June 13 — Forssa, Finland
My first marathon outside of the United States
The Forssan Suvi-ilta, literally, Forssa Summer Evening, starts at 3 p.m. just outside a hockey arena a short walk from my downtown hotel. After I get my race number, I wander toward the start line. Much to my surprise, several minutes before the start, energetic music starts playing and two women lead a large percentage of the runners in pre-race calisthenics. Before a US marathon, runners do their own warmups, some stretching, others going for a short, slow run. Sometimes, in the leadup to a US race, the PA announcer will get a lot of the runners to wave their arms in the air and/or clap and cheer. This was entirely different.
Not everybody participated, so I didn’t feel awkward about not taking part. I saw a pace group that said 5:00, and since I was planning on running a 3:50-something marathon, I figured I should move closer to the start line to be with the faster runners. And then we were off, and in the rush of everybody around me, I realized I was running too fast.
There were no mile markers, of course. The rest of the world is generally metric. Calculations told me I should be going about 5 minutes, 45 seconds per kilometer. When I spotted the 3 kilometer marker, I saw that I was running sub-5. I slowed down, although not enough, and among the people who passed me were that 5:00 pace group. In the US, pace groups are based on finish time. Apparently, here, the pace group was minutes per kilometer. Live and learn.
The flat course quickly took us into the countryside. Temperatures were in the low 60s, and the drizzle turned into a light rain and back to a drizzle. Perfect running conditions. But the too-fast start hurt me, and by the time I was finishing the first of two 21-kilometer laps I knew this wasn’t going to be my most comfortable run.
I met a father-son pair from Boston and Texas (the son had just graduated from Rice), and they were looking strong. I met a woman from London. And I persevered. I held on for a 3:57:15, meaning I was now 2 for 2 on my target of running the road races in less than four hours. But I had to work for it.