Malta Marathon. Signed up in August 2019. Indeed awhile ago.
I looked forward to this race.
Firstly, it is the first marathon for the year. Secondly, it is a descending profile! Could it be a fast route? Looks fast to me! Until…*wait for it*
Pre-race and Race kit collection
Our flight arrived at 1930 Friday. The race kit collection remained open until 2100 @ the Marriott. Of course, there needs to be some hiccups. This time at the car rental. My Malaysian license was not usable. We had to decide then whether to take the easy option (but long waiting time) of the pre-book van transport or sign up for another car! Thank goodness we chose the car, as it made all the difference during the entire trip.
A week prior to the race, almost every day, we were getting updates from Joe, the race director. It was great. That sense of urgency, the reminder, the big brother updates, it helps especially when the sign up was about 8 months ago and adrenaline running low. But this time, i welcomed Joe’s email, as a week into the race, in the midst of the coronavirus issues when it exploded in Northern Italy, the Lombardy region, and then Tel Aviv Marathon was cancelled, we had questions about whether Malta will suffer the same fate. 2 days before the race, Joe sent us an email to say that it is ON. A day prior to our flight, another email came, where participants traveling from a certain European countries were not allowed to participate in the event. So the organisation has given it due thought, and chances of it cancelled is minimal.
In fact it made very little difference to our travel plans, as the only choice we have then was to just go to Malta anyways. Insurance company would not provide refunds. But oh what fun without a painful race to look forward to!
Race kit collection was smooth. Organisation also gave due consideration on the T-shirt refund. Again, corona made it impossible for tee-shirt to be printed and delivered on time out of China for the event. We pocketed 5 euro.
We drove another 20 minutes to Melleiha where our accommodation is. (Why so far away?!) Yea, 8 months ago, all we thought was, let’s go to Malta. Who would have known we could be in 2 complete opposite direction (North and South). It was a blessing in disguise though. Such was the adventure of “go with the flow”, also the reason why i have missed Malta a lot more than the usual Marathon (Marcation) i’ve been to. Staying in 2 opposite directions gave us the opportunity to drive along the coast, drive through villages to admire the diverse landscapes.
Race day
Start and finish was at different location. We start at Mdina City 225m above sea level. Great! The most waited welcomed descend. *sarcastic cough*
The entire journey started from 4am @ Melleiha. Though not too early by Malaysian standard (given races do start at unGodly hours too) it is still way too early for European standard. We chose the bus option (to start line), where pick up from Sliema is at 6am, thus the 5am drive from Melleiha… zzzzzzz.. Why so early? Parking is usually a challenge. And we really don’t fancy missing the bus.
The bus journey took us only about 20 minutes. We arrived at about 6.07 am but start time was only at 0730. OMG. The morning chill and wind made it unbearable. Once again, totally forgot about the “emergency blanket” cover i could have brought along with me to keep warm.
Mdina brings you back in time. Later found out that Game of Thrones was shot here right at the gate of Mdina! I’ve not watched it but i fancy to. (Not on Netflix! HBO series). Bah… It’s medieval architecture with high walls and an imposing stature. Oh such grandeur of the past. Such mammoth structure. Small alley ways, and from a helicopter view, looks more like a labyrinth of walkways around St Paul’s cathedral.
We walked towards the main square where St Paul Cathedral’s is and chose to hide inside the red phone booth. Instead of touring the entire Mdina, the silent city? Yeaaa… i could only think of the Marathon and getting to the finish line. Such was my focus :P. Also distracted by all the runners going about their things, warm up, selfies, etc. , that Mdina exploration will have to wait another time. We kept warm for almost 45 minutes and got a little bit too much attention from the other participants.
The route
0730! And off we go. It starts with a small ascend followed by a good 10 – 15 min of descend. After km 5, the route was rolling, up and down. This was the part where i think i have underestimated the difficulty of such route. I pushed both uphill and downhill in the first 20km Between km 9 to km 24 we were circling the Mdina city. There was a particular stretch (before a left turn), where we embraced a steep ascend with head wind force of possibly 4/5.
I think i gave my all, and pushed, and on hindsight, was a bad strategy. Already reminded by dearest Gertjan before the start of race. “take it easy uphill AND downhill”… Though he already predicted that i will never listen. He is wrong. I listen. But my body has its own mind. 😛 haha… I hope he is reading this.
Because of all the pushing at the beginning of the route, by km 29 i was knackered out. More and more women overtook me. I was going for a 3.20 finish time in the beginning (!!), but it wasn’t a speed i could hold (surely!), and at km 36, my leg truly gave way. I fell on a curb from a misstep. Just wasn’t able to raise my knee high enough, or to even stay focus on the road. Between km 32 to km 36, even descending was a pain. I drag my feet in baby steps rather than lifting my knee and run with the strength of the abdomen.
The run form was completely out of form. I only remembered that i keep running.
Water station was placed at every 5km. On point. Though i think the fuels were lacking at the water station. There were A LOT of water courtesy of San Michel, given in small bottles (nicely uncapped for us – though easy for runners, but its also a lot of wastage… on part of runners) but i think only 3 stations had sports drink, and only 1 station had sliced oranges. Oh dear God. I made a noob mistake of not bringing ANY gels with me. We only have one bottle of 500ml water which Gertjan kindly carries it for me. He should really stop spoiling me like this. (Again i hope he is reading this 🙂 So, this problem from km 32 could also be lack of fuel? Don’t know. I stuffed myself from Friday already. I clocked in plenty of run mileages, averaging 80km a week for over 2 months. Rested very well. Ate very well… all of that. Checked. But no PB. 😦 I probably got my expectations wrong.
The last 500m was rather cheeky. There was the DHL arch, and then the FINISH arch. Although it was less than 100m apart, it felt like miles apart. I rather not take an extra step if i need not to after 42.195km of running. You can sometimes reach an arch, and stop!
Post race
This has got to be the longest recovery period ever! The muscle soreness on both thighs were excruciating. The left hand side remain sore on the 10th day. It is highly unusual for me. It almost felt like a beginner’s muscle soreness, where the body is worked out for the first time. It then dawned on me that “it was a tough route heh”. I also took note that limited hill repeats (sprints uphill sets) in my training schedule could contribute to this.
meysrunningjourney.com 