San Sebastian Marathon 2013

Gumbyman2000

Hi all,

Thinking of doing the San Sebastian Marathon this year. It is four weeks after Dublin so perfect timing for the double whammy.

Has anybody here ran it before? What is it like? The route looks a bit dizzying from the video on their site (http://www.maratondonostia.com/maratondonostia/dm/the-course-of-the-marathon.asp?nombre=3079&nodo=&hoja=0&sesion=1347). Two laps through the town with some up and down on the same roads. Very small number (3,000) of entrants too. Wonder what the crowds are like? Very tempted.

Thanks,
Gumby.

PaulieYifter

I'm tempted too but it's a difficult place to get to end November. Even the flights to Biarritz from both Dub and London cease end October.

PaulieYifter

FWIW I've done some further research on the logistics.
There's plenty of flights between Madrid and San Seb with the Iberia low cost Air Nostrum carrier and these can be booked on Iberia.com.
Iberia, Aer Lingus and Ryanair fly to Madrid from Dublin so there's a number of options for ok connections.

Gumbyman2000

Thanks Paulie! I had a look at the flights too and was turned off it. Hadn't checked those guys.

PaulieYifter

San Sebastian Marathon
Garmin Data

Just did this with brenner65.

This was my 10th marathon and my 3rd this year.

Background to this was a search for the sub 3.
I ran 3:02:16 in Boston in April and 3:00:18 in Cork in June so I was looking for a 19 second improvement.
I was originally training for Eindhoven or Dublin in October but injury in September forced me out for almost 6 weeks.
I got back training (but with constant niggles reminding me of my injury) and said I'd have one last roll of the dice before the year was out.

Not that easy to get to logistically - had to fly to Madrid and get a connection on the way over and come back on Monday via Barcelona.

We arrived on Friday night and went out for something to eat c. 9pm shortly after checking in to hotel.

Saturday morning it was out to the Aoneta Stadium to pick up race number.
Pretty small expo - got race number and goody bag pretty quick but then queued and forked out an extra €10 for a pretty nondescript race t-shirt.
Goody bag contained a bottle of cider and a litre of chicken juice that all the locals were mad for!

Back to the hotel to drop the stuff off then out to the old town for lunch.
Lots of lovely looking food but all a bit risky the day before a marathon so stuck with an average pasta carbonara.

Back out to the Aoneta Stadium that evening after a lie down for Real Sociedad v Celta Vigo.
What a great match with Real coming from 3-1 down to win 4-3.
Walked to hotel after and ordered room service while getting the gear ready.

Not a bad night's sleep and up at 6 the next morning for breakfast as the locals were only leaving the bars.
We had breakfast - got togged out and then got a taxi out to the stadium yet again.
Dropped bag off, short stroll to start area, then quick warm up before saying good luck to brenner65 and taking my position at the 3:00 starting post.

They have pacers here for 2:30 :eek:, 2:45, 3:00, 3:15, 3:30, 3:45 and 4:00.
The course consists of a 6k loop before getting back through the stadium then an 18k circuit that takes you east then west then back through the stadium before repeating again to finish in the stadium.
There's boisterous crowds around the city centre but at the east and west ends of the loop it's fairly quiet - in particular the western end takes you through a system of roundabouts in an industrial estate type area.

My race did not exactly go according to plan :mad:.

I was finding the pace easy early on but inside the first 10k my quads started to hurt. What's this I thought - I've had calf issues and lateral leg pain during training but never had a problem with the quads.
It set the alarm bells off - had they felt like this with 10k to go then fine but not this early.
Anyway, I persevered - caught up with the 3:00 group after about 10k and was happy to see they were actually now moving slightly below target pace. Settled in with them as we headed west along the seafront.
The pace increased a bit as we turned back east again but this was fine too. The quads were getting stiffer though so that was bad bad news. Crossed half way in 1:29:54 which was fine by me.

Back up through the stadium and out for the final circuit. I hit a bit of a flat spot and the group moved a bit away from me but I didn't panic - just ran comfortable and sure enough I was pretty much back up with them a km later.
This didn't last long though and after 27km or so I finally threw in the towel - my quads were just too sore. I slowed down by c. 20 seconds per km and kept at that pace for the next 4 or 5k.
Some dude sat on my shoulder all this time drafting off me and wouldn't go in front of me. I wasn't exactly the best person to be pacing off all the same.

Enjoyed the view along the seafront this time but then heading out through the roundabouts in the freezing cold with my target gone, not many runners and no crowd - it became soul destroying. My pace dropped by another 10-20 seconds per km and my quads were now in agony.
We turned with about 8k to go and the only thing that kept me running/jogging was that walking would have been just as painful and taken longer. I was working out what pace I needed to keep to make sure I wasn't caught by the 3:15 group.
Coming back by the seafront I saw brenner65 on the other side of the road - he was looking in good shape and shouted encouragement to me but I told him I was b'xed.

All the while my pace was dropping but yet this dude stayed on my shoulder. When we got back in to the centre to the crowds he said "British?" - I put him straight and said "Sh!t marathon" but what I really meant was sh!t for me. He pushed on from me with 2 or 3k to go.
Although lots passed me in the last few kms I passed a few in even worse condition than me.
There's great crowds outside the staduim but the only problem is they disappear and there's still a loop of the stadium and a smaller stadium to go so still more than 1k with not much cheering. Not that it mattered to me because I just wanted the race to be over.

When I finally enter the stadium for the last time I realise that if I move it I'll get in under 3:10 so I manage to pass a couple of lads on the track and finish with a flourish for 3:09:44.

Legs are in bits afterwards and haven't felt as wrecked at the finish since my 1st marathon. Sore quads slowed me down initially but I definitely hit the wall too.

Brenner65 finishes with a 6 min PB 4 weeks after his PB in Dublin so he's caught the marathon bug!

I have the Donadea 50k in Feb to look forward to before a return to Boston in April but at the moment I feel like I should target Cork again in June for my next big effort or I risk getting sick of it. The last few weeks of training through injury were definitely not enjoyable.
Going to enjoy a break for a few weeks and we kicked that off with a pub and grub crawl through San Seb's numerous bars on Sunday evening.

If anybody needs directions to the Anoeta Stadium I'm your man

Brenner65

Good man PaulieYifter. Think we were in the Anoeta stadium more than Croker this year. Pity the sub 3 didn't happen but 3:09 looks good against my "lesser" 3:43. Where you first in your international group ? Thats all that matters.
Istanbul this time next year. Has to be done.