Brașov Marathon 2023 - the experience I was craving f

Brașov Marathon, the experience! I find it easier to run on asphalt, but at the same time, a plane running event is, for me, by far the hardest than a trail event, with a lot of ascent, even though I have greater chances to obtain better results when running on a straight surface. Does it make sense to you? Well… the truth is that when running on a trail event I don’t put the same mental pressure on myself, to get a specific time frame. OK, I place in my head some indicatives, but not like when running in a city event, for example. The thing is that, for some reason, even if I am not a mountain guy, I enjoy collecting medals from this type of event. Brașov Marathon was on my list for many years, actually from 2019, when I completed half of it. For several reasons, I was not able to attend until 2023 and so I did it in the end. The feeling?

Brașov Marathon and a not very realistic plan

Let me start… The fact that it starts from Piata Sfatului, the core of the city, gives a huge plus and after less than 1.3 kilometers you enter the mountain paths and you spend the next time there… 38 kilometers! I was expecting to finish in around 6 hours – OK, I admit it, I was hopping for 5:30 – but the reality on the field hit me hard and I realized, once I climbed the top summit of the race. Snow was everywhere for some kilometers and my motion was severely affected by it. This is it too. I need to adapt, to adjust my goal and to keep moving steady. Which I do. The process keeps being simple, with decent climbs, as I have developed a good ascending speed, but very careful descends, where almost everybody can pass me, because, well… I am really afraid not to fall, not to injure myself, as my coordination is plain zero at most.

Ready to finish in style

What can I do? I need to face the truth and to try to recover, if possible, where I can do my best: plain surface and easy downhill. I do some recovery, I take advantage of the “pit stops” where you can eat and I must say the volunteers are located. I could not lose grip on your focus and, eventually, on the right track. It started raining but I am relieved as I am in the second half of the competition. Bits of mud pile on some portions of the road. My experience slips to 6:21. It is not ideal, but once I turn the curve, see the back of the Black Church and eventually the finish line, everything smells like a new achievement. One more hard run done in a decent time. Not great, but acceptable. I eat some locally made food by the organizers, take a picture and speed up the clothes changing process as we need to catch a train in one hour and a half.

Brașov Marathon gallery

It takes some 10-15 minutes to change everything in the improvised location – cloth deposit tent – and once I am done, went to grab the famous delicious pancakes from “The Mad Crepe” – I like them with Nutella and coconut or just… nut. Off we go for the station and return to Bucharest. My experience is complete and the best statement to explain this consists from the photo album below.