Budapest (Hungary) Half-Marathon
Sunday, September 1, 2002Race report from Jane...
Date: Thu Jan 9, 2003
Subject: Budapest, Hungary 1/2 marathon report - very overdue!! - long
This is soooo overdue, but better late than never, right? Well this race went exactly as expected!! (not a good thing)
In August I had the realization that I would probably fall out of training, by being on vacation, despite needing to stay in good shape, and continue running, if running a half marathon, three and a half weeks into vacation. I realized that even once a week long runs probably wouldn't happen since I would need up to three hours to run, plus travel time each way, stretching etc. I didn't want my family to have to wait around for me, since we didn't go all the way to Europe to sit in hotels. Plus considering the tremendous amounts of walking we did many days, I wouldn't have had the same amount of energy if running lots too ....
August 8th was my last run in town, and I was in excellent running shape at the time. I wish the half marathon was first thing in the trip! Late on August 9th we flew into Hungary. 9 hour flights drive me crazy, but I managed as it was overnight. August 10th the eating of fried foods marathon began, as well as some alcohol drinking (I rarely drink at home). We walked a lot some days, climbed hills to the castles, and swam at bath houses, but it isn't really "swimming" but lounging in warm water, so not really considered cross-training! There was a cold spell for a few days, and of course we only had a few changes of anything warm. I don't normally have allergies, but had a horrible attack for three days, with full stuffy nose symptoms, runny nose, etc., so more reasons not to do any running what so ever!
August 17th, despite not feeling quite back to normal yet, I ran for a mere 20 minutes, slow. 9 days since my last run! August 20th I finally fit in a "long" run. It was only an hour and a half, at a very slow pace, but it felt great. The City Park was an ideal place to run, full of runners, and dog walkers. Most people didn't even acknowledge me, which I found odd. I kept saying hello (in Hungarian) but they looked like they were really concentrating on running!
August 21st we started our trip to Austria. On the morning of the 22nd I woke early to fit in a 20 min run on the very hilly, amazing premises of the Rogner Bad Blumau resort. (If anyone is going to Austria, let me tell you about this place!!!) I wish I woke earlier as I don't remember ever having that much fun running! Of course the surroundings were the real reason. August 24th I woke early, in Salzburg, to fit in a one hour run. It was soooo beautiful, running both directions, along the Salzach River, looking at mountains, and the Hohensalzburg fortress on top of the hill! I purposely ran across the bridge in the Sound of Music, and by the water I could recognize from the movie. I forgot to carry my camera unfortunately though. That is one picture I forgot to get! August 26 I woke early for a 40 minute run in Vienna. It was a downtownish area, running past shops not yet open. I don't think many people run in that area, by the stares I was getting! August 27th I wanted to run, in Bratislava, Slovakia, but didn't feel comfortable that I would find my way back to the hotel, and there aren't many English speaking people there. August 30th, back in Budapest, Hungary, I ran for 40 minutes. Since I didn't have a ride that day to a park, and didn't want to spend time with a bus or taxi, I thought I'd just pick a direction for 20 minutes, and 20 minutes back. That turned out not to be the best idea as the sidewalks are narrow and everyone seems to be waiting for a bus, or getting off one, and not expecting a runner to be coming by.
Clearly people don't run in these parts. I felt like I was in a commercial with everyone turning their heads when I went by. The best part was men oogling and talking amongst themselves in Hungarian, not knowing I understand them, wearing my shirt with the Canadian flag on the front, and then responding!! So much fun! This was two days before the half marathon, so I really needed to fit it in.
The two days before the event, I struggled to find ways to carbo load. Hungarians eat a lot of meat!! Breakfast, lunch and dinner! I think that is why the population is much thinner than North Americans. They aren't carbohydrate addicts, but balance their meals better. My last morning before the race we were invited to a relative's house. Everyone offers cookies and cakes, and "palinka", which is a very hard liqueur, that I've nicknamed paint thinner. If anyone knows Europeans, they find it insulting if you don't eat and drink. I indulged in the desserts, but had no interest in hard liqueur this day, especially not in the morning! Anyway, I found a Turkish restaurant to eat at for lunch. They stared at me when I kept repeating I wanted mostly rice, and not meat. Who was that weird chick?? Crazy Canuck! By dinner
time, our choice was only fast food, so I had a salad at McDonald's. I ate bread in my hotel later too. The perfect carboload right? Not!So in 3 and a half weeks I fit in only 6 runs, totalling a pitiful 4 and a half hours!!
Race morning, September 1st: Hubby and the kids were flying home this morning, to get them back for the first day of school. I prefer a stress free morning before a half marathon, but instead ate a way too early breakfast, of toast and juice, did the last minute packing my husband didn't, and said my teary goodbyes! My cousin took me to the race, which looked exactly like the ones at home. Huge crowds, lots of tents and chaos. The race was beginning and ending at my favourite bath house! so we had the change rooms and bathrooms available to us. There were tens of people more than here organizing it, which was wonderful.
I knew in advance that I was one of three Canadians registered. I wore my Canada flag running shirt on purpose, despite it being way too hot for sleeves. The other Canadian lady in the race spotted my shirt and we had a short but nice conversation. I never met the Canadian man there. After stretching, I lined up in the appropriate area. It was labelled by 15 minute categories. I laughed when I saw where I would choose to start, in the last time category, loosely translated into English as "worse than 2 hours". [Left] We took a picture of me at the sign! :-)
I should mention that Budapest is known as one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, so I knew it would be memorable and scenic. I should also mention that the flooding that hit Eastern Europe only a couple of weeks earlier had only receded a few days earlier. Otherwise several kilometers would have been a swim instead!
Photo of the Danube River taken by Jane along the race course.The actual run went as I expected, weakly. It was 28 degrees to start, ending at 31! I should have started earlier, not at 10 a.m. My shirt felt too warm, I ate breakfast way too early and was hungry by the 10th km, and if I hadn't carried my own water, I don't know if I would have finished! They offered water and Gatorade equivalent every three kilometers, but two stations, were awful! It was so crowded, with only one hose for filling our cups! I timed them at 3 minute and 5 minute waits! I felt bad for the people without their own water, which was the huge majority. (A waist bag holding water and gels is ridiculously expensive over there, for their currency.) I ate one of my gels, but should have had a second. They offered some kind of sugar cube/candy but I declined everytime. They also had bananas and lemon wedges on the course, but they didn't interest me either, as I hadn't trained with them. They were all very friendly and supportive. I've heard that in the U.S. the crowds that come to cheer on a race is ten times ours or more, well this was probably ten times less than one of ours! The people that were there though, we cheering and clapping, and many called out to me because of the Canadian flag on my shirt. On the course I also had a nice chat with a Polish guy. Most runners were Hungarian, but many from other countries.
Taken along one of the bridges on the race course.Actually it was a record breaking number attending, with 4700 participants, and 4400 finishing. I bet the 300 or so not completing were dehydrated! 1500 of these runners were running their first half marathon ever, and 400 runners foreigners. There were 107 from Great Britain, 94 from Germany, and the other 200 from 25 other countries. Four Kenya males were running, and yes, they placed in the first four spots. The fastest had a time of 1:02:59. Of the 4400 to complete, 3385 were men! Not like here!! The fastest woman was from Budapest, Hungary, with a time of 1:13:39.
As for me, I ran the first 8km feeling pretty good, considering everything. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention my 6 hours of sleep on average during the whole trip, with four hours of sleep each night, the last three nights! I was truly sleeply at the start, a way I've never started a race, and never will again! I did the first 10km in 1:03:40 and finished the race in 2:23:24. Subtracting the eight minutes waiting for water, I ran the course in 2:15 roughly, which was my goal based on my state that morning. That morning I wisely decided to treat it as a long run, and not a race. By 14km I was wondering what the hell I was doing running a half marathon in that shape, by 16 km I had figured out where I would turn if I chose not to finish, but to head for a shorter route back to the start/finish, but by 17km figured 4 more kilometers
were doable. They were very hard though! I took 1 minute walk breaks in each of those 4 kilometers! The finish was hard to see coming so even if I had any kick left to finish the last few hundred meters with, I couldn't have. I high fived my cousin and received my medal at the finish! I think I worked harder for that medal than my first one four years ago!I really liked the kilometer markers too. Every km was marked, with a large sign, on a pole about 10 feet off the ground. That way everyone could see them, even if there was a crowd around them.
Left: One of the Budapest hills on the race course.I think my cousin started to worry about me as I very far in the back as the runners were mostly racing, and not there just to complete. Many runners this far back in the pack were hobbling horribly! I've never seen this many people look this bad, ever! Some were even collapsing! The medical help was amazing though. Lots and lots of people standing supervising, carrying walkie talkies or radios, and the medics on bikes, with medical bags on the bikes. If someone went down or looked weak, they received close to immediate attention.
After stretching and refueling, the highlite was going into the bath house! They have the hot thermal water to relax in, with many jets of water. I used one jet as my personal masseuse on my problem hamstring. I literally stood in front of it for 20 minutes, using it also on my lower back, and literally felt like I just ran only 5 km, by the time I stopped. It took the pains away, and rejuvenated me completely. We spent the entire afternoon at the bath house/spa! I wish we had such a place for a post race rest here!!!
That nights dinner was a much deserved KFC meal (too greasy but close enough to like home!)
Since then, the organizers mailed me my copy of their result list, which essentially is a magazine! When I looked through it I realized a camera man was taking pictures of runners before the race, and they included many pictures of people from international countries. The other Canadian woman had her picture included and a blurb about her. I'm so jealous! I wore a Canadian flag! Too bad they didn't find me in the crowd. I bet I'd be in the picture instead! Oh well. I was just so happy to run in such a memorable place for me (Hungary, where most of my relatives are from). I took a camera on the course too, and had to stop a few times to get the photo I wanted. That was fun! Now I can say I've tried an international race! Highly recommended!!
Bottom line: Excellent course, excellently organized, highly recommended.
My advice: Don't run a half marathon after 3 and a half weeks of vacation. I did everything differently when on vacation, ie eating, drinking, sleeping. I did everything wrong leading up to the event, and on race day, but no regrets!
Janie
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