#runcroatia

Held in Slovenia's capital Ljubljana, one of Europe's smaller capital cities with just about 280,000 inhabitants, the Ljubljanski maraton is a massive running event with more than 24,161 participants in three races: 

- Half-marathon

- Marathon

- 10k

- Recreational Races

Still interesting that for longer distances men are predominating the event, but in the 10k, the stats shows that more women are into the distance. This probably do to the practicality of it and that not intense is required to finish a 10k. For that, such kind of distance are very compelling for this sector, but is good to see that more women are jumping into the sports, with probabilities that in the future will jump into a longer distance.

But in the overall men represents the higher numbers, but women are running behind this stat with high probabilities that in the future numbers will be even more balanced.

It starts in the heart of the city looping the city and the surrounding and all long the course there are people cheering the runners. 

My experience

Definitely a worthy experience. It was my first one and really surpassed my expectations since the event is not highly marketed outside the region. But is very well-known among Croats and is one of those must-traditional events they go as runners and teams because for most of them represent the last race of the season.

I went with a Croatian triathlon team - SWIBIR, and was a great experience, around 20 members attended the race and the environment was just great. The night before you can go for a carbo-loading dinner at one of the many restaurants along the river, or just grab couple of beers since is just the final race of the season, still all go and run with high expectations.

The city is packed of runners and you can feel the positive vibes everywhere.

For staying there are many cheap options like hostels, but reservations need to be done in advanced since it is a small city and capacity can be difficult to handle.

The EXPO

The expo is a mid-sized expo, of course there is no comparison with a major marathon, I mentioned that because sometimes people ask how is the expo and they have different expectations. 

The expo is nice, with local and international brands, and one thing the official shirt of the event is one the cheapest - just 10 Euro, and is an Adidas one, if you just compared with other event in which can be as high as 60 Euros

The medal

The medal is a nice but a bit small, but enough to represents your accomplishment and have nice memory of the event.  

In my case I ran 21k, enough for my come back in races. 

The weather was a bit chilly in the morning, but as the hours pass by the temperature starts to raise reaching a maximum of 15 degrees, just for a perfect run.

Along he course there is people cheering. Water stops are every other 5km, this is good to know since maybe it can be too long for some runners, but so far since the weather is not that warm is enough.

The course is flat, with some mild hills, but nothing to be afraid of and the race finishes in a city park full of spectators.

My time was 1hr 31 min, not a bad time, but not the fastest. I was among the top 20 runners and got a 7th place in in my category. Good for a come back.

So, how was your 2016? For me was a challenging year, and was until October / November I was able to run again. At the end of 2015 I had a bad injury plus a bad bike fall. Seems it was not complicated at the beginning but I end up having a long recovery time, almost a year long. I had a partial, almost 50% of the plantar fascia detached from the bone, a rare injury but it happens. You only need few seconds to have a bad fall.

But it took quite long to realize what had happened, since the fall was actually a silly fall.

Anyway, during all this time I learned a lot, I got more into why injuries happens, since I suffered of plantar fasciitis also for a long time and I realized is one of the most stubborn injuries a runner can have, and not only runners, but also basketball and football players, even dancers. In fact any one can get it even if that person is not active. 

Also I learned that with the running boom there is a lot of “coaches” claiming to be one when in fact they don’t even have a wide a running experience and just talk in a fancy way. Furthermore, running is not only running, at the end is an integral activity that involves the complete kinetic chain of the body. 

For that, I spent many evenings just educating my self and look for more scientific information, plus attending my time-consuming therapy sessions. I read couple of books like “Running Science”, “Running Revolution” and some others. Running magazines are just fine, but if you want to go further and in a more structured way and to improve, is way better to look at scientific and more accurate information.

Besides reading, In the meantime I also started a full strength program, focusing in balancing all the muscles specially in the legs and core, including lower back and glutes, also a flexibility program in which the core Running is still a simple activity, but when you do it repetitively and more often, then you need to look in how all those forces are specially affecting the body, this applies for all distances, but more important for those running half marathon and marathon. 

In that matter I was able to maintain general fitness, but the struggle for even walking was still there. Just took it easy and focused in what I will do next.

I started by then training people in Miami and Mexico, and also offering Virtual Training, which was successful. I had several clients and all managed to reach their goals. Clients includes couple of runners that ran Chicago Marathon, Mexico City Half Marathon and New York Marathon.

By September / October things were better and started to run mildly. My first race after a year was the Half Marathon in Zagreb, I ran it in 1hr 35min, no bad for a start and just mild training (walking, jogging and lots of strength training). The race was ok, just some minor pain in the foot, which was normal, but since then the pain started to ease faster, beside all the therapy I was taking aside plus lots, lots of medications to regulate the plantar nerve pain which was also affected due to the injury.

In there I meet a runner entrepreneur and since then I help to collaborate in his network and races in Croatia (I ended up in Croatia), in another post will comment on that.

Zagreb half marathon was the break-point to start again something I stopped and to gain confidence. Also I gain more running clients and happy to help them out to reach their full running potential. Another races were:

- 10k Raslina, Sibenik in Croatia - 43min (2nd place)

- Half Marathon in Ljiubliana, Slovenia - 1hr 31min (24th place, 4th per category)

- 22km Sport Hotel, Croatia 1hr 43min

- 10k Night Run, Zagreb - 43 min (12th place)

- 10k Advent Run, Zagreb - 1st place !

When I first arrived to Zagreb in 2009, it was very interesting, specially in the running matter. There were runners of course, but not as many as I see today. Running was not so popular by that time and there were not so many enthusiasts spreading out the word. 

In 2011 I had the opportunity to run the Zagreb Marathon and if I compared that year with 2016, the change is incredible. By then there were couple of running teams/clubs. Now you can see different teams in virtually all over Croatia and so many located in the Zagreb area. Furthermore, Social Media has played a key factor into spreading the word and market different races all over Croatia.

One special thing Croatia has to offer to the word is the beautiful coastline, the charm of its small towns and the “go-back-on- time” feeling when you visit them. Such places are very well preserved and that’s what make them very attractive. Having this, if its mixed with the running “boom”, the results is a very nice landscape that runners can enjoy while running in Croatia. 

The running environment is a very positive and social environment and there is when you can connect with fellow runners, and if talking about social media, this can be great and connect with even more runners wondering what else can be done in terms of running and getting the community involved. That was the way I get to meet @berro​ in Zagreb and actually I ran with him the Zagreb Half Marathon and help him to get a PR of 1hr 35m, I am always happy to help others reaching their goals.

Who is @berro​ ?

Berislav Sokač is an enthusiast and avid runner from Zagreb, Croatia, also a successful businessman and entrepreneur. He is the founder of “Run Croatia.”

 ”Run Croatia” was founded in 2015. in order to promote sport, healthy way of life and winning spirit – in cooperation with running communities, cities in Croatia and the rest of the world, sponsors and every other subject involved in organization of our running event which is interested in promoting their products and services on the highest level.”

Getting back into the background of the founder, @berro​ I was intrigued and happy that I found a World Marathon Major finisher in Croatia, and when saying a World Marathon Major finisher, it includes the six of them (NYC, Boston, Chicago, London, Tokyo, Berlin).  But talking about which one was the most special, it turns that was the TCS New York City Marathon, and what a great time to celebrate, because we are just couple of weeks away of the big event for this 2016. 

But back in 2010 @berro​ was running #nycmarathon, his very first marathon, 

He ran #nycmarathon in 4hr 4min, a special timing, because that’s his son’s birthday(April, 4th). In order to make this event more special, he engraved the #nycmarathon medal with this representative time, 4:04h to be a lifetime reminder for his son that finishing a marathon is not easy. I represents a lot of dedication, hard work, discipline, which is important to have in every aspect of our lives. Since then, Berislav Sokač realized that NYC marathon is part of big six major events and imagine what he did? 

He did it all six marathon majors in a span of two and half years. 

He was 13th man in the world on WMM list.

Now ask yourselves, does coming #NYCmarathon is going to be your first one or it is part of your WMM journey?