This was the day of the Barcelona Marathon. I am tired but I did finish the course. My time was somewhat disappointing in that I was unable to finish in under four hours. I ran the course in 4 hours, 13 minutes and 52 seconds. My time was almost twice as long as the winner's.
Sunday was a cold day, colder than usual for his time of year. And I suffered from the cold because I should have worn an extra layer of clothing. It would have been more comfortable especially in the parts of the course that were exposed to a head wind.
The first half of the race went reasonably well as I was able to maintain my usual plodding pace. At the halfway mark I was just under a four pace--1 hour 57 minutes 29 seconds. After that and especially after the 30 kilometre mark I gradually faded as my legs felt heavier and heavier. I had no trouble aerobically as I was breathing easily but my thighs seemed to tighten up and it became harder and harder to run. At some point after the 25 kilometre mark I paused to stretch my legs but it had little effect.
Around the 30 kilometre mark I walked fro the first time. Of course the hardest part about walking is that it is so hard to start running again.
The last part of the race was gruesome. It took me almost 16 minutes to run the last 2.2 kilometres
After the race I was in some pain but that lasted for a half hour or so. Later, although I was stiff, I was able to walk reasonably well.
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