My 2025 Split Marathon

Split Marathon 2025 – 3:19:55h finish time!

The weather was perfect, the atmosphere even better, and the course was phenomenal!

Last year, my result was 3:57:18h with the same effort. If someone had told me then that a marathon under 3:30h would become achievable, I wouldn’t have believed them.

Lessons from the Marathon:

• You can never be too prepared.
• Carbohydrate intake should be practiced just as much as running.
• Having a plan is crucial for focus and motivation—whether it’s an average pace per kilometer or the total race time.
• Focus only on the current kilometer.

My race strategy was to start conservatively with a pace of 4:40 min/km, which I believed I could maintain for a long time.

After 21 km, I had three plans:

• Plan A: Speed up and finish around 3:15h – this was not possible due to inclines and leg fatigue.
• Plan B: Slow down to 4:45 min/km and finish around 3:20h.
• Plan C: If everything went downhill, significantly slow down and finish under 3:30h.

By 28 km, I knew speeding up wasn’t an option, despite keeping my energy intake on schedule. Plan B worked perfectly—I crossed the line in 3:19:55!

For now, I’m done with road races. Time to change the scenery and hit the mountains for some trail running!