30th Vodafon Malta marathon 22nd february 2015

30th Vodafon Malta marathon 22nd february 2015

The first real foreign Marathon for me
in the sense that Croatia is not exactly
some abroad for me . With a small but selected
team led by agency
Active traveling we went on Saturday
morning for Budapest airport. I
was picked last in Subotica. In
mini van was 6 Belgraders, glossy
marathon runner Miškeljin Ivan –
gym teacher from Belgrade, which is double
champion of Serbia in the marathon,
and twice was vice champion of Novi Sad
marathon. His godfather Aleksandar Memišević
to accompany, a great man and an intellectual,
Ćulum Vlada, the guy who set his
personal record on the marathon and surprised everyone
with a time of about 2 hours and 49 minutes.
Kanicki Marija dentist was running
half marathon, and there was the legendary
Serbian marathoner Mičić Srećko
which has nearly 150 marathons, he ran
in many European countries and in the US
and was born in 1958., there was also Stanko
from Belgrade who occasionally run
half marathon and was not always with
us, because he was located in his
friends house.  And of course there was Keti
Katarina Pohlod from Kać that
organized the trip, and she also ran
half marathon in Malta.

Afternoon embark on Saturday 21 February
on a plane operated by Wizzair followed by the
2 hour flight, then coming to the rainy
and windy Malta, going to the hostel Jones,
and then to some hotel to get the start packages.
Several of us went to dinner at a pizzeria,
and then to sleep (the room was full of mosquitoes
which surprised me).

In the morning getting up was before 4:30,
light coffie and breakfast, followed by
the bus drive that took us to the central
part of the island where the start was: Rabat – Mbdina.

Start of the marathon is at the highest point of the island
at 7:30 AM, next to a fortress
and church of St. Paul. Favorites were
the Moroccans. The weather was sunny
but windy and chilly before the start time.
More than 650 people started in the marathon
race, while the half-marathon, which began
at 9:15 AM was around 3000 participants.

The Race goes through streets of a small town firstly,
following by the local road around Mdina and national
Stadium. The route is quite tangled. There are
more small circles to reach the half marathon.
I was fortunate that there was always someone in front of me,
or some of the local kids showed us the way.

Miškeljin and Ćulum were rushed forward,
while I held on a solid tempo for me,
of about 4 minutes and 50 seconds per kilometer.
I took the water regularly on refreshment stands
while running, sponge, as well as twice
isotonik that helped me a lot.

Slowly I got tired in the second part of the course,
and track was slowly included in the main
road, which is leading across multiple overpass to
north of the island.After approximately 34-5 km. I took a piece of
orange, I felt more tired and
I remembered a sentences of famous American racer
Galloway that marathon consists two races – one
till 35th kilometer and the other one weight
from 35th to 42nd kilometer.

Around 37th – 38th kilometer after
we were all of a sudden bath sprayed by
short rainstorm, road path comes over the Mediterranean Sea.
The sun came out in meantime, and the strong wind
did that slow dry out.

I get new strength, the path slightly
descends towards the sea, getting off the coastal
zone to the waterfront, where the objective is to race and
where we are located

Im Following signs of kilometers, and see that we
passed the 40th kilometer. We are right on the coast,
around a lot of people on the streets, cheer for us.
While around me there is more those half-marathon runners
coming. Speeding up and running under 5 minutes for
the last kilometer, I see I will run a personal record.

I run to the finish, the sun is shining, the wind is strong,
They cover me with thin aluminum foil,
I take a bottles of water and isotonic, banana and
integral candy and looking for a place to stretch.
Soon I met Cathy.

I am happy because of good race.
I beat personal best by more than 5 minutes
– 3 hours 23 minutes 41 seconds according to chip.
This is a total of 9 successful marathon races for me,
it is my second under 3 and a half hours,
and third abroad and very first of this
calendar year (2015).

Remaining time on Malta
was excellent. Light stroll in the afternoon,
and a tour to capital city Valletta next day.
Weather was sunny and rainy, although there was more rain
and plenty of wind. Nice island and the land,
its real summer paradise they say, but also quite hot.
We went out to downtown in the Monday evening,
there are many Catholic churches.

On Tuesday, February 24th, 2015 afternoon,
we went to the airport and over the Pest
to Serbia. I arrived to my flat in Subotica
arround 22h, nice and successful journey.