Our Vienna adventure began very early on Friday 13th April…well, it had begun several months previously, but we don’t have time to go into all the marathon selection, training, planning etc etc…so we’re going to start from the point at which we’re all together traveling on a plane to Bratislava…
We had chosen to fly Ryanair to Bratislava instead of direct to Vienna, something that would cause a little pain after the event, but you’ll just have to read to the end to find that out… We left Dublin at around 7am which meant, for some, very little sleep and a long drive before the flight. It made for a quiet enough flight as people caught up on lost sleep.
We arrived into a sunny warm Bratislava and after a short wait got our bus to Vienna, which was about 50 miles away. Not a bad trip, as long as you’re not in a hurry and take pleasure in a stop-over at the architecturally insignificant Bratislava bus station! Arriving in Vienna, Pat and I were trying to get to grips with the maps to get our bearings in relation to the hotel. We chose a place to have the bus drop us off, thinking it was close to the hotel. After an initial small mistake we found our bearings and set off for what we thought was about a 15 minute walk….30 minutes later we arrived at the hotel…the now famous Imperial Riding School (OK – get all your jokes out of the way now). A quite impressive clean hotel with one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever seen.
Once we were settled in to the hotel we went out for a little exploration of the local area and found an Italian restaurant that we decided looked good and which ended up being our restaurant of choice for the weekend as the food was good and, even better, it wasn’t expensive.
Once we were fed and watered we decided it would be a good idea to go register for the marathon. We had enough time to get to the expo, register, pick up our goodie bags and have a look around. There were two things we found that were unusual – first, we had to rent a timing chip for the day, paying €10, of which €7 would be returned when we returned the chip at the end of the marathon; second, the goodie bag contained very little of use, not even a T-Shirt…considering the entry fee was €75 there was a little bit of grumbling…a souvenir t-shirt was going to set us back €25 extra
We had chosen to fly Ryanair to Bratislava instead of direct to Vienna, something that would cause a little pain after the event, but you’ll just have to read to the end to find that out… We left Dublin at around 7am which meant, for some, very little sleep and a long drive before the flight. It made for a quiet enough flight as people caught up on lost sleep.
We arrived into a sunny warm Bratislava and after a short wait got our bus to Vienna, which was about 50 miles away. Not a bad trip, as long as you’re not in a hurry and take pleasure in a stop-over at the architecturally insignificant Bratislava bus station! Arriving in Vienna, Pat and I were trying to get to grips with the maps to get our bearings in relation to the hotel. We chose a place to have the bus drop us off, thinking it was close to the hotel. After an initial small mistake we found our bearings and set off for what we thought was about a 15 minute walk….30 minutes later we arrived at the hotel…the now famous Imperial Riding School (OK – get all your jokes out of the way now). A quite impressive clean hotel with one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever seen.
Once we were settled in to the hotel we went out for a little exploration of the local area and found an Italian restaurant that we decided looked good and which ended up being our restaurant of choice for the weekend as the food was good and, even better, it wasn’t expensive.
Once we were fed and watered we decided it would be a good idea to go register for the marathon. We had enough time to get to the expo, register, pick up our goodie bags and have a look around. There were two things we found that were unusual – first, we had to rent a timing chip for the day, paying €10, of which €7 would be returned when we returned the chip at the end of the marathon; second, the goodie bag contained very little of use, not even a T-Shirt…considering the entry fee was €75 there was a little bit of grumbling…a souvenir t-shirt was going to set us back €25 extra
Once registered, we headed back into the hotel to drop our gear and then a quick taxi ride into the centre of Vienna for a look around and something to eat – which we found at Vienna’s oldest coffee house…a place where Mozart and Beethoven once met for a session (if the plaque outside is to be believed)
Next morning we all went for breakfast in the hotel - an amazing spread that meant we were there for a couple of hours, sampling everything on offer and of course to make sure they had what we needed the morning of the run. Having made sure we ate enough to keep us going, it was off into the city centre to have a proper look around at the sights and a visit to the Hotel Sacher for some of the famous Sacher Torte and Apple Strudel – very delicious it was too! Then, back to the hotel and dinner in our (by now) favourite local Italian for some pasta the night before the run.
The morning of the marathon we were up early again for breakfast before the run. Once we all had our race gear checked, re-checked and re-re-checked it was off to the station to get the train out to the start.
Next morning we all went for breakfast in the hotel - an amazing spread that meant we were there for a couple of hours, sampling everything on offer and of course to make sure they had what we needed the morning of the run. Having made sure we ate enough to keep us going, it was off into the city centre to have a proper look around at the sights and a visit to the Hotel Sacher for some of the famous Sacher Torte and Apple Strudel – very delicious it was too! Then, back to the hotel and dinner in our (by now) favourite local Italian for some pasta the night before the run.
The morning of the marathon we were up early again for breakfast before the run. Once we all had our race gear checked, re-checked and re-re-checked it was off to the station to get the train out to the start.
The start point of the Vienna marathon is out of the city in an area called Uno-City. Most marathons start and finish in roughly the same place, but in Vienna the start is a few miles out and the finish is in the city center. That meant that our bags needed to be dropped off to a truck which corresponded with the race number then they had to be transported to the finish line. Once we had dropped off our bags it was off to find our starting point.
The starting points were arranged in blocks depending on the runners expected time, nothing unusual there…except in Vienna there were no signs to tell a person which block was which and there were no people visible from the organizers to ask. So we pretty much piled up to the front as far as we could go…not quite Declan Moffat style (for those who don’t know, check out the Tommy Tiernan sketch). It appeared to us that we ended up in the 3 hour section with Colm Daly and quite a lot of other scarily fit looking runners. As we stood there nervously waiting for the start we were serenaded by some classical music…not quite the type to get the blood moving…as Pat described it later, it was like something from Schindler’s List.
Anyway, despite the gloomy music and the seeming lack of much organization we got going right on time. In no time we were running over the bridge crossing the Danube River and into a nice section of park, then off along the banks of another river in towards the centre. We never did quite make it through the center of Vienna, which was a little disappointing as that’s where all the sights are…and we could have used a little distraction… Once we got close to, but not quite the city centre, it was out of the city again on another loop towards the Schonbrunn Palace which I was looking forward to seeing. Much to our disappointment, the route turned back towards town just before the palace so we didn’t get to see it.
I must point out at this stage that we were sharing the road with 30,000 other runners as they had started the marathon, half-marathon and relay at the same time. Having that number of runners on the road at the same time, running different paces due to the different distances meant that occasionally someone would barge through between us or maybe clip your heels. It must have been a little frustrating for them – I know it was a little frustrating for us at times. The lack of water bottles and the reliance on plastic cups was another annoyance, luckily some brought their trusty 250 ml bottles from home.
The starting points were arranged in blocks depending on the runners expected time, nothing unusual there…except in Vienna there were no signs to tell a person which block was which and there were no people visible from the organizers to ask. So we pretty much piled up to the front as far as we could go…not quite Declan Moffat style (for those who don’t know, check out the Tommy Tiernan sketch). It appeared to us that we ended up in the 3 hour section with Colm Daly and quite a lot of other scarily fit looking runners. As we stood there nervously waiting for the start we were serenaded by some classical music…not quite the type to get the blood moving…as Pat described it later, it was like something from Schindler’s List.
Anyway, despite the gloomy music and the seeming lack of much organization we got going right on time. In no time we were running over the bridge crossing the Danube River and into a nice section of park, then off along the banks of another river in towards the centre. We never did quite make it through the center of Vienna, which was a little disappointing as that’s where all the sights are…and we could have used a little distraction… Once we got close to, but not quite the city centre, it was out of the city again on another loop towards the Schonbrunn Palace which I was looking forward to seeing. Much to our disappointment, the route turned back towards town just before the palace so we didn’t get to see it.
I must point out at this stage that we were sharing the road with 30,000 other runners as they had started the marathon, half-marathon and relay at the same time. Having that number of runners on the road at the same time, running different paces due to the different distances meant that occasionally someone would barge through between us or maybe clip your heels. It must have been a little frustrating for them – I know it was a little frustrating for us at times. The lack of water bottles and the reliance on plastic cups was another annoyance, luckily some brought their trusty 250 ml bottles from home.
I must also point out that, unlike Barcelona, the support on the streets was a little sparse in places and they were generally very reserved. There was the occasional enthusiastic supporter shouting hup hup hup, but they were few and far between. This meant that at some places the only sound to be heard was the shuffling of feet, the crunching of the dreaded plastic cups and breathing of the runners. However, as ever with the Crusaders supporters, Finola just seemed to pop up every few miles with her orange crusaders top and the tricolor waving – thanks to Finola for keeping us all going on the day.
So, back in towards the city again to the half-way point – we would be re-visiting this later at the end. Once we were past this there were less people on the road to contend with, which was a welcome relief. The other relief was that the section just before and after the half-way point was slightly downhill and which we took advantage of by increasing the pace slightly.
Then back along the same river we ran along earlier and back into the park we had seen at the beginning. At this point the organizers had created a route which included 3 sections of road in the park where runners went up one side of the street and back along the other. This meant that you could see those ahead of you on the road coming back towards you. It was at this point that I saw Mr Bogue coming towards me with a mile-wide smile shouting “The dream is still alive!”…a couple of minutes later the 3:30 markers passed. The pacers seemed to be invisible for most of the race, they just seemed to appear near the end, must be a Vienna thing!! After completing the 3rd one of these loops and hitting the 36K mark I got distracted by someone offering a cup of coke to drink and stopped for a little walk to gather myself for the finish. Shortly after this point, I met the 4:00 pacers on the other side of the road, being closely pursued by Anne, who without a watch, was not even counting the hours and minutes.
So, back in towards the city again to the half-way point – we would be re-visiting this later at the end. Once we were past this there were less people on the road to contend with, which was a welcome relief. The other relief was that the section just before and after the half-way point was slightly downhill and which we took advantage of by increasing the pace slightly.
Then back along the same river we ran along earlier and back into the park we had seen at the beginning. At this point the organizers had created a route which included 3 sections of road in the park where runners went up one side of the street and back along the other. This meant that you could see those ahead of you on the road coming back towards you. It was at this point that I saw Mr Bogue coming towards me with a mile-wide smile shouting “The dream is still alive!”…a couple of minutes later the 3:30 markers passed. The pacers seemed to be invisible for most of the race, they just seemed to appear near the end, must be a Vienna thing!! After completing the 3rd one of these loops and hitting the 36K mark I got distracted by someone offering a cup of coke to drink and stopped for a little walk to gather myself for the finish. Shortly after this point, I met the 4:00 pacers on the other side of the road, being closely pursued by Anne, who without a watch, was not even counting the hours and minutes.
As usual, the last few miles were a little difficult and I had to stop and walk a couple of times. This meant that our little group of Andreas, Siobhan and I who had been pretty much together from the start began to spread out a bit.
Coming back into the city again, support was a little sparse again until just before the finish. Then, though the arch into Heldenplatz to cross the finish line.
Once we were all finished, bags collected, timing chips returned (I have rushed through this bit of the day as to describe the chaos that ensued at bag collection and chip return would just raise the temperature a little too much) we all headed to Molly Darcy’s (as recommended by the Kieran and the McCarthy brothers) for some well earned drinks and food. Then back to the hotel for a couple of hours rest before dinner, in our ‘usual’ Italian and back into town for dessert and a re-visit to Molly Darcy’s.
The next morning after a better night’s sleep and another good breakfast we all checked out and made our way to the first train of the day to get us back to Bratislava. We missed that train by a couple of minutes and found ourselves having to get a taxi in a hurry to the central station. When we got there, we found that the train we had been planning to take to get us to Bratislava was not running (said the grinning information man to Ann-Maire– lucky for him, he was behind the glass panel) and that the next one would not get us to the airport on time. We did manage to snag a taxi that would take 8 of us for €160 so at least it didn’t end up being too expensive to get there.
For those of you who were hoping for the juicy gossip, who would like to know who said “Smell the rubber”, who would like to know who walked around Vienna with a little wiener in their hand, who would like to know the significance of the lyrics, “hands, touching hands” from the song “Sweet Caroline”, and who bought a box of Super Dickmann’s? well…you know the rule…what goes on tour stays on tour, you’ll just have to come next year…
Coming back into the city again, support was a little sparse again until just before the finish. Then, though the arch into Heldenplatz to cross the finish line.
Once we were all finished, bags collected, timing chips returned (I have rushed through this bit of the day as to describe the chaos that ensued at bag collection and chip return would just raise the temperature a little too much) we all headed to Molly Darcy’s (as recommended by the Kieran and the McCarthy brothers) for some well earned drinks and food. Then back to the hotel for a couple of hours rest before dinner, in our ‘usual’ Italian and back into town for dessert and a re-visit to Molly Darcy’s.
The next morning after a better night’s sleep and another good breakfast we all checked out and made our way to the first train of the day to get us back to Bratislava. We missed that train by a couple of minutes and found ourselves having to get a taxi in a hurry to the central station. When we got there, we found that the train we had been planning to take to get us to Bratislava was not running (said the grinning information man to Ann-Maire– lucky for him, he was behind the glass panel) and that the next one would not get us to the airport on time. We did manage to snag a taxi that would take 8 of us for €160 so at least it didn’t end up being too expensive to get there.
For those of you who were hoping for the juicy gossip, who would like to know who said “Smell the rubber”, who would like to know who walked around Vienna with a little wiener in their hand, who would like to know the significance of the lyrics, “hands, touching hands” from the song “Sweet Caroline”, and who bought a box of Super Dickmann’s? well…you know the rule…what goes on tour stays on tour, you’ll just have to come next year…