Sun, Apr 9, 2017 - 42K - 04:48:23
2017 Zurich Marathon
Got out the door of my hotel at 6:00 AM to a cool but clear morning in Zurich. I got in Tram 2, which was quite empty but up front I saw a few runners so knew I was traveling the right direction. Switched to Tram 7 at Paradeplatz where I met a woman from Munich, who I had a wonderful high-German conversation with, a rarity in Zurich. She told me she trains five times a week, and I began to have doubts that my one-run-per-week training plan would be enough to finish, but it always is. Getting out at Brunaustrasse, a whole group of us walked down to the marathon start area where there were some beautiful views of the sun coming up over Zurich Lake. There were only about 8000 runners so a quick start and we were off through Zurich. I chatted with a runner from Scotland doing his first marathon, and a runner from London doing his 202nd marathon and with some of other relay team runners who were running with us, four people on a team each doing a certain number of kilometers. My energy lasted until about 32K where my body cut the engines and I felt how my power level gradually sunk from 100% down to about 10% and the last two kilometers I was running mostly on will power and just putting one foot in front of the other. As always, it was wonderful to see the 42K sign and run the final stretch. Even though I didn't have a fast time (04:48:23), it was within four seconds of my time last year in Warsaw (04:48:27) so at least consistent, and that was my 25th marathon so a kind of milestone. I would recommend the Zurich Marathon to anyone: quite flat, and since it is in April, probably always spring weather like today, and Zurich is truly a beautiful city.