Rubinho

Today I ran my fastest race so far: The CACE CROSS 2012.

6 Km in 22’15” – 3’43” per kilometre more or less.

On our way to the Marathon of Paris, my good friend, running partner and “coach” (Federico) and I had decided to run on 17/03 the CACE CROSS (6Km) and on 18/03 the Half Marathon of Roselies.

Our aim is to run tired the Half Marathon to simulate the second half of the Marathon.

The 1^st race (CACE CROSS) went very well.  I did 22’15”, 6^th in the general ranking and the best senior. Federico came a little bit after me with a good time also.

I did around 1 minute more than the “monsters” of my club. I think I could have done a little bit better if I had rested before the race instead of running it as a part of the training for Paris…or maybe not. In any case, what it is sure is that I am getting closer to my target in Paris…and to the best runners of my club.

ENGLISH VERSION

« Rubinho Running for Ethiopia »

Run with me the Marathon of Paris 2012 for the BURAYOU project in Ethiopia managed by Sourire d’Enfants a.s.b.l.

Burayou is an orphanage where the nutrition and the health of its children are as important as their schooling. Moreover, young people and mothers can also follow professional training.

For more information www.souriresdenfants.be and click in COOPERATION / PAYS ET PROJECTS (in French)

Make your “running” donation before the 15 of April 2012:

-        run with me 10 kilometres for 10€

-        run with me half marathon for 21,097 €

-        run with me the whole marathon for 42,195 €

Account number of Sourire d’Enfants a.s.b.l.:

IBAN : BE70 0682 0120 6925

BIC : GKCCBEBB

VERSION FRANÇAISE

« Rubinho Running for Ethiopia »

Cours avec moi le Marathon de Paris 2012 pour le projet BURAYOU en Ethiopie géré par Sourire d’Enfants a.s.b.l.

Burayou est an orphelinat où la nutrition et santé de ses enfants est aussi important que son scolarisation. En plus, de adolescents et des mères peuvent aussi suivre des formations professionnelles.

Pour plus d’information www.souriresdenfants.be et cliquez sur COOPERATION / PAYS ET PROJECTS.

Faites votre donation “running” avant le 15 Avril 2012 :

-        courez 10 kilomètres avec moi pour 10€

-        courez un semi-marathon avec moi pour 21,097 €

-        courez un le marathon complet avec moi pour 42,195 €

N° compte de Sourire d’Enfants a.s.b.l.:

IBAN : BE70 0682 0120 6925

BIC : GKCCBEBB

VERSION ESPAÑOLA

« Rubinho Running for Ethiopia »

Corre conmigo el Maratón de Paris 2012 por el proyecto BURAYOU en Etiopia, gestionado por Sourire d’Enfants a.s.b.l.

Burayou es un orfanato donde la nutrición y la salud de sus niños es tan importante como su escolarización.  Además, los adolescentes y las madres pueden seguir cursos de formación profesional.

Para mas información www.souriresdenfants.be en el apartado COOPERATION / PAYS ET PROJECTS (en francés)

Haz tu donación “de carrera” antes del 15 de Abril de 2012:

-        corre conmigo  10 kilómetros por 10€

-        corre conmigo  medio maratón por 21,097 €

-        corre conmigo  el maratón completo por 42,195 €

N° de cuenta de Sourire d’Enfants a.s.b.l.:

IBAN : BE70 0682 0120 6925

BIC : GKCCBEBB

After the mistake with the "dossard" andafter  having displayed only the brut time, the organistation of the Marathon of Marrakech corrected my time:

3h 22' 45"

Cross the finish line as a single objective

When last September I inscribed myself in the 2012 Marathon of Marrakech, the objective was clear: “Get the medal which confirms that I have finished a Marathon in Africa”.  For those who don’t know, one of my long terms objectives is to run a Marathon, at least, in every continent (Antarctica and North Pole excluded, bien sûr

At that time, I also inscribed myself in the Marathon of Paris 2012

After my (ours) 3h16’23” in Brussels, I wanted to run Marrakech in a time closer to 3 hours and then Paris in less than 3.

I was on my way when…crack!...an injury kept me without being able to run for 1 and ½ months.

I started running again on 13/12/2011, less than 2 months before the Marathon.

However, I was decided to try to run it and finishing it forgetting, of course, completely the time.

Most of the people, including my kiné, thought that I was crazy. However, I felt that, somehow, the injury was not as serious as it could have been.

Only less than 2 months to prepare a Marathon? Well, it depends on how much you want to invest on its preparation.

The 2 first weeks of training were very hard and frustrating. When I injured myself I was in the peak of my “career” so far. When I started running again I did not run exactly at hyper speed. I could not do too much apart from being patient.

2 weeks before the Marathon I knew I was going to finish it in an acceptable time. The last week before the day-M I was even too optimistic and thinking, that perhaps I could do better than 3h16’ (my record so far)

Cercle de Sport et Loisirs de Royal Air Maroc

The day before travelling to Marrakech, Alain Lougare knew about it and made some phone calls to some friends of him, members of the Cercle de Sport et Loisirs de Royal Air Maroc who were going to take part in the Half Marathon.

Once “sur place” I met them and I can only say that one can only like them very much. They are fantastic.

The Half Marathon of Marrakech is a trip they do every year from Casablanca and Rabat. They were 80 people in total including their families. All of them with their tracks, flag sand singlets of their club and an amazing team spirit. A real and inspiring example.

THE MARATHON

The first 15 Kilometres

The first 15 K go trough la Menara, cross a beautiful garden and one can see the Atlas as magnificent background. Each 5K we were given water and, sometimes, dates and other dry food. I kept a very slow pace since I did not want to risk anything after the millions of advices I had got telling me to be very careful after an injury.

10K in more than 47. “Ok, now it is clear that I will not beat my record”.Objective: Keep a good pace and finish in an acceptable time without risking anything.

The “special” part

Around the 17K we were running along the right side of the Menara. The streets were not completely closed to the traffic and for several kilometres one had to run between cars, buses, bikes, motorbikes and…chariots pulled by donkeys!  The signalisation (Km, way, etc.) was really not good in general and even worse in this part. I found a little bit difficult to concentrate and keep a good pace in these circumstances.

Also the water and food given every 5K disappeared in these kilometres. The result was that some people who did not take enough water before because they were not thirsty in the cold morning, started running more slowly.

I took enough water and kept a constant pace which made me start breathing deeply only as of the 35 , when we were already in the  beautiful Palmeraire.

The end part

The friends from the Cercle de Sport et Loisirs de Royal Air Maroc warned me about the end part: Very long straight lines with some “faux plats” before the end of the marathon.

I hate straight lines. They are something I need to work on. However, this time I did not have any problem, on the contrary. Free of any time pressure I spent my last 7K of straight lines overtaking many runners.

At the end, 3h23’ and some seconds. Mision cumplida.

The timing, the“dossard” and other organisational issues

Despite many good things I can say that the organisation is a little bit worse than this of the Marathons I have run in Europe.

When one picks up the “dossard” there is no envelope with your name and race number. They just check the list a nd give you your number and a t-shirt. They did not have small size neither a bag to carry the “dossard” and the t-shirt. I did not care too much about it.

However, I cared very much about the fact that with less than 1000 participants in the Marathon, they managed to give me a wrong “dossard”. Thing which I could only notice when back in Brussels I went to the website to check my time. Suddenly, I became Swedish J Moreover, the time in the website is the brut time and not the net. All these things together with the poor signalisation of the way and kilometres and the fact that we run between the cars and the pollution made me think that many things were good but there is a lot of room for improvement.

Thanks to…

Finally, I would like to thank Alain Lougare and the members of  the Cercle de Sport et Loisirs de Royal Air Maroc for being so nice with me and my wife during our stay in Morocco.

And the most special thank to Magnus Bergstrom, my kiné. Without the painful massages and the “killer needles” I would have never done it.