Mattias Bramstång

Ljubljanski Marathon, Slovenia. During perfect conditions I opened more brave than ever before. I started to burn fuel from the first kilometre and pushed myself to my maximum capacity. I was running as if it was a 10 kilometres race. I passed the first loop of two at 1h 23min 30sec and kept the pace quite good during the second lap. I finished at new personal best with 2h 49min 23sec. Afterwards I had a really bad blister beneath my foot. The blister went more painful during the next two days. Then it was really bad and I had to walk the next 10 days on my heel. I was looking quite funny at work when I was limping slowly ahead. Great memories come from such a moment!

Almost 6 years after my first marathon I ran this one. This race became my first marathon below 3 hours. It felt amazingly. It required me 18 marathons of experience and years of preparations in order to succeed with this exploit. An imagination was realised. Now I was a faster runner than I ever expected myself to be. I made it with just 24 seconds to spare and I thought that I never have to run this fast again. Never. Now I’m a sub-3 runner, it’s hard to believe and every time I look into the mirror I still cant understand it. But I am a sub-3 runner. That’s it!

After four five kilometres I took a hold on a steady back that ran uniformly as a bell. I had a pacer and I hold on to this veteran until I could not. At 35 kilometres my energy was drained. I had to struggler some and in the same time the old man picked up the pace and flow away. Later I learned that the veteran runner I had used as a pacer was K-G Nyström. One man, of a handful of men that could be named as Mr Marathon in Sweden. I finished the race in 3hours and 50minutes. I believed I would never be able to run quicker than that, but I where certain about that it would be possible to run longer ; -)