Khon Kaen Marathon 2014 – Race Report

Khon Kaen Marathon is one of Thailand’s main running events. It does not only attract a large number of participants but also many professional runners who race for the top spots and the cash awards. This year was faster than ever(?), and as usual, Kenyan runners were dominating most distances.

I was signed up for the half marathon myself. My next real goal is a full marathon in Taiwan in early March and I wanted a solid half marathon as a part of my build up for that race. I was looking for some “race action” by trying to keep up with some speedy Kenyans as long as possible, preferably a bit behind the leading pack. A finish time of 71-72 minutes seemed reasonable, but the race didn’t turn out as I planned…

Some 8-10 runners took off right from start and showed they meant business. They immediately got a gap to the rest. I ran with two Kenyans who were keeping a pedestrian pace of 3.05-3.10 per kilometer. The first 5k were tough, the pace was high and the elevated road didn’t help either. I realized I had to let the two Kenyans go, otherwise I wouldn’t last more than half the race. For being such early into the race, I was struggling way more than I should.

When the first down sloping part worth mentioning came after something like 6k, I started to get into the second wind and felt somewhat strong for the first time in the race. My kilometer splits were coming down again and even though I was almost a kilometer behind the leading group at the U-turn, I started to think this might not be such a poor half marathon after all.

The second half was more downhill and I could keep the pace up. With 5k to go, when I turned right towards the university area (and eventually the finish), I knew there were only two minor climbs before the flat/declining final kilometers. Still strong gait, I skipped the remaining water stations and had surprisingly much power left. As I reached the homestretch with 200 meters to go, I could see that the official time was ticking towards 1.10. I sprint finished and just managed to sneak under 70 minutes.

With 9 Kenyans ahead of me, I grabbed 10th place overall, very pleased. Hard to tell, but it seems like the marathon build-up has helped.

[table]
My Khon Kaen Half Marathon 2014 in Numbers [attr colspan=”2″]
Finish Time, 1.09.57
Place Overall, 10
Distance covered, 21.1 km
Average pace, 3.19 min/km
Fastest Kilometer, 3.04 min/km (km 21)
Slowest Kilometer, 3.37 min/km (km 15)
[/table]

In the women’s marathon, two Ethiopian runners took gold and silver, but Kenya dominated all other distances. The men’s marathon had one Ethiopian (Zemenu Tsega Workneh) in the leading group. When he decided to go up front, the Kenyans had other ideas and tried to grill him. The tactic didn’t work out as planned as the Ethiopian was one of few who could cope with the furious pace. In the end, a Kenyan runner (Charles Kimutai Kigen) was the strongest, but Zemenu managed to get second place.