Last year I ran the Geneva Marathon as my first marathon and I had a great time. However, I felt like I could run faster and since then I have wanted to push myself to do a better marathon. Instead of choosing a different or faster route, I decided to go back to Geneva as I would be able to compare my performances from the two years.
I had big plans for my training with lots of refinements from the lessons I learned last year. That would involve more running at marathon pace, a careful management of total training load, and a better taper into the race. Unfortunately an injury in December and January set me back to almost zero. I reset my plan and apart from a couple of weeks when I was sick in the middle of the build, everything went as well as possible.
In the lead up to the race I ran a 5km, a 10km, and a 21km which felt like a good progression and a chance to figure out my pacing and set reasonable goals for the marathon. In order from least to most demanding: I hoped to run faster than last year (2:42), then to run under 2:40, and finally to try and run a 3:45/km pace.
Race day was a perfect! It was a little warm, but I felt ready for that and I was more excited for those conditions than the rain and wind from the previous year. I started with a good group and the pace felt smooth and I thought it would be possible to hold until the end. Most of the people around me were aiming for sub-2:40 and some even faster times so I thought I was in the right place to pursue my goals. I settled into the group and let them do the pacing and managing the effort.
This strategy worked very well until halfway. When we went through the aid station we were close to the group’s goal time, but with what the other runners had told me I expected them to step up the pace to run faster second halves. At the aid station I was faster than the other runners and then I settled into a pace just a little faster than the first half. I was surprised when I looked around a kilometer later and no one had come with me or caught up after the aid station. I wasn’t going much faster, but it seemed like I was the only one from the group to follow through with the plans!
I ran by myself all the way to finish and gradually passed multiple different runners who were slowing. I felt stronger from 32km to the finish compared to last year even though the last few kilometers were hard work and I felt like my form wasn’t quite as smooth or strong as I would have liked. I ran 1:20:23 for the first half and 1:20:00 for the second half so it was great pacing and a perfect negative split.
I was happy with how I executed the race on the day. I’ve said that of each race so far this year and I feel like I’m able to squeeze the best out of myself over all the distances. However, I also would like my best to be a little faster and I know that’s possible with a better build up.
I’m definitely going for another marathon either later this year or early next year. And this time I want to go to a faster route with a deep field so I can have optimal conditions to run my fastest marathon.
Race result
11 May 202542km
2:40:25
33rd
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