Tom’s first Tri

I officially got my runner# and the official runner’s package for this year’s Würzburg iwelt-Marathon. For the next 24 hours I’m also known as Runner #3913. The race director expects about 5000 participants tomorrow, over 3500 people have registered for the race so far.

The runner’s package included a marathon magazine, 2 energy bars (and gel respectively), a couple of vouchers valid for the next purchases in local stores and of course lots of ads. As I purchased my own Mika Timing ChampionChip last week I don’t need to borrow one tomorrow or in future races. On the following page I introduce the course, provide gps-data and other important information about the race.

Price money for the (half-)marathon if given to the top three finishers, an additional €2000 is rewarded if the winner finishes in 02:19:00 or faster. Personally, this is another level which is why I focus on MY race. The winner of the half-marathon competition is expected to finish in 01:05:00, about 40 minutes than my personal (second) goal of finishing in 105 minutes or even faster. I am going to set a PR as this is my very first road race, so as long as I finish I should be happy But as a runner I need to set a goal to stay motivated during the race.
If you prefer to check out the course map (for the half-marathon) on one of the many online mapping services out there, click this link to do so. You can even download a KML-file in case you have a GPS-device.

Let’s take a closer look at the course, respectively at its altitude profile. The course is mostly flat, but requires the runners to face and overcome a speed-bump at kilometer marker 7

For those of you who like numbers:

• Altitude range: 42 Meter (Altitude from 169 to 211 Meter)
• Total ascent: 112 Meter
• Total descent: 116 Meter

The official website of the Wuerzburg Marathon can be found at http://www.wuerzburg-marathon.de. Nuff said. Now it’s time to relax and power up for tomorrow My alarm clock rings at 6AM, I’ll have breakfast between 6:15 and 6:45 AM and will leave home at 8:15 AM so that I’ll be in Wuerzburg in time (probably at 9AM). I’m going to start at 10:06 AM which is the 3rd block of all participants. Hopefully, at 11:51 AM I will have finished and am about to receive my finisher’s medal *fingerscrossed*