I hadn’t planned on participating in this race. Firstly, I’m not a big football fan. Secondly, even a 45-minute race, let alone a 90-minute one, seemed too long to me at the time.
But first things first.
This race is aimed at football fans, particularly those of Austria Vienna Football Club, also known as the Viola.
Therefore, the motto is: how far can you run during the half-time/the entire game?
You can choose to run for 45 minutes, take a 15-minute break, and then run for another 45 minutes. Or you can choose to run only the second half, for 45 minutes.
I figured that, according to my training plan, I would have a long run that day, and I had never run for more than an hour, so I chose the second, shorter option.
You run around and across the stadium in circles of 1 kilometre.
Not everything went according to plan. First, Garmin Coach Greg decided that a time trial would be best for that day. That meant 10 minutes of warm-up, a mile of running at full speed, and 10 minutes of cool-down.
Unfortunately, there’s no arguing with Greg; it’s just an algorithm, albeit an advanced one. So I decided to relax and enjoy myself, while also following the coach’s instructions. And then just run for the rest of the time, as hard as I could.
Anyway, I arrived early, picked up my goodie bag (which, by the way, was awesome: a reflective backpack with sausage, jam and other more traditional items), and I went to support my fellow runners.
After the start of the first half, I had the honour of changing in the football team’s changing room. There, massage tables and a barrel for cold water attracted attention.
To pass the time, I went to the stadium to watch the action unfold.
Suddenly, it was time to start.
As always, adrenaline spread through my body, and my ‘warm-up’ was at a pace of 5:30 instead of the planned 6:00. I forced myself to slow down, letting some runners pass me.
As I was circling, I noticed a photographer and began to think about how I could pose for him so that he would see me and take a striking picture. The V sign is cliché, and I don’t really know what it means. (I just had to look it up.)
beep! It is a time to increase the pace and run the mile full-throttle. Not a good time for posing, but I’ve started passing the runners back. Oh, it is hard, and there are too many people on the narrow bike lane around the stadium. 180° turn and a small incline are killing me, and my pace.
beep! Gasping for air and trying not to walk, I smiled at the camera and proceeded to the next 1km mark to get some water. Got my breathing back, focused on form, got back to the pace… And finally, I started to really enjoy the race – smiling at the volunteers, dancing and singing to the music, making silly poses for the photographer, and running at an enjoyable pace. As a result, in 45 minutes, I’ve managed to run 8.21km.
And yes, I was rewarded with several excellent photographs, a big thank you to www.newetschny.com!
But the heartless Garmin Coach Greg was not so amused. He said, “Good Job, but please, next week repeat the time trial, this time without the additional 30-minute run and really, really go full gas only for this mile”. Oh, well…