Immediately after the Berlin Marathon, I was eager to go out and race again. I guess that's how it is for most runners. So, I registered for the Prague Superhalf 2025. I had heard great things about this course and the country and I was super excited.
My Prague Training
I dived back into training with 6 months in hand and boy it was going really well. I even did a 3K time trial at 3:45 min/km back in January. I was feeling fast and strong!
(You can check out the video I posted on my YouTube channel on this link: 3K Time Trial Video.)
But right after that, in February 2025, I picked up a niggle which was too sticky. It forced me to tone down my workouts a lot. During the entire of March, I barely did any speed workout and restricted my runs to easy pace or a comfortable 5min/km pace. Anything beyond that was causing my injury to flare up.
So, with that background, I entered the race in Prague. I had resigned to the fact that life doesn't always go the way you want it to. I really wanted to do a fast half marathon there, but due to the injury I had settled for a slower paced run there, and decided to just focus on having fun.
The Prague Superhalf Experience
When I reached Prague, the weather was lovely for running. About 10-12 degrees celsius probably: maybe a little colder in the morning or night. I was beginning to feel the tingling sensation of race day excitement again.
I kept telling myself that I would reign my excitement in and run a slow and pain-free race. But the excitement kept building as I saw other runners collecting their bibs, doing shakeout runs, and also the next day at breakfast where everyone, literally everyone at the hotel was wearing a bib or sitting with someone wearing a bib.
It feels so nice to see so many running folks in such races. And usually runners are quite nice to each other (unlike cyclists, lol).
So, I went to the race start line with some mixed ambitions. One part of me was telling me to calm down, run a nice trotting pace and wave at people and smile and finish.
The other parts of me were shouting, "This is it! Let's goooooo!"
The Race Course Experience
And soon enough, as the race started, I found myself running at an apparently comfortable pace, hovering around 4:15-4:30 min/km. I was worried I was going to ruin the race again with the hip pain reappearing midway.
But fortunately enough, the rest and slow runs in March had actually helped my injury to heal a bit. There was no pain, just a but of stiffness at the hips and glutes. So, I ran at that comfortable 4:15-:4:20 pace for most of the race.
The views along the first 10km were of the river bank as the course follows the Vltava river in that part. Then later on, it enters the old town and takes you through various monuments and tourist landmarks.
Visually, I would say the course is rich in that part of the race, but it also brings in the cobblestones, which don't make a good surface for running (especially in the carbon plated shoes).
But if you stick to the middle path in some of the cobblestone streets you'd fare better coz the middle path is a bit flat, compared to the sides which are tilted.
There are some steep parts in a few km. For instance, KM 1 and KM 4 have 11m and 8m elevation respectively. But it's mostly near the start line and also near the bridges. After that it's mostly flat or downhill.
Only towards the end at around KM 20, the climb is around 7m. It broke me a bit, but then again after that 21st km is -7m downhill, so you can sprint it back towards the finish line.
I ended up doing a 1:28:53 for the half marathon. It was again a PR for me (my previous one being 1:33 in Lisbon Half Marathon). I was surprised how my fitness held despite the injury. I guess the weather, the beauty of the course, the flatness of it and also the crowd support was perfect for me: a perfect recipe for a Personal Best in a half marathon!
I also made a first person view virtual treadmill run video for the full race course, which you can access here:
Prague Half Full Race Virtual Treadmill Run. It's good for practicing the race on a treadmill and also to see which roads you'd follow.
Race Information
Bib Collection/Expo Center: Holesovice Market. It is close to the old town but on the other side of the Vltava River.
Race Finish Line: Same as start line. The race goes around the town and comes back to the same place (from behind).
Where to Stay and transport: Anywhere near the Old Town would be convenient. But if you are not averse to around 3-4 km walking before the race then you can as well stay elsewhere and use the trains. The railway station (
Google Map Location) is about 3km from the start line and the bus station in Florenc is even closer at around 2km from the start line.(
Google Map Location). You can use the tram lines as well (if they are working on that day. I didn't do that research coz we mostly walk anyway).
Where to carbo load/eat: During our stay there, we went to a nice Georgian restaurant named "
The Apricot". The people were nice there and the food was superb. I carboloaded on a whole Khachapuri and some Kinkhali. Post race, we went to an Italian restaurant named
Papaiolo. It wasn't so bad.
Sighteeing/Runcation notes:
Prague itself is lovely, with the old town offering a large screen view of the entire medieval history via the grand castles and museums. The race happens close to easter, so you can make it a point to see the easter market. Although the prices you'd meet would be more touristy. But it was still fun to walk around, trying all the food and wine.
Places we saw:
1. Astronomical clock
2. Church of Lady Tin
3. Narodni Street
4. Powder Tower
5. Charles Gate
6. Prague Castle
7. Letna Park
8. Franz Kafka museum
9. Cesky Krumlov
10. Karsltejn Castle
11. The America, Little America and Mexico stock quarries.
What we skipped:
1. Pilsen
2. Brno
3. Bohemian Switzerland
Of all these places we visited or considered visiting during our Czechia trip, I think Cesky Krumlov was the best experience. Usually people go there for a day trip but for the best experience, it would be advisable to stay there at least a night. We even thought later that we could have stayed for more. The place feels like it has come out directly from a fairy tale.
Overall, this race was a complete package for us. We love going to races and then using the same trip to do some sightseeing. Usually, in the past, we flew to Europe and then jumped to other countries. But for Czech, we had enough things to interest us to stay back here and explore. Overall, so so happy with this race and the country.
For my race day vlog on YouTube, you can follow
the link here if you are interested.
Affiliate Links:
I am sharing a link to some stuff I use below. The links are affiliate links on Amazon US and Amazon India. Any purchase done by using these links will help me sustain this channel with a small commission.
1. Camera used: DJI Pocket 2 - a very handy, extremely lightweight, super stable camera that I use for recording the virtual treadmill runs and walks.
-- Amazon USA Click here
-- Amazon India Click here
2. Shoes used for the race: Asics Metaspeed Sky Paris
-- Amazon USA Click here
-- Amazon India not available
3. Gels used
-- Maurten Gels during the race Click here
-- Leap and other Gels from India Click here
I have reviewed the Leap and other Energy gels in India on my Youtube channel before. One of the links is here: Leap and Muscle Blaze Unived, Fast n UP and others
4. Protein Supplements I have come to trust a lot!
-- Cosmix Plant protein Click here
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