3 min read
My first marathon: 3:43:55 in Hannover
Nine months of training, one winter, a rough patch at kilometre 34 and a finish line in my home city. What running taught me since 2020 and what my first marathon taught me in one morning.
- Running
- Personal
On 12 April 2026 I ran my first marathon in Hannover and finished in 3:43:55.
I mostly write about software here, but running has become a big part of my life, so it deserves its own article.
How it started
I started running in 2020, during the pandemic. I was looking for a reason to be outside, and running was simple: no equipment, no appointment, just shoes and a door. I liked it more than I expected, so I kept going and slowly tried to get a bit better each year.
Six years later I run three to five times a week. It's the part of my day where I'm not looking at a screen, and it has become as normal to me as writing code.
Nine months of preparation
Training for the marathon took nine months. For the last three months I ran about 65 kilometres a week.
Most of that preparation happened in winter, and that was the hardest part. Running a marathon is hard for a few hours on race day. Preparing for one is hard for months: dark mornings, cold evenings and no one watching whether you go out or not. The only thing that gets you out of the door is the plan you made earlier.
That is probably the biggest similarity with building products. The visible moment, a launch or a race, is tiny compared with the invisible work before it.
Race day
Around kilometre 34, it became difficult.
I took four gels and drank about 1.5 litres of water during the race, but I hadn't put real thought into my nutrition beforehand. I trained my legs for nine months and spent very little time planning what I would eat and drink while running. I can't say exactly what went wrong at kilometre 34, but it told me clearly that my approach needed work.
I kept going and finished in 3:43:55, an average of about 5:18 per kilometre (official result). The best moment of the whole project was finishing it: all the winter runs suddenly had a result.
The numbers
These are my personal bests from this year:
| Distance | Time | Average pace |
|---|---|---|
| 5 km | 20:54 | 4:11 / km |
| 10 km | 45:22 | 4:32 / km |
| Half marathon | 1:38:36 | 4:40 / km |
| Marathon | 3:43:55 | 5:18 / km |
I set the half marathon record at the Hannover half marathon on 11 October 2026, six months after the full marathon.
What I'm taking from it
- Consistency beats intensity. Three to five runs a week for years matter more than any single hard session.
- Plan the boring parts too. I prepared the training and improvised the fuel. In software I would call that testing the feature but forgetting to monitor it in production.
- Be kind to the version of you at kilometre 34. Whoever you are when things get difficult depends on what you prepared beforehand.
Next time I'll treat nutrition as part of the training, not as an afterthought.
If you'd like to follow my runs, you can find me on Strava. And if you run in Hannover, or you have advice on fuelling a marathon, write me an email.