I did it again! The Beer Lovers’ Marathon that is… Sans wig this time, but with a homemade blue balmoral bonnet with a red toorie, embodying Tintin in his The Black Island album.
The theme of the Beer Lovers’ Marathon this year was “Belgian Comics”, so that’s why I gave my best interpretation of Tintin in his album “The Black Island”, or as it’s called in Gaelic “An T-Eilan Dubh”: kilted—obviously—wearing a blue balmoral bonnet with a red toorie, and a blue, long-sleeved running shirt, with the album cover printed on the back.
My first attempt at this marathon was in 2022, and it definitely went better this time: more than half an hour faster! I still had to walk the last bit, but I managed to run most of it this time. I actually already started feeling my right knee from about kilometer 20, and my left knee started acting up soon after that.
After climbing the 374-step Montagne de Bueren staircase, and the nasty climb following that—around the 11th beer stop at 34,4 km, Saint Nitouche—my my knees told me that, if I still wanted to use them after that day, I’d better stop running…
I tried a little jog every once in a while, but the signal my knees gave me was clear: don’t overdo it… Even after slowing down, the pacemaker with the “10 minutes until the bar closes” sign never caught up with me, and all seventeen beer stops on the course were still serving beer by the time I reached them.
In despite of the pain, I still ran the final 100 meters from the last beer stop to the finish. You can’t finish a marathon walking, can you? In the end, I finished 1152th, of 2274 finishers in total, so not too shabby at all!
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