Just (Spontaneously) Registered for My Next International Marathon

Even though I have run over 50 marathons and ultra marathons (races over 26.2 miles), the last two years were somewhat of a racing dearth for me. I had run a single marathon in 2016, nothing in 2017, and then finally did another one last month (review coming this week). This was all due to some different factors – scheduling, asthma issues, etc.

Just (Spontaneously) Registered for My Next International Marathon

But, now that I have done one marathon, I am back in the mode of running them! My last marathon was both better and worse than I thought it would be (based on when I thought about it during training!) but I had at least gotten some time on my feet so I thought it would be great to do one again – soon.

My schedule is normally busy enough on weekends that it can be hard to find a marathon close enough that will work for me. But, I found one!

The Belgrade Marathon – April 21, 2018

Link: Belgrade Marathon

In just a bit over 4 weeks, I will be running the Belgrade Marathon. This will not only be a new marathon country for me but also the first time I will have every been in Serbia! I am really looking forward to running this one!

This will be the 31st anniversary of this marathon so they have been putting it on for a while. They should definitely have it down by now so that should make it a pretty nicely organized race. I do plan on doing a full review of the marathon after and maybe some videos from the course.

However, this is definitely not a goal marathon for me in terms of pace or time. I just want to get out there again and keep my running interest engaged for training as I wait for the training for my next serious race to begin. That may be a really interesting race – I should know in the next couple of weeks!

Travel and Cost

So, I will be flying into Belgrade using Air Serbia, staying at the Hyatt Regency Belgrade, and then flying out through Germany. The flights were all cheap enough (inter-European flights) as was the Hyatt night. Even the marathon was really cheap by marathon standards – only $50!

Amazingly, if you register early enough, you would only pay €25! That is insanely cheap for a marathon! Here is what each registrant gets for that marathon fee:

• Race number with timing chip
• T-shirt
• Medal at the finish
• Diploma
• Refreshment along the course and at the finish area
• Race programme/map
• Pasta party

Ok, say they are going with cheap cotton t-shirts and paying a couple of bucks for it. Then you add in a few bucks for the medal (not sure what it is like yet – will know soon!), the timing services and the pasta party. Between all of those things, you are probably at about a cost of $13 on the low end. What they are charging is definitely a deal!

Want to come run it as well? Registration is still open! 🙂 Let me know if you will be there also!

Featured image courtesy of Kristijan Ilic (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons