From Sally Armitage…
A ladies only 5k ‘fun run’ up and down the Hauptallee in The Prater, Vienna. Part of the very same route Kipchoge ran his well-publicised ‘sub 2 hour marathon distance’ in 2019. I had spotted this fun run at around lunchtime the day before, after just finishing an 8-mile tempo run around Zell am See, and realising I was exhausted and in need of a rest. So I entered it of course! I had to. It was to be my first event abroad and on such a prestigious course, how could I not? I hadn’t taken a vest or shorts so once I arrived in Vienna, the following day, a quick trip to the shops was required.
I had a peek at previous finish times to gauge where I should position myself in the line up and saw that 1st and 2nd ladies finished in just over 15 minutes a few years ago!! Then 3rd was around 17 minutes then another jump to 18 minutes for 4th, so suspected I’d finish somewhere in the first 10. The girls that would be 1st and 2nd clearly already knew each other and positioned themselves side by side just in front of everyone else. We settled into our ‘comfortable paces’ after the first km, the first 2 girls had run off into the distance by then and I was in 3rd position from then onwards. It was a pancake flat course, with a straight 2km run along the Hauptallee, a turnaround, then just prior to 3km a slight, short, deviation followed by another turnaround then a return to the Hauptallee for a truly horrific 1.5km dead straight run to the finish.
I didn’t expect a fast time, I was so tired, but I gave it my all anyway, and despite my struggle it was definitely worth it and I was grateful to remain injury free. I even got my own cyclist! The first 3 runners had their own cyclist to follow!! Likely as we were fairly spread apart. At the 2km turnaround point there were a lot of runners passing me making their way there on the other side, every one of them was clapping and shouting encouragement, which was lovely.
As I got closer to the finish line I could hear my name being announced over the tannoy as representing Grossbritannien, this made me feel like an actual international athlete rather than a club runner with plenty of ‘ultra blondes’ and ever increasing ‘laughter lines’. The biggest surprise was the podium presentation, I didn’t expect any prize with it being a ‘fun run’, so was super excited to be presented with a lavender plant & a small silver cup. I’d like to say I’ll do it again, I’d love to get the opportunity.
(1 Sophie Grabner 17:25)
3 Sally Armitage 19:05
308 ran