I had assumed the “26” in the Zagreb Marathon logo referred to 26 miles… which really when I think about it is a very foolish assumption. First, it should be “26.2” for the miles representing a marathon distance. Second, Croatia is on the metric system so it would have to be “42.195” if they were doing it in kilometers. In reality, this is the 26th running of the Zagreb Marathon.
Also in retrospect, the hour I gave myself to be onsite was ridiculously too much time. I could’ve gotten there at 9:45 or even 9:55 and been fine getting into the corrals and heading out onto the course. But I might have been in the back of the corral and honestly I prefer being closer to the front. Even then there’s a fairly wide spread of pace times and enough pinball/Millennium Falcon-ing through the crowd to find a slot to run in.
I have no idea what the pre-race announcements said while I was standing around. Occasionally there’d be a brief English summary but even that I tuned out. I was in the throng of people and figured I’d go with the crowd and figure it out as I went.
What became readily apparent once the firing gun fired and we took to the streets of Zagreb was that this would be a two loop course. The first sign I passed was for 22 KM – a dead giveaway. Basically we ran out 8 KM, turned around and ran back past the start and out another 2.5 K and then came back to start a second loop. It was an unequal, flat figure eight. So I didn’t see 26.2 miles of the city… but it also meant we avoided any hills and had a pretty flat run. The one hiccup was in the city center people would only look one way before deciding they could cross… not taking into account that we were looping back and forth and, well, there were more than three close-calls for me as I narrowly avoided plowing into an oblivious family… or three.
I don’t know if Zagreb, Croatia, is a Boston Qualifying race. I’ve got an email into BAA to ask. I was well on my way to a near PR… only to see the wheels come off pace-wise in the second loop. Each mile took progressively longer. It wasn’t that the distance had changed; I was just slowly slowing down. With a loop course it’s always a bit of a math problem – how fast to get to that turnaround? What do I need to run to get down to that marker to then be on pace for a BQ or a PR? But the wheels, man. When they come off, it gets to be a lot of higher math equations. If this, then that. If not A, then what about B? If I run the tangent here can I shave off a few seconds and try and make up some time? What’s the hypotenuse of this corner? If I run that isn’t that the shortest distance I can muster? What the hell was calculus really about? Areas under the curve? What does that even mean?
There were a lot less people, both running and spectating, on the second loop.
There was however the same amount of confetti.
In the end, I ran a 3:11:18. That’s a BQ time for this 40-something guy. It might even be enough to get me in for 2019 but I wouldn’t hold my breath. I would make it if the standard deviation holds. For 2018, according to the BAA, “qualifiers who were 3 minutes, 23 seconds (3:23) or faster than the qualifying time for their age group and gender were accepted” into the next Boston Marathon. Still, it’s nice to have a BQ time this early in the qualifying period, if only to know that it’s still possible for my old bones to pull it off. We’ll see what the Boston Athletic Association says about Zagreb’s eligibility for reporting times.
As a lot of the half marathoners and 5Kers had already finished, there was quite a long line to get my goulash. But at least they gave me a beer to pass the wait time.
And there was a second beer by the time I got to the front of the line.
The goulash might best be described as a heartier version of tomato soup… and the bread dipped into it was delightfully filling. I was just glad I got some… when in Croatia, eat as the Croatians do!
N.B.: Croatian cuisine is heavily influenced by a variety of regions — it’s a melting pot of tastes and seasonings and ingredients. Lots of pasta, lots of bread, lots of sauces, lots of stew and fish and, well, hell… there’s just a bit of everything. So when eating in Croatia, you can eat just about anything.
Last night I did eat at that Michelin rated Boban. It was good, but maybe my palette isn’t that discerning. Tonight I think I may just have a slice of pizza and some more gelato. Did I mention this was my celebratory 6 HKR gelato? That’s about 94 cents American!
