Pregnant Woman Wins Marathon

This blog Post should probably be titled "Race Report: Zagreb Marathon." So I offer my apologies if the title ("Pregger Wins") is slightly deceiving, but it did get your attention, didn't it? Alison Aiken is, in fact, four-and-a-half months pregnant. And, okay, I admit that she didn't actually run the full marathon -- that part may have been inaccurate (she ran the half). And while she didn't "win," she did run it in an amazing 2 hours 10 minutes. So as far as I'm concerned, it was a highly impressive display -- and, on second thought, I therefore revoke my apology! She really made everyone proud -- especially me... and little J.K. (or whatever the kid's name ends up being), who I'm sure will grow up to be proud its mom ran 13.1 miles at an international race event when it was just a 16-ounce extra-terrestrial-looking thing in her belly.

As far as the full marathon went, I was shooting for a PR... but came up a bit short. Maybe it was the miles of walking to see all the sights in Zagreb and Vienna each of the three days leading up to the event. Or maybe I missed out on some training as I worked out an intense tendonitis (left shin) for the last four weeks. Either way, I ran a 3:16 (or so) -- the result of 5 bad miles as we ran against the wind. Each of the other 21 miles I ran at a 7:11 pace or less.

A sort of mile-by-mile report, the Race Start was in a square in the middle of beautiful Zagreb. Miles 0-10 were a very boring out-and-back. 10 to 13 were another out-and-back in the middle of the city -- a little more interesting. At that point, the 900 half-marathoners finished, and the "full-ers" did the exact same thing again. At Mile 15 I peed in a park. At mile 19 we turned to head back into town and I bonked. 8:15, 8:30: 8:45, 9:00, 8:30 in miles 19-24. Knowing my PR was out of reach, I did find some motivation: my friend Kristen Courcelle ran a 3:14 at Hampton last week. I ran a 7:23 in Mile 25 trying to catch her, but came up short. I'll get you next time, Kristen!

All in all, a great race. Several Croat spectators gave me a good "Go USA" cheer (see my USA singlet in photo) to which I always responded "Thank you Croatia!" We had amazing support on the course -- our hosts David and Diane Bahrenburg biked all over the course carrying post-race shirts and water for us. And they were simply amazing hosts and tour guides -- we had a fabulous time. For anyone thinking about building an international marathon into their next vacation, take my advice: do it.