The Prague Marathon is one of the biggest marathon events in the world. This year’s marathon which took place on 10th May welcomed around 6000 runners! Among these were two teams of “Pears” running the corporate marathon relay. Their feelings and memories of the event can be found below:
Sasa, Senior Graphic Designer, male:
When I signed up for the company relay race few months ago, I was very thrilled. As the starting date for the race approached I started to get rather nervous.
I wasn’t sure if I would even finish my lap but all these fears disappeared once I crossed the start line. I was so full of energy and enthusiasm that I knew right away it was going to be a great race! The weather was awesome, the atmosphere vibrant, spectators were standing alongside the whole race track and they were motivating everyone with their cheering not letting anyone to stop. It was actually very helpful! I really enjoyed my lap and even though I couldn’t catch my breath at some points I knew I couldn’t stop and had to keep going and that’s what I did and I am very satisfied with my time and will definetely do this race again next year!
Anicka, Account Manager, female:
The atmosphere of the whole race was brilliant and very international, the weather was perfect and co-racers were in a very good mood. I ran the last part of the relay. Our substitute, my friend „greyhound“, made a fair lead on the third lap and therefore I had the honour to finish slightly ahead of our second team. Nevertheless I was afraid the whole time of being overtaken because the other team had also an eagerly spurting „greyhound“ in stock. We flushed down this literally breathtaking day in a pub and proudly marched home with gold medals.
Daniela, Senior Project Manager, female:
If somebody said to me one year ago, “You will run a Marathon”, I would have thought he had gone crazy! But what was the fantasy of the past, became a reality of the future. On 10th of May the Marathon was here and I was on the start line. Well, there is one thing I probably should reveal – I didn’t run the whole 42,5 km, I run only 10km as it was a Marathon relay. 
) Nevertheless, it was a great experience! I run the whole trace without a stop and finished with an optimistic set of mind and a really red face ). But if you asked me, what I liked the most about this event, I would have to say that it was the support of my colleague Petr, who was waiting for me 500 metres ahead of my handover and run these 500 meters with me barefooted – it was really heart-warming.
Tomas H., Intranet Administrator, male
Running the Prague Marathon was a wonderful experience. I never took part in such a huge race. The whole event was very well organized though I found my relay-stick only about 5 seconds before starting shot. We were lucky with the weather, and even luckier that there are no hills in Prague‘s city center. The cheering crowds along the track were the best motivation and gave me more energy than any energy drink available. Even though I only trained for 3 weeks, I am quite satisfied with my own result and I am already looking forward to the next year.
Petr, Account Manager of an online portal for patients, male
The Prague Marathon was an amazing experience. There were thousands of runners and spectators waiting for the start. About twenty minutes before the official start of the race a crowd of runners started to gather behind the start line. Once the start shot was fired the Kenyan runners sprinted off followed by all other runners.
The first handover of the relay stick was at the 10th km of the race. The corporate relay runners from the second wave were waiting jammed in Těšnov tunnel. First, a historic bicycle from the First Republic passed, then several police cars went by followed by a group of the fastest runners and some of the first wave corporate relay runners. The handover of the relay stick turned out to be a rather adrenaline discipline due to the limited space in the cramped tunnel. From time to time the first relay runners came and could not find their second relay colleague. They were shouting out the name of their colleague in desperate attempts to find him or her. The weather conditions could not be any better. It was not cold neither was it hot. The sun did not heat up the roads to any unbearable temperature which helped. It seemed that the organizers had everything firmly in their hands; including the weather!
Tomas V., Head of inPharma Business Unit, male
Even though I go jogging quite regularly I found the race to be a big challenge. The handover of the relay stick was the first difficult point of the race. I had no idea when would my colleague Daniela complete here relay and thus I couldn’t warm up accordingly. The first five kilometers of the race were really bad as I couldn’t get into an optimal pace. When I finally got the right pace on the 6th kilometer I already felt quite tired and my pulse started to race out of control over 160 pulses/minute. The 8th kilometer was critical for me. The only thing that kept me going was the sight at the full marathon runners who were at their 38th kilometer at that point. Compare to them I was still quite fresh and I was passing tens of them with every next kilometer. The cheering of my colleagues waiting for me at the finish line helped me to speed up to 16km/hr. The great atmosphere at the finish line and the feelings that overwhelm you were definitely worth the effort.
