Bienwald Marathon Race Report

The Bienwald, or Bee Forest surrounding Kandel, Germany has long been on my mind. After suffering a DNF on the seemingly endless asphalt forest paths in 2006, I swore off ever running a ‘city’ marathon again. However, thoughts of ‘unfinished business’ continued to plague me throughout the year until I again found myself at the starting line in 2007.

It was a cool 2C/36F as I lined up with approximately 1300 other runners, the sun was shining brightly and spirits were high. I settled towards the back of the pack, I didn’t want to make the same mistake of starting too fast like I did last year. The starting pistol went off promptly at 10:00 a.m. and those around me patiently waited until we could move forward. As this race was also a regional HM/M championship, I guess there was a large percentage of experienced runners in the crowd.

I heard the ‘peep’ from my chip as I passed over the starting mat and I started my stopwatch. The first 10 minutes we remained grouped together as we passed through town, but the pack started breaking up as we started down the road towards the next village. I settled into a roughly 5:35/K (9:00/M) pace, slightly faster then I planned on, but it felt comfortable. The wind was gusting off and on, but the sun was warm and after about a half hour I unzipped the sleeves on my running jacket and stowed them in my pocket.

We ran through the next town and the first aid station, I drank a cup of water and continued on. The runners had really thinned out by now, I guess there were a lot of speedy runners due to the regional championship. I passed the 10K in around 56:30, still on pace and still not too fast. I was still feeling fresh and had to concentrate on keeping the pace. Soon after the 10K point we again passed an aid station, this time I walked long enough to gulp down a sports drink.

Soon after this, I turned onto a long road that had been closed for the event and before long the first half-marathoners came thundering by on the other side of the road. The kilometres clicked slowly by, I passed the turn-around point for the half-marathon and continued down the long road. I knew from last year we would first turn around at approx. 19K/12M. My pace remained strong and the temperature outside continued to rise. We eventually entered another town and wound our way around, eventually reaching the turnaround point and heading back through town and onto the long straight road again.

After another 10 minutes or so I passed over the timing mat at the halfway point, my time around 2:01:00 (the official time isn’t posted yet). Just past the 21K point we turned off the long road and began a 11K out and back over a bike path through the forest. This was the loop that broke me last year, I entered the loop with determination, my time was good, I was still feeling good.

The kilometers ticked slowly by, the trail offered little to divert a runner from the task at hand. I made it to the turn around point and began the trek back to the long road. By kilometer 28 (17.5 miles) my pace was fading fast, I could almost feel my energy level depleting. As an aid station came up I took a walk break and ate a sports bar, then continued on. I tried to pick up the pace again, but only managed it for a short time before I again started slowing down again. I eventually passed the 32K point in around 3:12:00, still within range of a 4:15:00 finish, but I knew I would be hard-pressed to accomplish this.

By this time I had already passed the point where I gave up last year, but I was losing steam fast. I started taking a 1 minute walk break every kilometer, this put me at the 36K/22M point at around 3:50:00. My legs hurt and my stomach was queasy from the sports drink that I had been drinking at the aid stations. At the final aid station I switched to water and continued on towards the finish, 6K, 5K, 4K...the time seemed to crawl slower than my pace.

I was honestly struggling by this point, my energy level was null and just wanted the race to be over with. As I neared the finish I knew 4:15:00 was out of the question, and 4:30:00 would be close. I continued to run/walk to the finish, always moving, forward…as I made it to the edge of town and the last kilometer I blocked out the urge to walk and plodded at a slow run towards the stadium and the finish. I saw very few runners, the most were already done, but I didn’t care, I only had one thought, cross the finish. I knew I was close to my old PR (4:30:07) and that I had to keep moving. I entered the stadium and began the ¾ loop to the finish line.

Time seemed to stand still as I focused on my target and slowly drew myself over the finish line. My wife and our friend Eva were waiting as I finshed, sweet! The race was hard, but after the DNF one year ago the Bienwald marathon was mine! As an added bonus I even set a new marathon PR, albeit by 31 seconds. I’ll take it thank you!

I finished 532/638 overall, 142/144 in my age group, not terribly impressive, but that's not the point, right! I finished the race that beat me last year and for me that was really what it was all about. Now I can head back to my dirt trails and search for some races with less asphalt and some hills!