9 weeks ago, I decided to commit to the hardest physical challenge of my whole life: running a marathon. This is going to be a tough one. My legs are burning like hell.
It f*cking rains. I f*cking knew it. Oh my God.
No excuses! My calf is just hurting so much. I'm actually doubting myself right now if I will be able to run 42 kilometers, or if this goal was just way too huge for me.
Alright, let's give you some context here. I used to hate running, up until the point when three years ago I signed up for a half marathon. I started to go for runs a few times per week and fell in love with the physical and mental challenges that come with it.
I finished my half marathon in 1 hour and 34 minutes and told myself that one day I would run a full marathon. I quickly found out that I had massively underestimated how much more challenging it is to run 42 kilometers instead of 21, so I dropped the idea and forgot about it. But 9 weeks ago, when I decided to move to South Africa, I saw that there was a marathon taking place on the 17th of October in Cape Town, and that's when I knew that the time had finally come to once and for all face this huge challenge.
I already jumped into my laptop and looked for some articles on how to properly train for a marathon, and as it turns out, a lot of these articles say that you have to train at least for 4 months. I just realized that I have a total of nine weeks to pull this off, which is a bummer. And I'm scared.
As I said, I have a total of 9 weeks to train. Throughout the whole training, I will do three different types of runs. Easy ones for my weekly mileage, long rounds for my endurance, and interval runs for my speed work.
In between those runs, I have days to rest my muscles and recharge for the next one. The plan is to slowly increase the easy runs from 8 kilometers up to 13 kilometers. Around every 8 days, I have my long runs which will start at 18 kilometers, and step up to the longest run with 33 kilometers.
In week 8 I will lower the distance, and in week 9 I rest completely, in order to be fully recharged for the marathon. All of this combined would bring us to a total of 29 runs and 409 kilometers. I'm hoping that this training plan is achievable.
I think now I just gotta get started. Let's do it. So, it is pouring rain and I'm about to get myself some new running shoes.
Running shoes. They're like the horse of a rider, the bike of a cyclist, or the car of a racing driver. The shoes are the only thing that separates the runner from the ground, and it is super important to find the perfect pair for your needs.
So many shoes. We analyzed my foot posture, I tried one pair after another and ran through the whole store in order to test them out. The crazy thing is that all of these shoes actually feel completely different, like one is softer, the other one fits better.
It's driving different kinds of cars, actually. I found the ones. Let's go!
Next up, I had to buy a proper tracking device for my runs. Hey. I wanna buy your Apple Watch.
A little bit more. So, my brother already gave up on his running ambitions, so that's why he decided to sell me his Apple Watch, right? Definitely not true.
He actually already did a marathon, but which time did you run? 3 hours 41. 3 hours 41?
I think that is pretty good. I'm curious if I'm gonna beat it. What do you think?
Well, not if you start training two months before. How long before did you start training? Also.
Roughly two months. So, after buying my brother's Apple Watch and being equipped with some proper running shoes, I was finally ready to hit the road. The first runs were pretty easy, as I was super motivated to get this whole thing started.
Second run going well so far. Shoes are feeling good. After a long period of barely doing any sports, it felt really good to move my body again and see some sunlight.
My usual running procedure was around 5 minutes of warming up by doing a couple of different exercises. Then I would make my way from the city into the nearby English Garden, which is the biggest park in Munich. It's a beautiful piece of nature and the perfect environment to go for a run.
No traffic, no red lights, only trees and fresh air. After the runs, I tried to stretch myself for a couple of minutes, but it occasionally happened that I got hungry and a little bit distracted. That one is well deserved.
After taking off my first three easy runs, it was time for the first long run. No excuses! It's raining so hard.
Oh my God, the rain just doesn't stop, hey. Holy sh*t, so. .
. I just ran 19 kilometers, I can definitely feel my legs. I think in total I did like 50 kilometers this week, and now I can really feel the muscles getting sore right now.
I'm definitely gonna feel that tomorrow morning, hey. Like, doing this 19 kilometers run today really showed me like how freaking long a marathon is. Like, I have to run more than twice as much as today, and my legs are already like jello.
I don't really know how to do it in eight weeks or in seven weeks, but I hope I'm gonna be fine. In week two, I headed out together with my friend Nico, which was a nice change from running by myself. As the days passed, I made some more steady progress by ticking off my first interval run and two more easy runs.
So, it's the beginning of the third week, which means today I have my second long run of 21 kilometers. I tried to postpone it all day long because it was raining all the time. Like, outside here in Germany the weather is so bad, but yeah.
. . It stopped raining, so.
. . I guess I have to run.
F*ck. This is going to be a long run, hey. I just hope it doesn't rain.
By running along the different rivers, I could see how much it actually rained in the last days. The whole city is literally flooded. Guess what?
It f*cking rains. I f*cking knew it! What is this?
There are puddles everywhere, you can't really run at all. This is sh*t. Are you f*cking serious?
I don't really know how I'm still going to make 13 kilometers, because as you see, there are f*cking huge puddles everywhere. Holy sh*t, this is crazy. The rain was so strong that I actually wanted to return back home.
There's no use in running like that. But as I didn't want to cancel my second long run, I decided to keep up the spirit and push through. High five?
No? This was definitely the worst run I ever had in my whole life. When it comes to the conditions for the last one hour or last one and a half hours actually, I was just running in the pouring rain.
I'm glad I pulled through. I did the full 21 kilometers. Why do my long runs always need to be when it's freaking raining?
I don't get it. I was able to check off every run that week, but during my last one, I started to feel some pain in my leg and had to cut the run short. I developed a little bit of pain in my left knee and also in my achilles tendon.
That kind of sucks, but I just feel like I shouldn't run if I'm slowly developing pain, because if I just keep running, it just gets worse and worse, and then you can't get out of it and the marathon is done. I just hope that it doesn't get worse. Hello and welcome to my yoga class!
Okay, cut the bullsh*t. The fact alone that I call it a yoga class shows you how much I know about stretching. So, these things have been laying around in the corner of my room for the last 2 and a half weeks.
I didn't use them once, even though I wanted to. I'm just a lazy f*ck when it comes to stretching, because I always think that it doesn't have any impact on getting better when it comes to the marathon, but I think I should really do more of it, because I actually had a call with a physiotherapist earlier today, and I asked her what I could do in order to prevent pain in my knees, because that is my main concern when it comes to running. She actually told me two things.
First, I should stretch more, and the second part is muscle training. Just running is not enough in order to make it for the marathon, so that's why I gotta adjust and that's why I gotta do some extra stuff. Let's see how that turns out.
As I do it with everything, I asked YouTube for advice and tried to match the different exercises which were shown in the video. This feels good. While I quickly got hold of the normal stretches, the foam roll was a whole new level.
Honestly, I would rather run for 40 kilometers than doing this all the time. I hope that this helps, hey. After 30 minutes of pain, I could actually notice how my muscles loosened up, and it felt like I relieved some tension.
On the next day, I got started with the muscle training by doing some bodyweight exercices. With those exercises, I was definitely more experienced, but a few days later, the consequences started to show. I just put the foot of the chair on my toes.
The upper leg on my right side is so sore. I can barely walk. Like, I'm just running around like a grandpa.
It just sucks, because actually yesterday I wanted to do my third long run of 24 kilometers, but I just couldn't really walk. Like, I actually struggled putting on my socks. It's really bad to be honest, because I just wanted to stick to my training plan, and now I have to skip it for one day, probably I have to skip it for another day.
Yeah. I should have trained more legs back then. My muscles are still sore, but today I gotta do my long run.
Not really feeling like it, feeling a little bit tired, feeling a little bit exhausted, but I gotta do it. I gotta do it today. I didn't really feel like running 24k at all and after the first few minutes, I could already feel my legs getting weak.
This is going to be a tough one, hey. But still, I was determined to get this run done. A few years ago, I simply couldn't understand why anybody would voluntarily run for such a long distance.
It's exhausting, time consuming and monotonous. Why would anybody find pleasure in that? In the world of running, there is something called a "runner's high", which is described as a brief, deeply relaxing state of euphoria.
When running for long distances, it often happens that you get lost in that monotonous motion. Foot after foot, breath after breath, your mind is so busy focusing on that repetitive motion of your body that everything around you starts to slow down and you enter a meditative state. You feel the wind blowing along your face and you watch your legs move on autopilot.
It's just you in your tunnel, no distractions, no stress. A place where your thoughts are clear and your mind can run free. During my long runs, I experienced these moments all the time, and I really felt like it had an incredible impact on my mental health.
Also during my 24k run, the runner's high was what helped me push through. I gotta say it's feeling better, because as soon as you're in a flow and you're just running, you kind of forget about your legs. But as soon as I stop to film, then I just really feel the legs creeping back in.
At least the weather is good today. 24 f*cking kilometers. My legs are burning, and I think I'm just going to jump into the river in order to cool down here.
That feels so good. I'm actually really happy that I pulled through with this run. In the beginning, I really didn't think that I would make more than 10 kilometers.
This gives some more confidence again that I actually make the marathon. Look at all the ducks hanging out with me. I was now almost halfway through my training, and I knew that these next four weeks would be the most important ones to prepare my body for the marathon.
Even though my energy was drained from the weeks before, I dedicated myself and stuck to the plan. My easy runs now had a distance of 11 kilometers and they felt better from time to time. I could feel how my muscles and my endurance were improving with each run, and those distances now felt like a short jog to me.
In week 5, I checked off another interval run. Those high speed runs helped me strengthen my muscles and increase my pace. I started to enjoy running more and more, and it quickly became my favorite part of the day.
It felt like instead of draining my energy, it now actually started to fuel my vitality, and seeing the marathon move closer got me motivated even more. I headed out during any time of the day and pushed my body to perform at its peak. Sunrise, midday, sunset, midnight.
With each run, I could feel my body evolving and I pushed my limits to distances and paces which before seemed completely out of reach. I was at an all-time high and checked off one run after another. My muscles are just getting more and more stable.
I'm definitely improving, I really feel like my body is kind of like evolving. With my fourth long run, I approach distances where I would need to refuel my body, so I bought myself some POWERGELs, which contain a lot of carbohydrates and sugar. I mean, a lot of sugar.
Oh my God, this is so sweet. Mango, passion fruit, this is just like pure sugar. I sticked one of them into my back pocket in order to have a booster when my energy would start to decrease.
The 27 kilometer-long run was probably one of my all-time favourites, as I finally had some good weather. Finally a sunny long run. And discovered some of the most beautiful spots in my city.
Honestly, how beautiful is this place? I'm seeing so many new corners of Munich now that I'm running so long. While my booster definitely provided some extra energy, this distance was something my legs were definitely not used to.
Oh my God. Holy sh*t, was that exhausting. Like after you do these long runs and then like 5 minutes after you stop, it just really creeps into your muscles and you almost can't walk.
That's why it's so important to stretch after a run, even though I don't feel like stretching at all right now. I gotta do it. It feels like I'm almost getting a cramp in my muscles.
Whoa. F*ck. Sh*t.
Alright, that's enough of moaning for you today. It really is that bad. None of the sh*t is acted.
I'm f*cking dying. Okay, that is not true. We are now in week six.
I still have like two to three weeks to go when it comes to the training. It's going well, but I feel like I'm just getting a little bit too comfortable now, because this week should have been actually the week where I run the longest distance. Two days ago, I ran 9 kilometers instead of 13, so I'm cutting shorter than I usually should.
And also, I'm going to leave to Vienna on the weekend to meet with 3 of my friends and go partying a little bit, so that's not beneficial at all and I can't do any runs during that time. So yeah, I feel like I'm really just lacking the discipline to kind of like pull through right now. But I have an idea in order to fix that.
Actually, I didn't book my tickets so far, because I wasn't sure if my buddy was going to hold up, but now that I'm more confident, I think I'm just going to lock it in because then there is no way back. Sanlam Cape Town marathon. October 17th.
42. 2 kilometers. Enter.
Buy an entry. Marathon. .
. Sold out? No!
Are you kidding me? No way. The whole marathon is sold out.
No. . .
F*ck. That is so freaking unfortunate. Damn, I really.
. . don't know what I'm gonna do now.
I missed the deadline of the marathon by one day, and now all entries were closed. All the motivation that I built up over the last weeks was gone with the blink of an eye, as I had no more goal to work towards to. I decided to write an email to the racing committee with a request to still issue a marathon ticket for me.
Now all I could do was wait and keep training in the hopes of being able to participate. So I kept running and checked off more slots in my training plan, but in my fifth run of 30 kilometers, I injured my leg and had to stop after only 5 kilometers. My right leg is just starting to hurt.
. . a lot.
Just this lower part here, and the calves. I don't know why I'm feeling very weak today, and even like 5 kilometers, I'm struggling. This sucks, man.
It's all kind of crumbling down at the moment. I'm actually doubting myself right now if I'll be able to run 42 kilometers or if. .
. this goal was just way too huge for me. Also, update on the ticket situation.
I haven't heard back from them in 4 days now since I've sent out that email, so I guess right now I'm just training with a hurting leg for a marathon I don't have a ticket for. F*ck. This was the first run that I couldn't finish because of pain, and my motivation was drained.
Still, after one day of resting, I decided to give the 30k a second try. I properly warmed myself up, started the watch and began to run. The first few minutes, everything felt like it was going well, but at kilometer 3, things changed.
I'm only 3 kilometers in, and I can already feel my right calf is not good. After quickly checking my calf, I decided to keep going, but the more I ran, the stronger the pain became. My calf is just hurting so much.
It feels like somebody's just stabbing with a knife into it all the time when I run. Where is this coming from, hey? I think I'm going to try to keep going until I just can't anymore.
This is my last chance, hey. F*ck. I tried to get rid of the pain by massaging my leg, but after a few more minutes of running, I had to realize that this was not going to work.
F*ck! I think it would be absolutely stupid to just keep going, to see it get worse. It's just that I don't have any training in these last like one or two weeks.
I was forced to give up and walked back home, as there was simply no chance to keep running. So after doing some research on the Internet about the pain that I'm experiencing right now, I just found out that I most likely have a rupture in a muscle fiber, and they say that it can take 3 to 12 weeks in order to heal. But as you know, my marathon is in 2 weeks, so.
. . it freaking looks like.
. . I'm not going to run a marathon.
I was devastated. Were all of my efforts of the last 6 weeks for nothing? All the time spent preparing, all the hours spent running and all the painful stretching sessions in between, all the tears and sweats for nothing?
I had dedicated my whole life to this huge goal of mine, and now my dream of running a marathon vanished into air. My longest run so far was 28 kilometers, and because of my injury, I wasn't able to do a single run within the last two weeks of my training. I had given up all my hopes.
On my flight to Cape Town, I had very mixed feelings about arriving to South Africa. I was excited to finally move to another continent, but at the same time, I slowly realized that I had failed. I checked into my apartment, and after reflecting on what I had gone through, I simply couldn't end it like this.
It is one more week until the marathon takes place and I thought "I'm gonna give this one last chance". I'm gonna go for a 10k run and I'm gonna see if the pain is still there. I tried to recover for the last couple of days, and I hope that it was worth it.
Just wish me luck that the pain disappeared. So, I've now been running 8 kilometers, and my calves are feeling really good. No pain anymore, so that's great news.
I just decided that I'm gonna run it, f*ck it. I'm gonna run it and I'm gonna see how far I get. Let's do this!
I was back on track. Even though I only ran a short distance, I gained back a lot of confidence as there was no sign of my pain in my leg. Hey.
The first fans arrived. And as if the whole universe aligned, five days before the marathon, I heard back from the racing committee. Yo guys, you won't believe what email e-mail I just received.
Look at this. I just got my marathon ticket. I really didn't expect that anymore.
I can't freaking wait to run that marathon. So, everybody's just checking into the different starting blocks right now. It's just getting very real for me right now that I'm going to run for 42 kilometers.
I'm feeling good so far. I've been training for this moment for the last 2 months, and it's just like a lot of tension around here. All of the people are back here just like building up.
I love that mood. We're entering the starting block right now. F*ck.
This is happening. Have fun! Make wise choices.
And there I was, waiting for the countdown to start. 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Let's do this!
I love the energy. Guys, that's how you do it. Yes!
I'm just kind of trying to get into a zone, listening to some techno music for the like first 10 kilometers. Let's go! So, I'm now at 10 kilometers, so far it's feeling well.
There's a lot of energy here for sure. I can definitely slowly feel my muscles. The one with the flag, that's a pacemaker.
It's basically one guy trying to keep up the exact same pace so that the others know how fast they are. Yo, let's do it! Everything was going as planned so far, but obviously there was one thing that needed to happen.
And back we are, to the long runs in the rain. What the f*ck is this. It looks like my many long runs in the rain finally paid off, as I was used to running with wet feet.
I kept up the spirit and pushed through the rain. After one hour, the weather finally started to get better again, but I couldn't say the same for my energy. So I'm now at 21k, half time.
I can definitely feel that I'm getting weaker now. I'm getting a little lightheaded. I have to eat some sort of sugar.
. . in the next minute.
I decided to eat my POWERGEL, and within only a few minutes, I could already feel my energy coming back. That is the best thing I've ever eaten. This feels so good.
Definitely gives me a boost. So as you might remember, my brother ran a time of 3:41, so my goal for this marathon is not just to finish it, but actually to beat my brother. He deserves it.
He's always been talking about it for the last two years. That's just a brother thing, I have to beat him. The goal to beat my brother fueled my motivation even more and made me push harder with each kilometer.
I was amazed by how many people showed up to support the runners. Holy shit, so many people out here. There were literally hundreds of people cheering, playing drums or handing out high fives in order to help us get through this marathon.
Let's go, Niklas! Let's go, Niklas! Let's go, Niklas!
Let's go, Niklas! Let's go, Niklas! Let's go, Niklas!
Let's go, Niklas! Let's go, Niklas! Come on, keep going!
The energy of this whole event was something I've never experienced before. The fact that thousands of strangers were going through the same challenge right now made me believe that together we can do it. Hey, my man.
How's the music? - How is it going? - Totally fine.
Tunisians are strong. Perfect, good luck man. You too.
More than two hours into the marathon, I now approached the 30k mark, which was more than the maximum distance of my training. From now on, I was in uncharted territory. 32 kilometers, my body is f*cking killing me.
I can feel my legs everywhere, and I'm feeling a bit light-headed. I have to keep up the pace. I can't slow down.
This was when the hardest part started. If I wanted to beat my brother, I would need to keep up the same pace for the last 10 kilometers. I feel like I need more sugar.
I tried refueling my energy by eating sweets and drinking soft drinks, but I couldn't ignore the fact that my body was slowly shutting off. Oh my God, my legs are shutting down. Still 9 kilometers to go.
This is getting so f*cking hard right now. And it's uphill. For the last 5 kilometers, I've been struggling really hard.
I'm not quite sure if I can keep up the pace. It's like everything is just hurting. You got this.
From this point on, it was all up to my own willpower. After running for 39 kilometers, my lower body was covered in pain and I could barely feel my legs. My legs are hurting so bad.
I tried motivating myself over and over again to not give up and finish this run. The last kilometer, almost there. I can f*cking do it.
Come on, let's go! There it was, the moment I dedicated my life to for the last months. I finally made the decision to run a marathon and bought all the necessary equipment to get started.
I headed out day and night to run and improve my physical strength. I researched about my weaknesses and did anything needed to keep my muscles strong and my joints healthy. No matter what mood I was in, I sticked to the training plan and showed up for the runs.
Let's do it! Sore muscles, pouring rain, painful stretches. None of those things counted as an excuse.
You might ask yourself "why run? Why do this to yourself? Why push yourself until your muscles give up and you can't breathe?
". I used to ask the same questions back then, but during the marathon, I started to realize what this whole journey was about. When you're running, it's you against you.
No players, no competitors, no enemies. It's you against your own body and your mind. Foot after foot, breath after breath, you push yourself to go further, go faster.
You can feel your body sweating and your heart pumping. Mile after mile, you push yourself to not give up. Your muscles get weak, your feet start hurting, and your body is telling you to stop.
But you still keep going. Running is the essence of ambition. Always fighting, always pushing, always improving.
It's about embracing the discomfort and breaking your mental barriers. You realize that with dedication and hard work your body can do anything, and so can your mind. Would I've believed that I could run a marathon three years ago?
Would I've believed that I could make a living from creating these YouTube videos? Would I have believed that I'd be able to live on the other side of this planet? No, I wouldn't have.
Running taught me the most important lesson in life. It taught that we're aware of only a fraction of the things we're capable of, and that our limitations only exist in our minds. Let's go!
That's it. There's the finish line. Record-breaking her very first marathon.
She comes over to the land. From Kenya to South Africa. What a beautiful race.
What a beautiful race. The most beautiful beautiful ever. I loved it, man.
Holy shit. There it is, guys. There it is.
I f*cking did it. And according to my Apple Watch, I did a time of 3:34, which means that I f*cking beat my brother. Take that, Max!
Wow. Wow. This was freaking crazy, oh my God.
Let's call him. Hey Max. Look at that.
Guess what time I did? I already know it. Tell me, tell me.
A little bit less than mine. 3:34, boy. Honestly, well done, well done Niklas.
Thanks man. You know what that means. You have to run a marathon again.
- I don't know about that. - I know about it. I'm just so happy that I finished this marathon.
This just showed me once again that the limits are much higher than you think, and this is I think the main takeaway that I want to give to you guys, that if you have any sort of dream, then you can just realize it and you can do it, even if there are people doubting you. You just have to believe in yourself, you have to dedicate the time to do it, and then you can make it happen. That's it for today, guys.
I'm going to see you in the next one. Peace out, bye bye.
