It's been quite some time since my last update. This is probably because there aren't many exciting things happening at the moment. I am back to training and getting ready for the Ironman 70.3 in Pula in a week while still trying to meet all deadlines at work.

Two weeks ago I ran my first solo marathon here in Zagreb and, if we forget about a thing or two, it was a very cool experience.

It was a charity marathon (I think they raised around 10 000$ but it could be more) which started at 8 in the evening and continued all into the night. Every runner got a glowing bracelet and parts of the track were lit with candles which made this a truly unique experience.

I started off really good and while running in a huge group of 1000+ people I could just feel the positive energy everyone was sending out into the night. I kept a decent pace of around 4:50 - 5:00 min/km and thought to myself that this was looking very good. But just like I started having problems in France on the 2nd lap, I started having problems on the 2nd lap here as well. This time my hip started crying for mercy but somehow i ignored it and tried to continue a little more.

Lap 3 was the hardest one. Since most people were running 1 or 2 loops (10K or a half marathon), when I got to the third lap it started to get really empty and if you add in the night (it was now around 10.30 PM) I felt quite lonely. Luckily runners are awesome people and now and again someone who passes you (or if you pass him) shouts something encouraging in your direction which keeps you going a little more.

I also had a strong fan base again. There was my family, my wife's family and some friends who were patiently waiting for me to finish my rounds. After my second lap I got a word of encouragement from my wife who said something like: "Your pace sucks!".

Do you need more than that? :)

Before starting my 4th lap my brother told me that he is going to start the fire in 40 minutes. We planed on having a late night barbecue after I finish so I knew that some nice grilled meat was waiting for me and it's just 10.5 km away.

The last round was really hard because I started running a little funky to keep my hip from hurting more but this caused pain my knee (talk about perfect body alignment) but with the help of the awesome volunteers at the aid stations I got through and crossed the finish line in 34 place of 65 marathoners.

I planed on finishing in around 3 hours and 40 minutes but in the end it took me 4 hours and 20 minutes which is fine I guess but nothing I would brag about (too much :) )

I hope that the half marathon in Pula next week won't have a new surprise for me. After that I'll be taking some time off to relax and recover from a year of hard training (I hope I can keep still for 2-3 weeks but I am already a little pessimistic about that).

Somewhere at end of October or at the beginning of November I'll start working more on my running skills and do a lot more run specific training to get my body used to this kind of activities a little more.

As a final thought I would just like to say how awesome the event was and how great it is to see more and more people running, cycling or doing any other activity. This really keeps me going because you never feel alone when things get tough.

Until next time.

Don't forget to be awesome :)