Kilometre 35
by AnnaLiisa · 18 June 2026 · Biography & Memoir
First marathon at 44. At kilometre 35 Anna-Liisa thinks only of her sofa. And who decided on 42 kilometres — at km 38 this seems insufficient justification. She finishes in 4:12, sits next to a stranger on the kerb. Signs up again in November.
I ran my first marathon at forty-four. I had trained properly, I had the right shoes, I had eaten correctly the night before. By kilometre thirty-five I had stopped thinking about any of that and was thinking about a very specific image: my sofa. Just my sofa. Not what was on it. The sofa itself. Grey, slightly too soft on the left cushion. I thought about it for probably four kilometres.
Somewhere between thirty-five and forty I also thought: who decided this was forty-two kilometres. That seems like a specific number for no reason. I know the history of it. I know about Pheidippides. At kilometre thirty-eight this seemed like insufficient justification.
I finished in four hours and twelve minutes, which is not a good time. The woman who crossed the line next to me immediately sat down on the kerb and said something in a language I didn't recognise. I sat next to her. We didn't talk. That was fine.
I signed up for the next one in November.
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