Running in late 20s

I'm heading to Istanbul tomorrow to run the Istanbul Marathon on Sunday. Last year I only managed to drag myself to the finish line and it turned out to be my slowest marathon. That was due to lack of training and running the first half of the race too fast. I haven't really trained for marathon distance since then and my main focus was running ultra trail races, so a PR sounds too optimistic. But I am in better shape comparing to last year and I hope with pacing myself properly, I will be able to run better this year. I'm sure no matter what happens this Sunday, I'm going to try my best and enjoy every single stride along the way. Stay tuned

“I always start these events with very lofty goals, like I’m going to do something special.And after a point of body deterioration, the goals get evaluated down to basically where I am now – where the best I can hope for is to avoid throwing up on my shoes.” Nuclear Engineer and ultrarunner, Ephraim Romesberg, 65 miles into the Badwater Ultramarathon Three weeks ago I ran the Istanbul marathon. And that happened to be my slowest marathon yet. I was not expecting a PR as I didn't train properly for a few weeks. I didn't think that it would go so badly either.  The race started on Sunday morning in a great vibe. The start line is located in Asian part of the Istanbul just next to the Bosphorus Bridge. It was a bit hard to pass the other runners on the bridge as the road was relatively narrow and there was only one starting group. But the scenery was  great and the weather could hardly be any better.  As I passed the 2 km mark, I started to pick up my pace. I...

Istanbul marathon done in an embarrassing time of 4:16:58. I will post the full details in a few days. Not every marathon goes as well as you expect. There were important lessons to be learned from this marathon. Stay tuned

I am now tapering for my fifth marathon. As I said before  mental preparation is an essential part of training for a marathon. I was planning to set a PR in Istanbul, but given that I've missed quite a few training sessions and was not able to run properly for a few weeks, a PR now sounds far too optimistic. I know Istanbul is going to be a tough one but that doesn't stop me from trying my best. It might hurt a lot, but I will embrace the pain and go on. I might not be in the best shape but I am ready for the challenge.

After a long summer, finally the heat is gone and my favourite running season has started. In five weeks I'll be running my fifth marathon in Istanbul. That means that I've got only 3 weeks to train for that. Not in the best shape now but I'll try my best to set a PR there.