The Event
The half marathon route passes through the city centre and over the Ruissalo Island. The marathon route does two laps of the same route.
More details of the event can be found at www.paavonurmisports.fi (there is an option for the English translation of the website if you click on the British flag at the top of the page).
This year's event was the 20th Paavo Nurmi Marathon event and was held on Saturday 2nd July 2011.
Race Day
So, I travelled the 120 km west to the former capital of Finland, to take part in my 4th half marathon event of the year. Today was going to be a bigger challenge than normal though.... Oh yes, it was very hot! 32C to be exact! This was going to be my warmest run ever!
After the challenge of finding somewhere to park the car was overcome, the start area next to the city theatre along the River Aula was quite easy to find. After picking up my race pack, I headed up towards the athletics stadium to drop my bag off. It was here, in the stadium, that the temperature was registering a scorching 32C!
It was at this time, I was beginning to question the whole timing of the event. First of all, the beginning of July can be very hot in Finland, especially Turku on the south west coast. Then, of course, is the start time of 1320 - probably the warmest part of the day! Crazy!
Anyway, I reluctantly made my way to the start area and set my sights on just taking a steady pace and seeing what would happen. At 1320, the gun went off and so did I, running along the river before turning off to the left over the bridge and back in the direction we had started.
The first couple of kilometres took us through the city centre and it wasn't long before the sweat was dripping off me! However, I felt OK through this early stage as we passed through an industrial port area, and on to the outskirts via the quiet country lanes. After only 5 km, I noticed my pace was a little on the slow side even though I felt fine.
But, a few short steep hills later, and the cracks were already beginning to appear! After around 8 km, I knew that the rest of the race was going to get tougher and tougher. This was quite an alarming feeling so early on! From here on, the deteoration of my strength was quite amazing.... At 10 km, I was beginning to question if I could run the whole event and by 12 km I found the answer.... no, I couldn't!
My legs just had no drive or energy in them and just past the half way mark, I slowed to a walk as I passed one of the drinks stations and took on some much needed sports drinks to try and get things going again.
From this point, I got back into a slow jog again, only to drop back into a walk just a few minutes later. Now, it was just a case of getting it over with!
The heat was relentless and I increased the amount of walking I was doing, the further I went.
Finally, with just 2 km to go, we were back along the river passing the many cafes where the spectators were basking in the sun. I really did feel grim at this point! Just as we passed back over the bridge, I knew there couldn't be long to go. Just a minute or so later and I caught sight of the finishing line. I attempted a pathetic attempt at picking up the pace 200 m from the end but was HORRIFIED to see that I had to run around the finishing posts and back on myself to complete the race! I was not happy! In fact, I probably only ran 100 m past the finishing posts before turning back on myself, but that extra 200 m seemed like an extra 200 km!
When I did eventually cross the line, I felt absolutely wasted! I had no energy left and just wanted to get out of the sun! I had been running in it for nearly 2 hours afterall!
As I made my way back to the stadium to pick up my bag, I sat in the stand which offered some welcome shade whilst I attempted to replenish my energy levels with snacks and drinks. As I sat there looking over the athletics track, dark clouds appeared in the distance with the distant rumbling of thunder. The temperature in the air was beginning to noticeably cool, and then, just as I left it started to rain.......
Results
My time of 1:56:33 was one of the worst half marathon times I had ever run! However, it wasn't until I checked the results later that evening that I realised my final position of 311th out of the 1,557 competitors was quite respectable. I guess I wasn't the only one suffering with the heat!