TRIP REPORT
Kosovo
5/22 – 5/26/14
Race Results:
Sun, May 25/14
Pristina, Kosovo
Kosovo Marathon
5:20:35
Marathon # 372 – Country # 121
My final marathon and final country! And it wasn’t easy. Running
the marathon was actually the easy part – getting to the race was difficult.
The difficulty started a few days after the Boston Marathon when I tried to get
out of bed and became very dizzy and fainted. Once I managed to get up the
dizziness diminished but would continue in short spells and frequently? I
thought it might be a side effect of a new (heart) med I had started so I
immediately stopped taking that drug. When the symptoms continued for a few
days I went to my GP who quickly diagnosed the problem as vertigo. He advised
me to do Epley exercises frequently and that did help ease the symptoms but did
not eliminate the vertigo. A few days later I tried to do a long run to stay in
shape and prepare for Kosovo. Half way through the run I woke up (must have
fainted?) to find myself falling and heading for a face plant on the road.
Luckily I was able to get my arms in front of me and saved myself from serious
injury. But it really scared me. I couldn’t stop running/training so I experimented
and learned that if I ran and walked a 12-min pace or slower I could avoid
triggering the vertigo and prevent another fall.
During the 5 weeks between Boston and Kosovo I had weekly
phone calls with the Race Director in Pristina to finalize the details and
logistics of the marathon. I had been trying since Kosovo declared independence
in 2008 to organize a marathon in the new country. Remember I had completed a
marathon in every country in Europe in 2005 when I ran Bosnia? Now I needed to
run Kosovo to re-establish my World Record #2. I was lucky to meet a fellow
member of our local Running Club who traveled frequently to Pristina on
business. He put me in touch with a colleague who lived in Pristina. Maury
Wray-Bridges is an American expat and runner and she volunteered to help me
organize the marathon. We first made contact in Nov 2013 but nothing much
happened during the Christmas period. Finally in Jan 2014 I explained that
members of the Country Club planned their races 6 to 12 months in advance and
we needed to set a firm date asap. It turned out that Maury and her family were
returning to the USA in Jun 20414 so that pretty much set the date for May and we
settled on May 25. That date prohibited some members from participating but
there is no way to satisfy everybody all the time? Maury and her husband Andrew
were enthusiastic and excited about the opportunity to organize the first-ever
marathon to be held in Kosovo. Without their help the race could never have
happened. They handled all the on-site logistics such as choosing a course,
recruiting volunteers and meeting with local politicians and officials. I
provided the experience and knowledge to organize a marathon, recruited runners
and designed and ordered the race T-shirts, finisher medals and awards. Maury
and I made a great team!
Since I was supplying the shirts, etc for the race I had
to go to Kosovo regardless of how I felt. When I departed for Kosovo on Thu I was
still suffering occasional bouts of dizziness from the vertigo. I wasn’t sure
if I could run the marathon – I wasn’t even sure how or if I could handle the
24 hours of travel to get there? And the airlines didn’t make it easy for me! A
delayed flight out of Washington caused me to miss my connection in Zurich to
Pristina. It was the only flight of the day to Pristina. I made my way to the
Service Desk where I met another passenger going to Pristina. Swiss Airline
routed us to Vienna (8 hrs later) to catch the last flight on Austrian Airlines
to Pristina. However when we arrived in Vienna I learned that the flight to
Pristina was cancelled! I later learned that flight crews were in contract
negotiations with Austrian Airlines and causing flight delays and cancellations
to make their position stonger? All the airlines knew what was happening but
did not advise passengers so that we could avoid Austrian Airlines. Meanwhile I
was emailing Maury and my roommate who had already arrived in Pristina to keep
them updated. I was supposed to meet with Maury that evening and drive the
marathon course early on Friday. Austrian Airlines put me up for the night at
an airport hotel. At that point I did not have any confidence that the flight I
was booked on early Fri would leave either? And I didn’t have much confidence
that my baggage with all the race equipment would arrive with me? I was wondering
what had happened to my new friend/travel companion. Taryn is a young lawyer
working for a law firm in DC that represents the Kosovo government in contract
negotiations with other countries. When I didn’t see her at the ticket counter
getting new tickets for the Fri morning flight I figured she must have given up
and gone back to DC? However as I was eating dinner at the hotel Taryn walked
in and joined me for dinner. She was booked on the same flight the next day.
There seemed to be some comfort in the fact that we weren’t alone in our dilemma
and frustration.
On Fri morning I walked over to the terminal a few hours
early to confirm that the flight was really going? It was. While waiting at the
gate I met two members from the Country Club who were on the same flight. I started
to cheer up. The flight departed on time and I was pleasantly surprised to find
that my baggage also arrived in Pristina. Maury and Andrew were waiting at the
airport along with Fatlum Grajevci, the Director of the Kosovo Sports
Federation, so that we could drive directly to the marathon course to check it
out. There had been a lot of rain the past few weeks in Kosovo and three miles
of the course were on dirt roads. When Maury and I had discussed the course she
had told me about the dirt roads and I envisioned dirt roads in the US - i.e. country roads with dirt and gravel.
However these dirt roads were farm roads – roads that farmers used to farm the
fields. We tried to drive part of the road and became stuck in mud! Once we
pushed the car out of the mud we all agreed that the course had to be changed
to paved roads only. We drove to a small gas station on the edge of the village
of Gracanica that had room to park cars and set up a start/finish area. We negotiated
with the owner to use his station for the start/finish area. The price - a pair
of running shoes!
We drove west on the planned paved course 2.3 miles to a
junction in the small village of Laplje Selo. Then we turned south and climbed
a long winding hill (79m ascent) to the edge of another village (Livade). We marked
a turn-around at 4.4 miles. Runners would have to run this loop a total of six
times. We would locate one water station at the start/finish, one at the turn
at 2.3 miles and a third at the turn-around. The course was set. Maury and
Fatlum recommended that I caution the runners not to wear any flags of symbols
of Albania. The two villages were ethnic Serbs and not happy that Kosovo had
declared independence from Serbia!
I asked Andrew to drop me off at the hotel so I could
check in and try to squeeze my mandatory souvenir shopping into the few hours I
had before registration and packet pick up. The flight delays and cancellations
had cost me a whole day that I planned to use to explore Pristina and shop.
Luckily Pristina is a small city and I was able to find everything I needed
quickly – except for a souvenir teaspoon. I wasn’t surprised to find that they
don’t exist in Kosovo?
I held registration and packet pick up in the lobby of
our hotel. There were 18 runners registered but three did not run. Two CC
members from the US experienced a flight cancellation (in the US) and one local
(expat) runner was injured. Roza offered to be a volunteer and became one of
our most exuberant and cheerful volunteers! We lost three runners but they were
replaced by three local runners: two Finnish expats including the Charge Affairs
from the Finnish Embassy and we had one true Kosovar register for the marathon.
Eleven CC members registered for the marathon: 3 from the US, 3 from Germany, 2
from Finland, 2 from Italy and 1 from the Netherlands. This is the largest
group of CC members to ever run a race so we designated the marathon as the
first CC Reunion.
After registration we were joined by Maury and Andrew and
many race volunteers including the Deputy Chief of Mission from the US Embassy
for a pasta dinner at the hotel.
My roommate Edson and I had to wake early because Maury, Andrew
and Fatlum picked us up at 6am so that we could drive the course again and
paint distance and direction markers on the road. I painted a 2 and 4 mile mark
on the road to allow runners to check their pace and we also pointed turn arrows
at the junction in Laplje Selo and Livade. Maury had recruited more than 20
race volunteers and because of the change in the course we had more than needed
so she was able to assign shifts so that nobody had to stay on the course for 6
hrs (but many did).
We were expecting light showers but the weather Gods
smiled on us. It was sunny and HOT – great for volunteers but not so great for
runners. A professional photographer volunteered to take photos of the race and
later posted them to her website http://cmp.pass.us/kosovamarathon.
Once she took a photo of the runners at the start line we were ready to start
the race on time at 7am. And for the first time in 3 days I was finally able to
relax and unwind while I ran the race. There was nothing I could do while
running and I had all the confidence in the world in Maury. She was ‘Miss
Efficiency’ and had everything under control!
We had a volunteer riding a bike to guide the lead
runners through the first two laps out-and-back. He stayed with the runners for
the entire race. I was surprised to find the Kosovo police controlling traffic
at the turn at 2.3 miles in Laplje Selo. Maury had written the mayors of the
three villages as a courtesy to inform them of the race and they had provided
police at the turn and also at the turn-around and I even saw them patrolling
the course. By the time the runners reached the hill at 3 miles we had spread
out along the course. As I started up the hill I remembered my comment the day
before “this hill doesn’t look too tough – but ask me again tomorrow when I am
running and not driving”! The hill climbed 79m/260ft over 1 mile. Half way up
the hill I figured I would be walking the hill on the next 2 laps – so why not
start now? I reached the turn-around at 4.4 miles in 46:00 and looked forward
to running back down the hill. The return loop back to the start line took
50:39 due to a pit stop in a farm field. I didn’t have time before the race to
perform my usual pre-race functions. One
nice aspect of the course layout was that runners got to greet and cheer each
other several times during the race with the 3 out-and –back loops. I stopped
many times to take photos of my fellow runners.
After the first two loops the race came down to a duel
between a German CC member, Jurgen Sinthofen, and the local Kosovar runner,
Martin Noci. I reached the turn-around on the 2nd uphill loop in
2:27:44 and a split of 50:15. After the race when I downloaded the data from my
watch I was surprised/perplexed to discover that I ran each uphill loop faster
than the downhill loop? How is that possible? The short loops seem to go fast
with all the great support and cheering from our volunteers at the water stops
and cheering for all of our comrades along the course. When I reached the start
line at the end of the 4th loop in 3:21:05 and a split of 52:39 it
was already HOT and I knew the final out-and-back loop was going to be ugly. I
was only approaching the 2-mile mark when the lead runners passed me on their
way to the finish line. Jurgen had a 200m lead on Martin and I knew he was
going to win. I completed the final uphill loop in 4:19:22 and a split of
48:15. That was my 2nd fastest split on the uphill loop but I paid
dearly for it on the final downhill loop. By the time I reached the junction in
Laplje Selo my legs were shot. I had not been able to do any long training runs
in the past month because of the vertigo and it cost me. I decided to walk/run
the final 2 miles to cross the finish line in 5:20:35.
I had requested that runners stay in the finish area
until all runners finished and everyone cooperated until the last 3 runners
behind me crossed the finish line. I presented the Overall Male Winner award to
Jurgen. Since we had no female runners in the marathon I presented the female
trophy to Mea Kriek who ran the Half marathon in 2:11:23. The first-ever marathon in Kosovo
was over and it was a huge success! Fatlum was so impressed with the race that
he stated that the Kosovo Sports Federation would continue the race next year.
Let’s hope so?
After a quick shower Edson and I did a walking tour of
Pristina to take in a few of the sights and get some photos of the city. I hadn’t
had any time until now to explore the city. We managed to visit some of the few
tourist sites such as the Municipal Library and the Newborn Monument. Our tour
was short since I had invited the Executive Committee of the Country Club to
join me at dinner with Maury and Andrew to thank them for their help. It was
the first time since I arrived in Pristina that we truly had time to relax and
enjoy a nice quiet dinner. Maury had picked a local restaurant that served a
typical ‘family’ dinner. The food just kept coming and coming- washed down with
local beer!
Since I had an early flight (7am) I had to go to bed
early for a 4am wake-up call. When I checked in I was informed that my
connection from Vienna to DC was delayed 2 hrs. During that delay in Vienna I
learned about the contract dispute. I will never fly Austrian Airlines again. The
delay was longer than 2 hrs and I had to sprint more than ¼ mile at the
Washington airport to make my connection. I can’t believe I made it through immigration/customs
and security in less than 1 hr? At this point I don’t care to ever get on
another plane from any airline. I am tired of being crammed into planes and
treated like cattle.
Thus I am glad that this was my final marathon and final
country. It is nice to retire on a high note. Marathon #372 and country #121. I
established one new WR (121 countries) and re-established my WR #2 of
completing a marathon in every country in Europe. It will take many years for
any runner to tie this WR!
Now that I am home and ‘retired’ I am looking forward to taking
it easy for a while. No marathon or running goals! No more training. I plan to
do some easy jogging as exercise and must find some other activities to keep me
busy. In the next week I begin my long treatment program to fix and strengthen
my heart. That may affect my activities for the next month or so?
And look at the upside for you readers! No more reading
Maddog’s boring race reports. Thanks for coming along for the ride for the past
33 years. They have been fun and there have been many memorable adventures!
