Vilnius marathon
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10.9.2023



Why Vilnius?

Autumn was approaching without any marathon plans. Travel choices were limited but I still preferred to run abroad.

Then I was asked to join the examination committee of a PhD thesis in Vilnius university. I quickly checked the date of the Vilnius marathon and found a close match. This was a no-brainer: make the deal and fast.

I had done marathons in all three Baltic countries already: Tallinn (2016), Riga (2018) and Kaunas (2018). So this was not going to progress my Country club project, but otherwise it looked a good choice.

Vilnius is a nice city where I have been running before and knew what to expect. Typical city marathon with old town streets and river views. I quickly booked a nearby hotel just next to the marathon venue.

Training

Everybody remembers their marathon record. Mine is 2:54 in Stockholm 2010. Before reaching the peak, I made a new personal best (PB) seven times: 3:53, 3:50, 3:14, 3:12, 3:09, 2:58, 2:54. This is the motivating part for a goal-oriented runner. The biggest jumps were Joensuu 2006 (3:50 to 3:14) and Stockholm 2008 (3:09 to 2:58). Some record breaking felt even disappointing (3:09, in Forssa) as I had already started to chase sub 3h result. Anyway, I call this record-breaking stream as the uphill path of a marathon runner.

My uphill path

It took time to accept that there won't be anymore record breakings. With good health and training I would have probably continued to reach towards 2:50 target or even further, who knows. But reality was different and then follows the downhill part. I call a marathon result as "inverse record" if it is the best I have ever run after that marathon. For instance, I made 3:04 in Vannes (2011) and have ever since run as fast. Thus, it is an inverse record. In my case, I count 6 such records. These constitute the downhill path of a marathon runner.

My downhill path

When I ran 3:04 in Vannes (2011), I was disappointed because I could not reach sub-3h anymore. On the other hand, I have not run as fast ever since. Then in London (2014) I ran 3:08. Not as good as in Vannes, but again, better than ever after. This time I was happy because it was only one week after Paris marathon (3:16) and I managed to improve.

Any record made during the uphill path cannot be changed afterwards. New record is a new record and cannot be cancelled. You may only extend the path by making a new pesonal best. But the downhill record is changeable. All you need to do is run faster than any of those previous milestones and the new result would wipe out all the "inverse record" results slower than the result.

For instance, I ran a pretty good race in Tallinn 2016 (3:12) and next year in Oslo (3:13). The other two inverse records are Bangkok 2018 (3:19) and Vilnius 2023 (3:20). If I would do 3:10 next, all slower results would be wiped out from the. It is unlikely to happen, but anyway, gives some motivation.

People also tend to ask what is my favorite city. I cannot answer. Mainly because I have good memories from all of them. The first one in St.Petersburg is memorable and where could one find better views than running Jungfrau marathon in Switzerland?

I asked the same question once from Tuomo Lehtinen. His answer was something like: "places where I made a new record". It has some wisdom in it. While every marathon in a new city is a memorable experience, a lot depends on how it went. Record breakings are definitely memorable but how should I compare:
Even Bangkok midnight running the boring elevated highways was a good experience, hitting the wall in Berlin maybe not, or getting lost in 200m before the finish line in Basel. But all those have memories. Something to remember. So I am unable to raise a clear favorite place and the answer is probably: the next one. My next marathon will be in Shenzhen, China.

The race

The trip itself was smooth. Going Thursday evening to Vilna by train and flight, having work duties Friday. Then one day to rest (working in nearby cafes), run Sunday and back home in the late night flight. The venue was super easy to reach from my hotel.

The race itself went ok. The route was zigzag-ing along the river and old town. It was pleasant with occasional musical bands and supporters. In the early part I followed the 3:15 group or even in front of them, but eventually could not cope their pace and left behind. I managed to keep the pace to the end and clocked 3:20 result. Best in about five years, and It was 10 minutes faster than last year in Porto. I was content.

Nothing much more to report so I let the pictures tell the rest of the story. Roger and out.

Pictures

Unfortunately I lack good tools to process those and they might appear here no earlier than summer 2024...


Figures: Pictures from the marathon.





Summary:

Time: 3:20:07
Rank: 101 / 920
Pace: 4:44 min/km
Weather: 13-18 C (half sunny)
Certificate   All results

Splits: