On 15th February 2026 I took part in the Seville Marathon for the 3rd time. This was my 3rd Marathon of 2026, my 181st Marathon (plus) and my 134th time as an official pacer (including 71 marathons). I always enjoy Seville Marathon, but I cannot keep doing more marathons plus the same ones again. In Seville Marathon 2024 and Seville Marathon 2025 my family joined me. It is a pleasure to be with family, but they wanted to try something new, so next weekend (the other side of the kids school holiday, we have a new adventure. This meant I came to Seville alone.
My experience when I come alone is very different. I took a late flight on Friday, arriving at my hotel at 01:30 on Saturday morning. My day was much less adventurous and ended with room service. I was back on the plane home by 17:00 on the Sunday.
For me the Seville Marathon was a little stressful this year. Despite being told I am part of the team a year ago, I did not register until a week before the event. I was asked to collect my kit from one venue, which was the first part of my day on Saturday, but when I arrived I was told that it wasn’t there and should ask at the expo. At the expo I had to go to solutions because my registration code was not working and after getting that sorted, I went to get kit, and it took a while to find anyone who could help. I am used to things being much more straight forward, but I got it sorted and made my way to the hotel via the centre for food.
No pictures for food, because my phone died on the way, so I had to guess what I was eating. Although Sangria was easy to order. I went past a number of restaurants before I could get a seat. Most tables had a reserved sign on them, and honestly I don’t think they wanted to fill tables with 1 person. Ironically considering a lot of the tables had people drinking water and small meal, clearly they have not seen me eat and drink.
I made my way to the hotel and laid out my kit for a #flatlay. I did not have the energy to go back out, so ordered pasta in the room service and watched a couple of films. It was nice to just relax.
Race morning was equally as stressful. I got up early to get myself to the start, do bag drop and get my balloon. The staff would not let me through the barriers and were not interested when I pointed out the balloon and explained and showed pictures. I had to find a different way around to speak to another member of staff who was more reasonable. Once I had my balloon I asked the organiser where to go, and they sent me in the wrong area.
Finally I found my own way to my #funbus. I had a huge group waiting for me, and once I was in place more came along. Fortunately, after all the unnecessary stresses leading up to this point, the marathon was pretty perfect. It was cold in the morning and cool in the shade. It did get warm, but not too much to be an issue. There was plenty of water, a number of stations in bottles. There could be improvements, ad some of the water stations didn’t have cups filled quick enough, and a lot of the water bottles was on the first half, but would be needed more in the second half. The strategy here seemed a little flawed.
Throughout the marathon I had a good dozen runners who were running around me. We chatted, I tried to keep them motivated and engaged, and honestly I think I had many runners run ahead towards the end to achieve their time and very few fall behind. We had first time marathon runners, and many getting a PB and sub 4 for the first time.
There was only 1 other sub 4 pacer with me. He started about 10 seconds behind me, which started well to have a big group between us. I was asked about the balloon and explained that usually it is not bad, but these are too big and filled with helium so most years many lose them, 10 seconds later mine flew away.
At about 10k I caught up with the other pacer and overtook them. They remained close behind me for 5k, but then slowly disappeared in the distance. After 25k I didn’t see them again, so I hope they are ok.
One of the things I say to my group is they need to commit to the sub 4, and if they are in my starting picture I want them in my finishers picture. When I finished i had 3 very excited runners, all achieving huge PB, waiting for me.
My unofficial time is 3:59:47. The pacing was perfect to be honest. I gradually made up 2 seconds per km each km to half way, and then held a 30 second cushion. After 30km I slowly move my pace so I would gradually lose a second per km. At 35km I encouraged those who were eager to go ahead to leave me. It is really hard at this time, as I want to run with them, but their pace becomes greater than what is needed, and with a good pacing strategy they have the energy to execute. So I eased back to 9:10 min miles, which is perfect pace, but on a marathon course it starts to reduce the time.
This strategy means those pushing on are able to achieve great PB, and I was surprised to hear a couple achieved a 3:56, they must have really kicked at the end. It also means I am able to support more runners who are struggling behind.
After the race they gave out the medal, which was not the official medal. I am not sure exactly what happened, but the announced medal looked fantastic, and I was given a cheap replica. It’s not the worst medal, but certainly not the one I’ve been seeing on social media. I have seen that they posted the night before that the medals did not arrive in time so they got a replacement. I don’t understand how they had time to design, order and manufacture a new medal, rather than just getting the ones that had already been produced.
They gave out cans of coke at the end, which is amazing, and a draft beer. I was tempted to remain, but of course I had to get my flight. So I sat for 20 minutes to enjoy my drink then took a walk to my hotel. Then a 20 minute taxi to the airport where I enjoyed a nice burger, beer and Sangria. It is funny, I had the Boston burger and had a little thought about how many people would have qualified for the Boston Marathon at Seville.
Overall, a fantastic marathon. Clearly a PB course and is full of very fast runners. Lovely place to visit, but I missed my family. Again, would love to run Seville Marathon again, but will seriously look to see about alternatives. I want to run new races, and I want to travel the world with my family.
pickupthepacepaul 