Sun, Sep 25, 2016 - 42K - 04:48:27
Warsaw Marathon
The weather for today's Warsaw Marathon was absolutely perfect: a bit cool in the morning with blue sky, light clouds and a rising sun warming you every time its rays hit you. I left my hotel about 7:30 and walked across Warsaw toward the start, meeting more and more runners along the way, until we were packs of 10-15 runners carrying our white bags all heading in the same direction. The start and first kilometers down the Krakowskie Przedmieście was very festive, but the highlight of the first part of the race was when at 5K I caught up with a 50-man-strong group of runners dressed up in Spartan warrior costumes complete with helmets and running in two columns behind a bike-powered chariot atop of which sat a beautiful Spartan warrior princess with shield and sword. From inside the chariot Polish Volksmusik was blasting which created a wonderful atmosphere and so I ran with them for about 3K enjoying their energy. As I pulled away from the Spartans, the sun was shining down bright, but with a cool wind, never got too hot. The marathon route takes you pretty far south out of Warsaw so at times it we were in the country, but quite soon began to work our way back up into the city. Half Marathon was in Parc Łazienki at which time I felt very strong, running with the 04:40 flag group nice and easy. I stayed with them until about 32K at which point my legs began to get a bit tight, and so eased up a bit, but managed to stay ahead of the 04:50 flag group and ran it into the finish. I picked up my bag and had a nice walk through Warsaw back to my hotel, stopping in the Saxon Garden to enjoy my victory beer and victory chocolate. To anyone who isn't able to get a spot in the Berlin Marathon but wants to run a late September marathon, definitely sign up for the Warsaw Marathon, easy to get a number, is relatively flat like Berlin, Warsaw only a 5-hour train ride from Berlin, and the city is definitely worth visiting, much to see and has a laid-back flair to it that makes it unique.