Frankfurt Marathon

By Elaine McGeachy

For some unknown reason that I can’t recall, I thought it would be wise after returning to work full-time and with twin toddlers it would be a good idea for both of us busy parents to enter a Marathon. Abroad. Both working the Friday and Monday. Sensible as ever is me!

We made the expo by the skin of our teeth – we arrived into the city after 5pm, the day before the race. Luckily our hotel was close by. We ate at the pasta party but it wasn’t enough and was too early – mistake! We never carb loaded and probably didn’t get our nutrition right for this one.

At the beginning, I was just doing it for structure and a target. But as the training cycle moved on and it was going well, I started to think ‘what if?’ If the conditions were right I thought a PB or even a BQ was achievable if I could just get to the start line without injury. I followed a 16 week RW training plan to the letter (with a few tweaks) and faithfully completed strength and conditioning sessions along the way incorporating in my yoga to stretch out those achy muscles. OK I didn’t stretch or foam roll as much as I should but I prioritized the running.

Unlike other marathons we actually didn’t have much time to focus on the race itself and didn’t really talk about it. In fact, I didn’t know much about it until the afternoon before when we boarded the plane for Germany. There’s a mistake right there!

After having a bad experience with heatstroke at the London Marathon 10 years ago, I was extremely nervous to see the weather forecast of 22 degrees when it’s normally an average of 9. This sewed a seed of doubt and built upon the maranoia that had already kicked in, with every niggle and old injury reappearing a little in the final weeks. But instead of re-evaluating the race strategy, which seems obvious now, I never.

After a hearty breakfast at the hotel, having a nosy at all the elite runners diet who were staying at our hotel we made our way over to the start. It was essentially an 11am start due to clocks changing, so the sun was high in the sky but it felt cool-ish with the start being in the city surrounded by skyscrapers. We jumped into the race pens which were already full but we pushed our way in – sorry! A few minutes before the starting gun, a woman standing next to me collapsed. She was out cold. I shouted to those around us to help and I lifted her legs. She wasn’t coming round and no one was about to help. It didn’t help that I spoke no German. We were barricaded in by the barriers so along with another runner we just opened up the barrier and some kind bystanders gave her some room and help was on the way. She had come round now but there’s no way she’d be running. The poor woman, she hadn’t even crossed the start line. That certainly got my adrenaline up and the race had already begun! I better get going.

The first 4 miles looped round the city centre, through business districts, then historic buildings and cobbled streets before going out into the suburbs. To be honest, I didn’t take any many of the sights. Unlike other marathons I hadn’t thought about pacing much, just go and see what you could do. This was a mistake on a hot day. With only KM markers I couldn’t quite judge my pace. My Garmin was reporting 9 min miles then another glance said 7’s. It felt easy and I felt good. It was only until 5k I realised I was going a bit faster than I thought as I went through in 24 and 10k in 50. Mental maths kept me going at each 5k point as I felt good and enjoyed the kilometres passing by, staying at same speed. In hindsight, I should’ve slowed down. Aid stations were every 5k so I took on water at each one along with an occasional gel – something I didn’t do in London or do in any of my training runs so I thought this would help. It wasn’t enough.

Around halfway there was a lovely bridge over the river, the crowds were huge at this point and also doubled as a relay changeover so this was a huge boost and definitely a highlight. I crossed the halfway point in 1.46 so I worked out if I continued I could get a sub 3.35 which I’d be delighted at. This gave me another boost but I knew a negative split was not going to happen.

After this, some of the course was well, boring. Out in the suburbs some long roads with no spectators and out in the exposed sun with no one to talk to. My mind started to wander into doubts as the sun felt stronger. When we turned I could see the big buildings at the start line and they looked miles away. They were. Time for another gel.

By 30k, I knew I was in trouble. I’d taken on my 3 gels and I felt hot and thirsty. My shorts were crusting white with sweat, my feet and legs were getting really sore, a really weird intense pain. Was it my vapor fly trainers? Stupidly I’d only ran in them a couple of times and no more than 10 miles. It wasn’t planned that way but I decided to give them a go, if it works for Kipchoge… Then I just started cramping and seizing up– my hip flexors, quads, calf muscles and feet – it was horrible! I stopped and walked a little. Everyone around me seemed to be the same which made it so much harder to get going again. I’ve never seen so many people stop at the side. I checked the garmin. OK so sub 3.35 is out, maybe still a sub 3.40? This was still a Boston QT. I tried again but each time, the cramps came back with a vengeance. With 4.2 miles to go I was at 2.59 – surely I could do that? Nope. It was a painful last few miles through the city but I was absolutely determined that despite not getting that PB or QT I wanted that I was going to cross that finish line. With just 100m to go my legs were starting to buckle so it took every last ounce of me to run up that red carpet!! But I did it. I couldn’t see Stuart so I hobbled away to find some water but I couldn’t face anything to eat, I felt sick. My legs and feet cramped up again trying to take off the championchip so a kind German lady took off my shoes and even rubbed my calves – sorry about that and danke!!

I’m not going to lie, I was pretty gutted by the end, official time 3.51 and felt terrible. I trudged back to the hotel in hope that Stuart would’ve PB’d to make it all worth it. Sadly no, that’s another race report. Within the hour we were heading back to the airport home. The celebratory drinks were on hold.

After having a few weeks to reflect, OK I didn’t do as I wanted. I made some mistakes. But I’ll learn from them and it’s another sub-4 marathon in the bank. And it’s just a race at the end of the day. I definitely wouldn’t do Frankfurt again but in normal weather conditions I think it’s definitely a PB course. Will I do another 1? Last week I said no. Today, I’m online looking for the next……..