Life after Almaty Marathon-2018: What do the runners talk about?

The seventh Almaty Marathon has come to an end, but emotions and impressions are still being discussed by the participants. Some of them remembered new tracks, or added a new medal and start number to their collection, some are preparing for new starts. 

Aliya Zhussupova ran 10 km in the Almaty Marathon and talked with other participants.

Artyom

Artyom is a young entrepreneur from Almaty. For him, participation in the Almaty Marathon became the purpose and meaning of rehabilitation after receiving a severe knee injury, the operation and the postoperative recovery.

- «After the operation, I was restricted for a long time in movement, often thinking about people who are forever confined to wheelchairs and feel constant discomfort in the movement…

Therefore, during the rehabilitation program, I struggled with these negative thoughts, worked on my fears and troubles. When I ran my first 10 km in the Marathon…- so strong the emotions were! I felt and realized that I can also run, run along with other participants on the Marathon!!! Though I run on an amateur level, but the feeling of joy from participation gives confidence.  Especially it is nice to get a medal at the finish.

Very satisfied with the result! After the injury and a long recovery process, the goal and at the same time the dream was to cross the finish line. I did it! »

Dias

Dias is an accountant from Astana, 28 years old. Dias is not a professional sportsman, but he is fond of swimming, biking, running, basketball, cross-country skiing and snowboarding.

- «I have been thinking about the Almaty Marathon for a long time. What was the motivation? Firstly, the scale of the competition… It is a great honor to become a participant of such an event. Secondly, the track of the Marathon is fantastic, also perfect mountain views. Thirdly, a lot of friends and acquaintances who previously had participated in it said that this was a first-class event and advised me to participate. And, of course, I wanted to test my strength. Besides, I systematically trained and ran all autumn and winter in Astana.

I decided to start small, ran 10 km. In my opinion, such distance is just perfect. It is better to run 10 km faster, than 21 or 42 km partly by walking slowly.

I am very pleased with the result. For my first official race I took a time reference in 59 minutes and overcame the distance in 57 minutes 10 seconds. The only difficulty was the track itself, which went up and down. This took more energy. Experienced runners advise to slower climbing up the rises (to save power) and even slower to descend from the slides, as there is a strong pressure on the knee joints at the descents. Many beginners do not know about it and, using the slope down, they accelerate.  

Next year I will definitely take part again and, most likely, in a half marathon."

Dauren

Dauren is a young entrepreneur from Almaty. He takes part in the Almaty Marathon for the third year.

- «10 km was for me a kind of challenge “Can I do it or not?”.  I ran and realized that I should prepare for 21 km. This year I ran a half marathon a second time.

Now I try to always allocate time for myself. Running for me is meditation; it helps to look at some moments in life from a different angle.

Sports and other my hobbies – skiing, biking, swimming - are becoming a part of my life!

When running I was given strength by the support of my fans, for example, posters with motivating words “You are cool!”, passing cars that signaled us, smiles of passers-by.

My next goal is to participate in international marathons. I want to run in Garda (Italy), in New York and Barcelona. I get charged with positive energy, good emotions after overcoming the distance. I want to experience this feeling on other starts!