Mures Half marathon - race report

Last Sunday I run almost a half marathon, the Mures Half Marathon. It was a good race for me, I finished 5th in my age category. I didn't take too seriously this race, it was more like a test. I didn't really prepare for it, I wasn't rested and I didn't have the proper setup. I run with an old pair of nike trail shoes and the course wasn't off road. The shoes are so worn that my toes started to hurt after about an hour of racing. I didn't have my phone case, so I run with my phone in my hand and in the other hand I carried a gel for half the race(which I dropped in the second lap and I had to stop).

Like I said before this was a very good race. I started very fast, the adrenaline kicked in and it lasted for almost 1 kilometer. After that I tried to run in a steady pace, accelerating sometimes and slowing a bit when I felt too tired. I tried to go faster in the last two laps but I was too tired. I managed to sprint on the last straight so I finished in 1:22:05. I am satisfied with my result, another 5 minutes I could get on the podium, maybe next year.

It was a good experience, I saw a lot of good runners and learned a bit more about running :)

This weekend I am racing for the first time in a duathlon and I hope I can write a good race report next week also :)

Races in May

In May there will be a lot of races in town so I made a list with all of them:

1. Sunday May 3 – http://www.mureshalfmarathon.ro
   • in the center of the city
   • I've participated 2 years ago, it is a pretty good race
2. Saturday May 9 – http://crossduathlon.ro – Transilvania Cross Duathlon Balcan and Romanian National Championship
   • it's around the Zoo (First Run 5.5 km – 2 laps x 2.75 km, total elevation 162 meter, Bike 19.5 km – 3 laps x 6,5 km, total elevation 594 meter, Second Run 2.75 km – 1 laps x 2.75 km, total elevation 81 meter)
   • I want to race in a duathlon race for some time now so I would like to participate
3. Sunday May 10 – http://mszaszalbert.blog.hu
   • approximately 12 km of trail racing
   • I've participated last year and it was a lot of fun so I hope I will be there this year also
4. Sunday May 24 – http://trailrace.ascotid.ro
   • half marathon, trail running (21 km, total elevation 584), in the forest near the Zoo
   • I would like to participate because I like to run in that forest

If it will be possible I would like to race in all of these events, but I would be satisfied if I could race in at least the duathlon and the half marathon :)

Running

It seems that I have a new hobby (again)

Yes, it's running. I participated in my first real trail race a few weeks ago and I kind of liked it. I almost got in the top ten, I was 11th in my age group. I was a lot faster then I was expecting, in the beginning it was very hard but as I noticed lately I need about 20-30 minutes to warm up.

Last week I was on a short vacation and I went for a run. I liked it so I'm planning to go running more often. I noticed that I've burnt more calories in hour and I got more tired so that is a plus against biking. But riding a bike is a lot more fun than running so it will always be my favorite ;)

My first half marathon

Last weekend I decided to test my limits again. The fist edition of Mures Half Marathon was a big test for me because I've never run so many kilometers and I have basically no real training. The same thing happened last year when I decided to participate in a 100 kilometer race.

The main idea in these long races is to be prepared mentally and just focus on finishing the race. I thought that it will be very especially after running just 10 km on the treadmill in one hour. I was expecting to run about 2 hours and 10 minutes. I ended up finishing the race in 1:32:14.

The race wasn't really a half marathon it was only about 18 km long. I started slowly to warm up and I was very careful to drink and eat some magnesium candies almost every lap. In the first lap I though that I was too slow because I saw that my lap times were about 10 minutes. It took me a few laps to realize that one lap was supposed to be about 2km so my time was ok. 

The crowd was great and all those people gave me extra energy. The finish line was packed we people and a lot of kids who were handing out water. The 6th lap was the best lap, I thought that I was flying. The 8th lap was the worst because I didn't get no water in that lap and I was preparing for to more dry laps. But the next lap I got water and the last lap was only 8:28.

It was a very nice experience and I hope I can run again soon :)

Running on the treadmill

This week my football game was cancelled so I though I should test myself and run an hour on the treadmill. I got changed and with a bottle of water I selected a workout wit 3 hills. The first 10 minutes were very hard but after I got properly warmed up the time begun to pass faster. Every 10 minutes I drank some water because my mouth was drying out and I was sweating like crazy, this is why it is better to workout outdoor. 

The last 15 minutes were very hard also, I was trying to focus and find motivation while counting the minutes. I don't know how many times I thought that I want to stop for just a minute and get some rest. In the and I managed to run 10 kilometers in one hour, with 3 minutes of warm up and 3 minutes of cool down. I ended up burning 767 calories which is the equivalent of a big lunch. Even after an hour after the run I was still sweating :)

I hope that next time I will be running in the forest, that is the next new workout that I want to try out.

Trail running

I don't really like running but I tried it. The Szasz Albert memorial race was organized last Saturday so I thought it would be interesting. For my category the race had two laps around the Zoo. The course was very hard because there were a lot of hills. The last climb was the hardest, very few people could run there, most of us just walked.

I started the race fast but at the half of the first lap my right shoulder started to hurt very much, I was lucky that the pain went away at the end of the lap. In the second lap I realized that it is very important to drink during the races, I was very thirsty, I was thinking of how nice it is to ride a bike and have water all the time... I passed a few guys and others passed me and I finished with a sprint almost catching somebody... 

It was a great experience I liked the course very much but riding bikes will remain my favorite sport :)