Race Review: Seville Marathon 2023

Seville Marathon 2022 – Not to be

The Seville marathon 2023! Pretty much since I started running in 2021 I’d wanted to run this race. Not only run it, but dominate it. 2hr45 was mine for the taking, I knew it.

Fast forwards to December 2021, training was going well, and with the Seville marathon round the corner I felt unstoppable. So on my final run before heading off to the in-laws for Christmas, I went for a hard half marathon at training pace. 1:22:30. I felt good… until the next morning, where I discovered that overnight my body decided it hated me and would punish me by swelling my right foot up.

Between January to the Seville marathon, I did manage to get some training runs completed, however mainly relied on the bike and swimming to get my exercise in – with a lot of rehab strength work to help my right foot.

After roughly 6 weeks off the foot, I went round Hyde Park for what would be my final long run. A half marathon. I was frustrated, and had a point to prove. I could run, and I could run fast. So I did. I set off at 4:15/km, however this quickly became 3:49/km, and then 3:39/km…. I was truly in the moment, so much so that I left Hyde Park early by accident, meaning my final 200m were spent bombing down a crowded Parliament Street in Westminster, at 20kmph, past a host of bemused onlookers. I was back.

So… why did coach and I decide that I wouldn’t run the Seville marathon 2022 just days later? I honestly can’t remember!  Realistically? Because I wasn’t fully healed, and by chancing it with the Seville marathon I would’ve put myself at risk of prolonged injury that would ruin the rest of the season.

Seville Marathon 2023 – To be!

It almost feels as though I could copy and paste the above into this section!

Coming off of the back of a great run in the London Marathon 2022, where I ran my first sub 3 hour marathon, and was on for a 2hr48 finish before my hip gave way at 32km, I had a couple of great months training leading into the Pisa Half Marathon 2022.

By Pisa, however, I’d had a long couple of months at work, I was tired (Read: fucking knackered). My wife and I were running on empty, and to be honest the last thing we needed was a 60 hour stopover in Pisa to add to our tiredness.
But physically, I was ready. I’d done the training, hadn’t been injured in months, and was confident of a PB. And I got it! 1:17:10! Seville, here I come…

Or so I thought….

Later that night, my wife and I’s flight was delayed a few hours. The lack of sleep, combined with effort expended during the HM tipped my immune system over the edge – I got properly ill. We landed in the UK around midnight, having been up since 5am, and proceeded to drive for five hours straight to get back to London, so that we could both get to work from 9am that day. I didn’t make it.

And so I spent the next week unable to move from bed, and another 2 weeks after that feeling bloody dreadful. I didn’t run for two weeks. And when I did? I injured myself, obviously.

A month later? Predictably injured myself again. A freak accident involving a pulled calf on an athletics track. I was now 3 weeks out from the Seville marathon. Fuck…

That was it. I was out. Surely I couldn’t will myself into being better within 3 weeks?

A week went by. I did a couple of hard sessions on the bike; 3x 16min, and 3x30min, to keep the body going. Before, a week later, I attempted a 5km run.

According to my coach, this was it. Make or break. If I can run the 5km, I can run Seville. If I can’t run it, I’ll pull out of Seville. A lot rode on the next 25 minutes. Would my calf hold up? 1 minute, two minutes, five minutes went by. I thought I’d gotten away with it. No pain. 6 minutes, 7 minutes…. And there it went. The same pain as before. I was shattered. No Seville marathon.

Not being ready to accept it, I booked a sports massage, bought a shit load of Epsom salts, and spent the next couple of days recovering as hard as possible. My therapist confirmed a tear in my calf, and gave me a very slim chance of running in less than 2 weeks’ time. Side note – we’ll, ‘slim chance’ is what I chose to hear… I believe he actually said ‘I don’t advise you to run’.

Post-massage I felt good, however rested the leg for another couple of days, before agreeing with my coach that the final test run would be on Sunday 12th March. 5km good? Run to 10km. 10km good? Run to 15km. 15km good? Run to 20km.

Realising this was it, I ordered a shit-tonne of kinesiology tape, strapped myself up, and went for it. When I say went for it, I of course mean I ran about 6min/km….

No pain. Result. Seville Marathon 2023 here I come.

Travel

My friend and I booked the 6:05am flight from Gatwick, and after checking in our bag (feels like overkill for a weekend away however runners will know that you need 1,000 pairs of shoes wherever you go), promptly made our way to the Premium lounge, where we wondered why some people actually pay £40pp for a breakfast consisting of bread, questionable bacon, and eggs which make you question the sanity of the chef.

2hr30 flight wasn’t bad, however paying £25 to get from the airport to our hotel (15min drive), took us a bit by surprise! (Turns out this is a standard flat rate, so no negotiations are possible)

Side note… it may be cheaper, but never book the Gatwick long stay parking. It’s bloody awful. You’ll regret it.

Seville Marathon 2023 expo

Okay, so, I set off with the intention of filming this, and creating a Youtube video for the whole marathon weekend… buuuttttttttttttttt, I drunkenly ordered the wrong train tickets from Cordoba to Seville on Saturday evening, meaning we were going to arrive in Seville 25 minutes before the expo closed.
To make it worse? The train was DELAYED?! Squeaky bum time on an industrial scale. All I could do was sit back and pray there’d be a taxi at the station to take us straight to the expo. There was. There is a god.

The expo itself? Hmm. I can’t tell you much, sorry! When I arrived, at 7:56pm (it closed at 8pm), everything was very much already packed away, or in the process of being packed away. The taxi pulled up, I got out the second it stopped, and sprinted across the courtyard to the expo.

Weirdly, the number collection desks aren’t located at the entrance to the expo. Not something I was thrilled to learn when in such a hurry…
I found the numbers, and an extremely kindly lady even helped me change the pen I was in (They’d put me in the 3hr-3hr15 pen, but I’d run sub-3 in London).

The goodies? A horrible salmon pink finishers t-shirt, and some magazines / info leaflets which inevitably got recycled without being read.

Race day – Seville Marathon 2022

Pre-race preparations:

The day had arrived. I’d longed for and dreamt of this day for 18 months, and I was going to make it mine.

5:00am – Wake up. Shower.

5:15am – Porridge. But not just any old porridge…. Tap porridge. Our 5* hotel had omitted to provide us with a kettle, and so my porridge was made from a packet of instant oats and water from the hot tap. Coffee? Ooh yes, tap coffee too. Sweet sweet coffee from the bathroom tap.

5:30am – Taping. Calf? Taped. Achilles? Taped. Knee? Taped. Hip? Taped (with the very last millimetre of tape I had). Please let this work…

6:00am – Gentle massage using the Normatec compression boots.  Only about 30 minutes, however wanted to get the blood pumping before beginning to warm up.

6:30am – Warm up drills. It was cold outside, and I didn’t fancy being cold, so I warmed up in the fire escape, where it was so warm I felt sick. Great start to the day.

6:45am – Theragun massage. After the warm up drills, I used my Theragun to gently massage all areas of my legs. I find this is a great way to get my body prepared for a race.

7:00am – Warm up jog. Took a couple of easy laps around the block at a slow pace. Bumped into a couple of delightful drunks, one of which informed me they were off to the horses. His friend, who spoke English, kindly informed him he meant ‘whores’… hmm. Back to the hotel.

7:30am – Get into race clothes. Applied nipple plasters (extremely important), and anti-chafe balm to my feet (Also incredibly important).

7:45am – Nab a couple extra cheeky minutes in the Normatec boots.

8:00am – Leave the hotel (Melia Sevilla), to go to the start line. 15 minute walk. Race begins at half 8, so am a little nervous.

8:15am – Arrive. Predictably needing a wee. Top tip, don’t go to the first portaloos you see. Use the ones further down towards the start line, as these are less busy.

8:20am – Get into the 2hr45 – 3hr pen. Begin noticing a lot of people wearing bibs in this pen who shouldn’t be there. Makes me question whether I’m in the right pen, as I could easily get caught up in the crowds and spend miles battling through people. Decide to join the 2hr30 – 2hr45 pen.

8:30 – BANG. The gun goes off.

8:30:07 – I cross the start line. Not bad.

Seville Marathon 2023 – Race

I have no race plan, and am running on feel. Would I like a sub 2hr45? Sure. Do I think I can do it after 2 months of barely training? No. So when I ran my first km in 3:58/km, I had a decision to make. Would I commit to a 2hr45 attempt? Or would I slow it down to a more sensible pace around 2hr58? Side note- It is dangerous to decide this so early on. Of course you’ll feel good after 1km. But I backed myself, so went for 2hr45 pacing.

0km – 5km: The first few KM’s came and went, in what is essentially just a very long straight line. Not challenging, nor too interesting, but allowed a great intro to the race. 3:58, 3:52, 3:56, 3:52, 3:49. Consistent. Easy. I felt good. 19:22.

I noticed though that I was already running past numerous athletes, who maybe started out too quick, or went to the wrong starting pen. I enjoy this. Mentally, it spurs me on to continually have people to chase. Even if my pace didn’t really pick up, I felt like I was running quick.

5km – 10km: Fairly uneventful 5km, not much to report. Settled into my rhythm. I told myself at around 5km that I’d get to 10km then settle in with a group from 10km – 20km for a bit of a rest, so allowed myself to work a little hard here. 3:49, 3:48, 3:53, 3:49, 3:47. 5km – 19:11.

10km – 15km: I told myself I’d settle into a group at the 10km mark, however I was running well, and the groups I was passing felt too slow to latch on to, so carried on by myself for a couple of KM, until eventually it became harder to catch people. Clearly, I was finding the right athletes now. 12km, I identify the 2hr45 group being paced by an official pacemaker, and spend the next km working to get to the back of the group. 3:48, 3:51, 3:50, 3:48, 3:54. 5km – 19:22.

15km – 20km: I tell myself I’d be with this group until at least 26km, and then with 10 miles left I’d see how I felt, and assess then. So I focussed on my breathing, and got myself into the middle of the pack to protect me from the wind and benefit from drafting. 3:49, 3:51, 3:58, 3:51, 3:45. 5km – 19:11.

21.1km. Halfway. Through half way, officially, in 1:22:20, running with the 2hr45 group, and feeling good. I tell myself there’s just 4x 5km left. I can do 4x 5km.

20km – 25km: With the pack. Feel good. Nothing to report. 3:45, 3:51, 3:46, 3:49, 3:52. 5km – 19:10

25km – 30km: Still with the pack – but beginning to feel it more now. Leg’s aren’t picking up as much, but still running with the group. Try a little surge from back to mid pack to get legs firing again. 3:46, 3:56, 3:45, 3:51, 3:57. Km – 19:16.

30km – 35km: Beginning to feel discomfort in my stomach. The Maurten is getting heavy, and I’m craving some water. But the water stations are shit. They only give out cups, not bottles. Stop around 33km for 35 seconds to get my bottle filled up with water 4:00, 4:07, 4:16, 4:35, 4:29. Km – 21:21.

35km – 40km: These KM’s hurt. The lack of water and gels not agreeing with me mean that I’m now feeling incredibly sick. I see 2hr45 slipping away, but make a conscious effort to keep going to running to get a PB. With each step, I want to throw up. 4:28, 4:34, 5:31, 6:19, 4:53. 5km – 25:42.

41km – 42.2km: Properly struggling not to throw up. But the adrenaline kicks in, and I get through the final 2km, spurred on by knowing a modest PB is on the cards. 100m from the line, my right hamstring cramps up, and I have to hop to the side of the road to stretch it off – much to the bemusement of the onlookers, who thought I’d thought that I’d finished. Hobble/run towards the line. 4:53, 4:53.

Time? 2:56:10!

Conclusion:

Seville is a beautiful city, so I’d recommend anyone to go there.

The expo? I wish I could’ve told you more, but I can’t, because I only saw empty stands and cardboard boxes.

The marathon? Great! Great size, great organisation, great scenery, great pacers. The only thing that’s shit? The paper bloody cups. Sort it out.