Participants in the Moscow Marathon, which took place in the capital on September 24, veteran of TO-6 Andrei Zemtsov and tunneler from SMU-8 Stepan Sadovikov spoke about their passion for sports to the correspondent of the Metrostroyevets newspaper.
For the only international class master of sports at Mosmetrostroy, the Moscow record holder in daily running (one of the types of ultramarathons in which each participant tries to run as far as possible within 24 hours - editor's note) Andrey Zemtsov, 42 kilometers or so is not the most suitable distance.
“I’m used to running a hundred kilometers or more,” shares Andrey. – In this race my result is 3 hours 11 minutes 15 seconds. I came 425th in the overall standings. I overtook seven thousand rivals, but still expected a different result. Closer to the finish line, an old injury suddenly made itself felt, so I had to slow down.
The second marathon participant from Mosmetrostroy, Stepan Sadovikov, regularly runs tens of kilometers along the paths of the Botanical Garden, next to which he lives.
“During my army years, I was fond of kettlebell lifting, reached the level of the first category, and then I got tired of the hardware and I switched to running, and to a stayer’s style,” says Sadovinov. – I’m currently a third-year student at the Mining University, running helps me combine serious work with study.
Before the start of the new school year, Stepan gave himself a sports exam - he decided to check in the usual Botanical Garden whether he could meet the time standard established for participants in the Moscow Marathon. And he did it, covering the classic distance in less than 6 hours. And on the official route on September 24, he improved his initial result by more than 50 minutes, finishing 4 hours 27 minutes after the start.
“The hardest part began after the 25th kilometer,” he recalls. – I no longer looked at where the route led. Concentrated on running. Around the 35th kilometer, my legs seemed to turn to stone. The thought flashed, what am I doing here? But when the Luzhniki Stadium appeared ahead, I realized that I had managed it, that I had succeeded. And my wife Nadezhda, who was patiently waiting for the finish, immediately saw my blue lips. And, indeed, I even felt some kind of cold.
Marathon organizers are, of course, familiar with such phenomena. Each person who completed the run was given a special thermal cape. Both of our athletes, along with everyone else, also received commemorative medals and bags of fruit.
Stepan Sadovikov said that he uses the advice of his senior colleague Andrei Zemtsov and intends to follow his example and try his hand at an ultramarathon.