Review: Porto Marathon

I did it!

I finally ran and finished a marathon!

Days leading up to the Porto Marathon, I was quite anxious that I chose the wrong race for my first ever marathon. After all, I signed up on an impulse last May because I had seen several people with shirts from Porto Marathon. After four months of training, I was very scared that it would be either hilly, windy, hot, hard, or all of the above.

But it was freaking awesome.

First of all, the weather was as perfect as it could get. Sunny, but temperature was 12-16 Celsius all morning. The expo was quite big and fun. The race kit was great and I was especially happy about the design of both t-shirts and the free bag. The start was well-organized. The course was pretty flat. The tourists were also great supporters along the way. And of course, it was just gorgeous (I mean, I wasn't expecting anything less than gorgeous from Porto). Here is a picture from the day before the race. Believe it or not the road where I took the photo was actually part of the route!

I finished it in 4:11:42. I honestly was not expecting that given my injuries and my so-so training over the summer. I would have been happy running it in 4:15, so getting that time and running it around 6 min per km to me is an achievement!

I also liked how Porto Marathon, as many reviewers have also said, is catered towards people who actually can run. On the same day, NYC Marathon was happening. While it is a prestigious marathon, many people seem to just want to run it for the sake of it, even if it takes them 6 hours. While some people were walking in Porto, the last pacer was at 4:45. I quite like this because it does frustrate me to see people who have clearly not trained for this (not talking about elderly - I have much respect for them - but rather young people I saw who are already walking by halfway). So in that sense, Porto was great, even for a first-timer like me who actually put the effort into it and finished faster than many people I personally know who have run marathons in the past.

The only downside to Porto Marathon is that you have to run on cobbles sometimes and that tourists can get in your way. But the organization was superb - food and drinks supplied every 5km after 20km, which really kept me going. Not only was I mentally able to tell myself to push through every 5km, I never hit the wall because of it.

Cobbles!

The finish line was absolutely amazing. So many fans - the Portuguese are such warm people. Some even called my name! The finishers' T-shirt is probably one of my favorite designs ever on a race shirt. Here is the full race recording on my Garmin:

My legs are now crying, but you know what, it is a great achievement. I know I say this myself, but I am proud of the accomplishment. Now let's see if Marathon Blues will hit me or not...

#marathon #travel #race #portugal #running #reflection #review