Venice Marathon 1996


The Venice marathon was held October 27, 1996. Venice is wonderful at that time of the year and, as it is quite close to Graz, Mooi and I had been talking about hopping over to Italy. My little brother expressed interest in running a marathon despite being maybe a tad short on training and Venice was convenient and sounded like fun - which it was. We arrived late on friday night without reservation as all rooms had been booked up solidly for at least a month before the event. Good fortunes made us find a cheap but decent room right next to Mestre train station due to a cancellation.

Saturday we took the train into venice early and hiked all over the city. It was wonderful especially before all the other tourists crawled out from their beds. We strolled, looked at cute alley ways, marvelled at gargoyles, nice little bridges, the canals, made fun of the gondolieris, drank espresso until close to cardiac arrest - all the stuff you usually do in venice. I could feel my legs being a bit tired when i fell into bed that night.

Sunday dawned and my goal was a comrades qualifier of 4:30 and i wanted to also share the run with my brother who was doing his first marathon. A shuttle bus took us to the start at Stra, 25K from venice. At the gun michi took off at his usual speed and we only saw him again after the finish. First the route wound throught little villages in the countryside along a river. There was lots of crowd support, well-stocked water stations every 5K, and Gerhard and I made good progress. We slowed a bit at 15K, it got warmer, and we could not get any bananas or fruits until the 20K station. Gerhard slowed a bit more and I felt I had to push harder now to make my qualifying time. A pad on the shoulder and we separated. 21K in 2:20. Although my paces quickened now i could not get anywhere to what i had thought i could do. Heading towards Mestre through industrial areas was not that pretty and there were few people. At 26K I calculated that if I was hoping to make it in time over the last 15K i would have to hold 6:30/K which was the pace i was doing with a lot of effort right at that time. I knew if I stopped I would probably not make it and was tempted more than once to let it go. At 34K we finally headed towards the city of Venice when we got onto the long bridge connecting it to the mainland. Way off in the distance through some haze you could make out the island, some large domed buildings on it and the campanile. In a steady, painful rhythm i could see it come ever closer. One mile i got a few seconds ahead of plan by grabbing onto somebody, just to lose it again on the next section with headwind. I passed long streams of people walking now as we looped around the western side of the island. We crossed canale grande on a bridge of boats which was neat, shaky legs, shaky ground, wooow, then painfully headed over one little bridge after another crossing many little canals. Up the stairs or up little ramps onto it, down the other side, each just a few meters high but they added up. I gave it all i had and according to my watch missed the 4:30 by 10 seconds, bummer. I was a bit bummed but on the other hand i was happy that i had tried to make the time and missed it instead of not trying at all. In the finish I was beat and we were starting to wonder whether gerhard had given up, but look, no, there we was, not looking happy, but clearly still on his feet, on his last couple meters to the finish. Happy smiles from everybody, a massage during which i got onto Italian TV as they interviewed the guy next to me. I presume he was chosen because he did not wear any clothes - and after all this was Italian TV :-)

Damage assessment? No sore legs, i guess i am starting to get used to running bizarre distances :-), however, a qualifier for Comrades will have to wait for another time.

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