My way to the half marathon in Linz - Linzmarathon 2022

On 23 October, the 20th Oberbank Linzmarathon 2022 took place in Upper Austria's provincial capital.

An extremely successful event took place here last weekend and tens of thousands of running enthusiasts were at the start. I'll tell you what the Linz Marathon 2022 was like for me in this - very personal - blog post.

But let's start from the beginning. 🚀

October 2021: What is a marathon?

Admittedly, the journey to the Linz Marathon 2022 began in October 2021 without me even realising it. It was an October like any other ... only one thing was different ... something flipped a switch in me and I asked myself the question: Do you seriously want to carry on like this? Do you seriously want to die like this one day? 🤨

Okay, this probably wasn't the highlight of my life at the time, but I still asked myself the above questions. 

I no longer felt comfortable in my own skin, had a few kilograms too many on my hips, healthy eating was a foreign concept to me and I couldn't stand myself anymore. This was a sign for me to do something about it - I wrote myself a guiding principle and I tried to put it into practice for all the world. 

This life-changing sentence is still in my iPhone notes app and reads: „I will move more„.

The unconscious journey to the half marathon in Linz 2022

Starting with 90 kg and a BMI of approx. 29.5, I began to swap my 2 litres of raspberry juice 🧃 a day for water. Incidentally, I had already tried this several times - why it worked this time was probably due to my sudden discipline. 

But to get more exercise, I decided to walk 1-3 kilometres every evening - at a very leisurely pace so that I don't have to cough my lungs out. 🫁

December 2021 - the Christmas month of sins

After about 1.5 months of giving up sweet drinks and taking extra short walks, I realised that I was 4 kg lighter on the scales. ⚖️ A mega success that I would never have expected.

And now the time had come - I had tasted blood!

Despite the smell of Christmas biscuits and other treats in my nose, I only had my one sentence in mind ... I will move more (!!!) - alright... a few Christmas biscuits were also inside (...but deliberately).🍪

I enjoyed walking every day so much that I started eating less unhealthy food and exercising even more - so I started going on regular walks at the weekend to keep the excess weight off. 🚶🏻‍♂️

Another month later - it was January 2022

10 kilos!!! 10 kg were gone... and that in just 2 months without much effort - ok, admittedly, the effort is relative, because hiking wasn't torture for me, but a joy. 🔥

Another thing I realised on my journey was that I could counteract the yo-yo effect with a targeted diet and possibly regenerate my body with exercise. You have to know that I was a chain smoker until August 2021 and smoked 30 cigarettes 🚬 a day. Insane. 

The first unconscious training run for the Linz Marathon 2022

Still unaware of my luck in taking part, I tried to run a leisurely 2km lap - „tried“ is a fitting term for it.

After 27 long minutes, I managed to finish the 2 km at a pace of 13:30 ... Giving up? Was out of the question! I thought that would be a good running time. 😅 But my lungs were burning like hell. 

Long story short - I kept at it - consistently! 💪

August 2022 - what has happened so far on my way to the Linz Marathon 2022

Well, I decided to take part in the Linz Half Marathon 2022 pretty much at the beginning of August.

In short: I was 27 kg lighter than I was in October 2021 - I eat extremely consciously and healthily 🌱 - I was running regularly and could already show a pace of 06:00 minutes over 10 km. 🏃‍♂️

In the meantime, I have also taken part in events such as Linzathlon & Innsbruckathlon by Beat The City and took part in the Wings For Life World Run. I now felt ready to go one step further - but how?

Attention: If you want to know more about my journey from overweight to ideal weight, leave a comment - I may write a more detailed post about it. One thing up front: there was no miracle cure involved - just hard work.

A training plan was needed!

You can find plenty of training plans on the internet - in the end I decided to use the training plan from fitforfun.de: Half marathon in 10 weeks 

This plan includes around 4 challenging sessions per week and I have managed - with the exception of one run - to integrate all the training sessions into my everyday life. In addition to perfect time management, you need a good dose of discipline. ⌚️ 

Believe me - I fought.

But I kept at it! My goal was now to finish the half marathon in under 2 hours and I gave my all in training. 💥

23 October 06:00 a.m. - the alarm clock rings for the Linz Marathon 2022

A little unmotivated, tired from the 10-week training plan and mega nervous, I woke up to my unwelcome alarm. However, I took it easy over the last few days and made sure to top up my carbohydrate stores. 🥖

Now, in the last few minutes before the half marathon, I make 2 honey buns 🍯 and head to the station.

Michael - the world's best photographer and my blog colleague 📸 - and my girlfriend accompanied me to my half marathon. Mental support was particularly important here and I could say that I had my own fan club with me.

Nervous and completely tense, we were taken by the perfectly organised shuttle bus from Linz main station 🚌 to the start of the half marathon.

I was able to prepare for the run in peace, warm up and get to the start in good time - everything went really smoothly and a big thank you to the organisers for that!

I didn't have any stress with the race number distribution either, as this had already taken place on Friday and Saturday. The race numbers were handed out in the Tips Arena in Linz. A small marathon fair had also been organised.

The starting shot was fired!

The time had come - we were off! 🏃‍♂️

I can't describe it any other way, but it was a dream - a dream that came true. Suddenly all the tension was gone and I only had one thing in mind: the finish line! And fear suddenly turned into pure joy - I felt like I was grinning the whole way.

I gave it my all and used all my strength to set my personal best time and yes - I did it! 🥵

1 year of training, the first few months unconsciously and the last few weeks consciously, made it possible for me to run a half marathon. There were plenty of emotions that day and when I crossed the finish line, I could hardly believe my eyes.

I managed to complete the half marathon in 1 hour and 40 minutes to finish ... with an average pace of 4:45!

My summary of the half marathon 

It was mega - one of my greatest successes on my journey and this experience has taken a huge place in my heart. 

Was it violent? YES!

Was it worth it? OH YES!

Will I stay with it? AND HOW!

Does everything still hurt? Mmm!

Will I take part again? IN ANY CASE!

There were lots of spectators at the edge of the course who cheered tirelessly for all the athletes. It was such a great experience and also an indescribable feeling to inspire other people by running - thank you for the great support! Without the spectators, it wouldn't be an event, just a normal training day. 🤩

I have already registered for the next Linz Half Marathon and if you are also interested - here is the link to all the information: Linz Marathon 2023

You can also find all other data, key figures, pictures and videos on the website. You can find a few photos of me in our gallery at the bottom of the post (photo credit: Michael / www.muatsdrawig.at)

⛔️ One minus point for the event: I think the photos taken by the event photographer are a joke. They cost a lot and are nothing special - the sports photographer (see article from the mjam Linzathlon) at other events a lot better... too bad - luckily Michael was there and took great photos!