10 miles through the tunnels — “Antwerp 10 Miles & Marathon”

Any road should get somewhere. This time she threw me to Holland and Belgium. I wanted to run some distance, so, I immediately rushed to find out what races were going to be held there in the near future.

I wasn’t lucky in Holland, there were no races at all. But in Belgium, on the contrary, everything seemed to fit under me: I had to come to the city of Antwerp on the eve of the marathon. In the run of the Antwerp 10 Miles & Marathon, there were declared such distances as 1.4 km, 5 km, 10 miles, and 42 km.

I really wanted to take part in the marathon, but it was clear that I was not ready for 42 kilometers. Then I chose 10 miles (about 16 km).
On Sunday morning I went to register. It took place in the Linkeroever area. When reached the place, I plunged in search of the place of registration. The price was 35 euros.

Where was a small exhibition of sports goods, as well as the forthcoming races of Belgium in the form of brochures were present? I got acquainted with them and, of course, I could not keep myself to take them with me as a memory. I had more than 5 hours before the start, so there was plenty of time. I could allow myself to walk around the neighborhood, watching children’s races. That’s what I did.

Antwerp 10 Miles & Marathon is an annual AIMS marathon organized by Antwerp in Belgium. Starts in 1980. It is held in April (from 2007, earlier in different months). After the marathon itself, the more popular Antwerp 10 miles is organized. In addition to the marathon and a 10-mile race, this event has races of 1 km and 5 km. Many more people participate in Antwerp 10 miles than in the marathon itself. In 2014, 10 miles had 25,998 participants.
I started at 15:00. At first, it was enough, but a temperature of +22 brought discomfort. I held a good pace only the first two miles, but then I realized that it was too fast, and it was necessary to reduce it gradually. Moreover, all the time it was very hot. Immediately there was a tangible difference when after on a 4th-mile path turned to the tunnel, where it was much more comfortable to run.

As it turned out later, there were 2 such tunnels. It could not rejoice, because it was really salvation from the heat. The result of the rather late time of the race was simply crazy support from locals and visitors of the city. Most of the route passed through rather narrow streets, where the shadows of the houses helped to hide from the burning rays of the sun. My mistake was in a thought that the race would be very easy. This contributed to the wrong calculation of strength. In addition, the distance was not quite usual. Generally, there were 3 points with water. The reason for my surprise was that the first one was only after 7 km of the race. The route was beautiful — the path lied in tunnels under the River Scheldt and in the historic part of the city. Somewhere I met the cobblestone. There were practically no difficulties, only the one downhill and climb at the very beginning.

In general, everything was well organized. A well-laid trail. As always, great support that motivates you. Although the tunnels do not allow admiring the views of the river, this was compensated by the part of the road, which went through the old city.