a 26 km run down to half marathon distances. So preparation hasn't been ideal, but I reckon I'm in pretty good shape anyway. The key thing on Nov. 25th will be to avoid getting dehydrated and to avoid getting run down in the traffic.

 

Speaking of traffic, I've seen some horrible traffic accidents on my running route lately. Kampala traffic is getting increasingly hectic and insanity seems to rule. In Uganda, patience is culturally a very important value and you don't get far around here if you don't chill. But for some reason, as soon as these incredibly patient people get into a vehicle or onto a motorcycle, all that changes as they enter an unreal race, with no winners and a lot of injured and dead losers.





Lemming

A friend pointed out to me that most of the chaos in the traffic stems from the fact that getting a driving is not a problem as long as you can pay the fee. There are absolutely no controls in place to ensure that the receiver of a permit has even the faintest idea about traffic law and rules. My friend is right of course, and I agree that the lack of controls is a big part of the problem. But the complete disregard of everybody's safety inclduing their own, is still a mystery to me. I mean, do you really need training to realize that you're probably going to kill yourself or somebody else if you pull out onto a busy road without looking left and right first?

Friday is by far the worst day to be in the Kampala traffic. I guess that 'the-end-of-the-week-bad-traffic-phenomenon' is a very common thing in most busy cities. However, Friday in Kampala doesn't just mean more jams and more waiting time, it also means lots of accidents. I think of Friday as 'Lemming Day' as people on this day seem even more willing to kill themselves than on any other day of the week. 

 

I think I'll make Lemming Day one of my weekly resting days from now on.

I'm back!

I'm back, and this time I will not fail.

 

I signed up and paid for a slot in the Comrades 2013 yesterday. Kampala Marathon is a month away and my training towards it has so far been relatively smooth and easy. The 29km training run I completed on Sunday morning went incredibly well and I felt strong and full of energy at the end of it, despite having run 28kms during the week. All in all, things are looking really positive right now.

 

There has been plenty of time to reflect on what I did wrong last time. I'll never know for sure, but it seems obvious that I pushed the training too hard, hoping to get fit enough to runt he Comrades in less than 9 hours. Lesson learned. After the Kampala Marathon I'll follow a so-called Bronze Medal training program which aims at getting one fit enough to run the 89km in less than 11 hours. This training program is significantly different from the one I followed 2 years ago and it looks a lot more forgiving.

 

For the time being though, I have to focus on Kampala Marathon on November 25th and I think I have a good chance of finishing around the 4 hour mark. On one hand, the finishing time is not important to me as this run is merely a part of my build up to the Comrades. On the other, this run is also my only planned qualifying run for the Comrades. The finishing time in Kampala determines the starting position at the Comrades which apparently is quite important as you risk getting stuck behind some very slow runners if your starting position is right at the back.

 

It is great to be back in shape and to be writing about this.

 

Ad finem.

 

 

Marathon Madsen 

 

 

 

 

Why?

Wednesday - 6.5km

Friday - 6.5km

Flemming, a former colleague (and mentor) in MTN, commented on one of my posts:

"Once you realize the road is the goal and that you are always on the road, not to reach a goal, but to enjoy its beauty and wisdom, life ceases to be a task and becomes natural & simple, in itself an ecstasy".

Yes please. Very true. It is not about the destination, it is about the journey. When it comes to marathons this is especially true. There's plenty of time to think when putting one foot in front of the other hour after hour, so most runners tend to work it out on their own. As am I. A marathon is 99% training and 1% race day. No point in training for a marathon if you don't enjoy the training. I do though. Training is something I look forward to. It is something my whole system is craving for. I'm already thinking about what to do after the Comrades. I need to line something up.

Last weekend, after the marathon, one of Celine's colleagues asked me why I would want to run an ultra marathon. How do you explain it to a non runner? Knowing that any attempt would be futile, I simply replied 'Why not?'. Honestly, there are many, many different reasons why I want to run the Comrades. I summed it up in one of my first blog posts: Achievement was the key word. It still is. But more and more, it has simply become a good reason for running 4-5 times a week. If Flemming is right (and he usually is) then with time, I'll get to the point where I don't need a reason anymore. Where each run in itself is the reason. Where time, distance and personal bests no longer matters. Maybe, after the comrades, that's going to be the case.

When we climbed the Rwenzori mountains some weeks back, my friend Alex and I talked about how reaching a goal often is an anticlimax. For me, the highlight of the climb was not the summit. We were up there for 2 minutes, it was freezing cold, there was no view at all and the glazier below was getting more and more dangerous for each minute we spent on celebrating. The highlight was definitely not the summit - the highlight was the 7 full days we spent in the mountains, filled with incredible views and unbelievably beautiful landscapes. I've got a feeling that I'll look back at the Comrades and make the same conclusion. I'd be surprised if crossing the finish line is going to be highlight. After all, I need to run 1500 kilometers before that. Hopefully the hours and energy spent on that will be rewarding in itself.

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Marathon Madsen

Kampala Marathon

Friday - 6.5 km

Sunday - 42.195 km

Running the Kampala Marathon was, as expected, much harder than running the Copenhagen Marathon. My finishing time was 4 hours and 18 minutes. Not exactly record breaking. Nevertheless, I'm more than happy with it.

There were moments of suffering that I won't forget about anytime soon. The sun was relentless and I was close to getting seriously dehydrated, so there wasn't really any other option than to walk for a it after each watering station and drink until the dizziness and the heavy tingling sensation in the arms was gone. On the Northern Bypass and in the hills of Mengo I struggled. In short, it was a hard run at times, but I completed it and thats what counts...

18,000 people have signed up for the Comrades Marathon next year. Registation has closed. Fortunately I signed up and paid some time back, and with my 4:18 minutes run on Sunday, I have qualified for the Comrades. I'm in. The first part of my plan held up.

Last night I decided to aim for running the 89 kilometers in less than 9 hours. There is a lot of statistics available on the internet about this particular run. On average, around 20% the participants do not finish. And only around 20% manage to run the distance in less than 9 hours. All that remains now is to run the 1,600 or so training kilometers in order to get fit enough for it. There are 172 days to go. That's less than 10 kilometers per day. How hard can it be?

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Marathon Madsen

Show time

Tuesday: 15 Km

I'm back from my first run in 2½ weeks. My initial title for this weeks blog was 'What not to eat for lunch before a run' - but I guess that everyone else than me knows that eating 3 samosas, 3 pork sausages, a chapati and a Mars bar 4 hours before a run is not a good idea. So I'll concentrate on other, hopefully less obvious and more interesting issues.

Sunday is the big day. 42,195 meters in the hills of Kampala is no small challenge, not something to be taken lightly. I look forward to it with equal parts excitement and dread. I'm dreading the last 10 kilometers. They are going to be tough. Time wise I'm satisfied with anything under 4:30, and very happy if I make it under 4 hours. Am I ready? Mentally, yes. Fitness wise, not really. Another 3-4 weeks of training would have been ideal. To be honest, I'm expecting that by the time I cross the finish line the guy on the photo will look like a turbocharged Duracell rabbit in comparison.

My strategy for the run is straight forward. The first half I hope to run with Ole and/or Alex, provided they are not too fast..... or too slow. I'd like to run it in around 2 hours. From there I'll be on my own - and that suits me fine, I'd rather not have anybody I know next to me when it starts to get tough. Hopefully I'll make it past the 32 kilometer mark before it gets ugly. And once the fatigue sets in, I'll just have to lower the pace a bit and suck it up. No matter how hard it gets, Comrades is bound to be a lot worse.

So, it's time. It's show time. It's time to pay the price for lack of training. It's time to man up and get it done with. I hope I've got what it takes.

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Marathon Madsen

What is the right approach?

This week:

Saturday - 21.5km
Tuesday - 11 km
Today (Thursday) - 26km

Last night, my friend Alex said something along the lines of:"You look very tired Thomas - if you don't mind me saying so. Are you sure it's a good idea to run 26km tomorrow considering that we're going to be in the mountains on Saturday?"

I was tired. I was very very tired. It had been one of those days where it felt like Kampala had conspired to make things as hard as possible. Normally I cope well with it. Yesterday it got to me and when that happens it just sucks all energy out.

Anyway, Alex's very kind and polite suggestion, made me consider my options. To make a long story short, I decided to man up and give it a go anyway. I set out at 6pm. In the first 13 kms I made two 1 minute stops to drink some water and to have some energy gel, ran until it got dark and then put on my head torch. 2 hours and 19 minutes later, I was back. What a great run.

But all that is not really that interesting. No. What's much more interesting is the dilemma I am facing because of my wife. Not only does my wife look better than me, it turns out that she's also a better runner!!?? Yes! On the 10-13 kilometer distances she is definitely faster than me. Not more than around 2 minutes, but that's enough. Now, what does a man do in this situation? What is the right approach. Should I ignore it, deny it or face it? I would be lying if I claimed that it doesn't bother me. OF COURSE IT DOES! Not much, but a bit. Why? I don't have to tell you why. You know why. But I am not going to come up with sorry excuses and far fetched explanations. The fact is, my wife is faster than me! I've chosen to face it. And because of that, I can honestly say that I am very, very proud of her. In the last few months, training for the half marathon on December 5th has made her run distances beyond 10 km - something she has never done before. And every time she comes back from a new personal distance record she's as proud and happy as anybody is when they have pushed themselves beyond known limits.

It's not a matter of who's faster than who. Running is about personal achievement and having fun. And my wife's definitely proven that.

Well done babe :-) Ad finem!

Marathon Madsen