The Madeira Life

Finishing the Madeira Marathon is about something else than just having done another one. In plain numbers, it’s my 62^nd marathon, which I completed by struggling along with an under average time of 4:08 hours. What makes it special is, that all signs had been pointing towards me not completing any marathon any time soon. Over the last three months of 2019, I had experienced the worst running slump since I started running 14 years ago. I simply did not want to run anymore. And I was feeling the effect: Gaining weight, lack of energy, back pain, you name it. It was time to get my running life back. But how?

On the 28^th of December, I posted that question on Instagram. So far, I had mainly used Instagram as a place to post the odd running picture, as a replacement for Facebook, where I closed the account some years ago. I thought, maybe if I don’t want to run, I can at least try to see what happens when I document my not running. Daily. And boy, what did happen exceeded anything I could have imagined. Within hours old and new running friends started to comment, coming up with fresh ideas: books, pictures, memories, practical tips. There was this guy who posted awesome pictures from his runs around London. Which inspired me to do my own picture-hunting-runs. Shortly after I noticed that this guy is doing a 12 months 12 marathons challenge, starting with Funchal, Madeira, in January. Madeira had always been on my list. What If I’d just sign-up to it? Running slump or not?

Two weeks later I found myself at the marathon start line in Funchal. The daily post on Instagram helped me not to overthink stuff, and it kept the stream of encouragement of a newly expanding running community coming in. Be it the London Tube Runners (IG: @ldntuberun), a friendly bunch who run along London Underground lines, the Relief Run to help with the Australian fires or the joining of a 12 weeks coaching program, to improve eating habits and build up strength to support your running. And I even didn’t have to be on my own at the start. That Instagram guy turned out to be Julien, who turned out to know Alex, who turned out to be the one to inspire him doing this 12-marathons a year thing. Awesome company, what could go wrong.

Well, in marathon terms quite a bit. My legs already felt like lead from the beginning. Maybe I shouldn’t had done that peak to peak hike the day before. I hadn’t managed to source my usual running gel, so I was trying to run entirely on 200g table sugar (roughly 600 calories), dissolved in 2-litre water in my camel pack. It was almost impossible to regulate my fuel intake. How many sips are 100 calories (equal to one energy gel)? Exactly. You can’t get this right by guessing. And then there was the temperature. It was constantly rising. Plus, the race was ending by the seaside of the town centre, where you had to do three final laps in scorching midday sun. Lovely. The route was rather confusing, too: Four (well, a bit more) laps here, three (not quite) laps there, transition bits, turning bits. And cruel bits: you had to pass the finish line twice when completing the laps, only then you were allowed to cross it.

While I had to fall back to a walking-running strategy, still the final lap ahead of me, Alex was passing me in a breeze, asking if I am on my last lap. Bless her, did I really look like I am doing an under 3:45 time? If I had known then, what I know now, I would have immediately stopped and retired from running. Alex (IG: @alexrun_lesmills) does only run, when she runs marathons, usually once a month. No further running training. No time for it, apparently. As a fitness instructor, she does a lot of classes that keep her fit, but still, running marathons without actual running? Last month she did the Malaga Marathon in under 3:30. How is this even possible?

Well, at least I did manage to finish my run strong. Maybe it helped when I emptied the remaining sugar-water, which was much, much more than the last 100 calories that should had been in there and that I usually have at kilometre 38. My last Km was the second-fastest of the race. Yeah! At the finish, Julien and Alex waited for me. In the case of Julien (IG: @roverunwander) that meant he had to wait for an hour. I obviously picked the wrong new running friends. This is crazy. How can a normal looking guy run that fast under these conditions? It is time to up the game. Not that I am an overly competitive person, but…. heck… there must be more to running, than what I have experienced so far. Maybe this running program that I just joined is not such a bad idea after all.

So, the Madeira Marathon experience is more than just having done the next marathon. It is about being at a great place to explore, and being inspired by other runners (I have not even told you about Douglas, the chilled and relaxed marathoner in his early sixties, who I ran with for a long part of the race until I could not keep up him). It is even more about expanding your running community and making new friends. This is not what I expected when I started this “Instagram-post-a-day” thing. I thought it might help to claim my old running life back, but now it feels like I am on my way to get a new one.