Ljubljana Marathon 2026: from "who would run a marathon?" to the finish line

01How it all started

At the beginning of 2025, after running a few 10K races, I decided to sign up for my first half marathon. My preparation was anything but serious, and at one point I thought: "Who on earth would run a marathon? That's just boring."

As someone who has done sport my whole life, I'm used to pushing my limits. So I went and ran that first half marathon. I believe every recreational runner has thought at least once after a race: "Why did I ever need this in my life?" Well, that's how I felt after every race, this one included.

And yet, just an hour after finishing the half marathon, once I had come round a bit, a thought surfaced from somewhere deep in my subconscious: "Okay, that's done. I could do a marathon now."

The idea sounded pretty crazy, given that I had never run seriously and didn't really know what a runner's training was supposed to look like. Still, I went on to run two more half marathons, and the urge to do a marathon kept growing.

After this year's Banja Luka Half Marathon, I made up my mind to sign up for a marathon. I immediately wanted it to be Ljubljana. It's not that far from home if something goes wrong. 😄

The people around me mostly reacted positively, with excitement and congratulations. My parents, as expected, worried the most, but I think that's completely understandable.

02Training: discipline before motivation

I prepared on my own, without a mentor or a coach. I read, researched and "borrowed" knowledge and workouts from more serious runners.

A big inspiration for me is my aunt, who is in her sixties, still runs marathons and has completed all the majors, along with plenty of other big races. Right at the start of my training she told me: "A marathon is a serious thing, and you need to prepare for it wisely." And she was absolutely right.

What followed were two months of intense training: a mix of strength work, intervals, hills, long runs and easy running. It all sounds nice when you list it, but in practice it was pretty demanding.

Getting up early before work, training, workdays that sometimes dragged on, everyday obligations, and my dog, who has its own rituals and is used to at least three kilometres of walking a day. On weekends, those walks sometimes stretched to ten kilometres.

All in all, it was a very intense period. I'd say that 95% of the time you have no motivation to train, but discipline doesn't ask about motivation. You know there's a session on the plan that day, and that's that. Not much negotiating with yourself.

03The injury: the unplanned part of training

And then, two and a half months before the marathon, I injured my tibial tendon.

How did it happen? A combination of inexperience and not giving my body enough rest.

For the first few days I didn't take the injury seriously. I kept planning my training as if everything were fine, but every attempt to run ended after a few kilometres because of severe pain.

I "dug through" the internet trying to find as much information as I could about the injury.

After about ten days of experimenting with tendon exercises and attempts to run, I realised the injury wasn't going to sort itself out and that I needed professional help.

I contacted Dr Jakovljević and the Orthosport clinic. I'm truly grateful that our city has a doctor and a clinic like that!

I started therapy, but getting back to training and recovering in time for the race seemed completely unrealistic back then. I cut running down to a minimum. Sometimes I'd go out and run just one or two kilometres, which was my maximum at the time. For someone preparing for a marathon, that isn't exactly encouraging.

I kept up my strength work, with the occasional swim or bike ride, anything that didn't load the tendon and that let me hold on to at least some of the base I had built up.

During that period it felt like I wouldn't be ready for a pain-free half marathon by October, let alone a marathon. But of course, it never crossed my mind to drop to a shorter distance, let alone pull out of the race.

Luckily, the therapy worked, and week by week I started increasing my mileage. I watched closely how the tendon responded and stopped training at the slightest pain.

Alongside physiotherapy, I iced the tendon, rubbed comfrey gel into it several times a day, did strengthening exercises and rolled a ball under my foot. I didn't even take painkillers, because I wanted to know at every moment how much it really hurt.

I didn't want medication to fool me into thinking the pain was gone and send me out running before the tendon was ready. Naturally, I also tried to practise patience, as far as my head allowed, because I was dreaming about running day and night.

At the start of my training, my only goal was to finish the marathon comfortably and without injury. I had no idea that an injury would become the biggest challenge of the whole build-up. I had a plan in my head and believed four months would be more than enough to prepare.

Instead, those four months turned into two and a half months of real training and a month and a half of struggling just to get through a session without pain.

What weighed on me most mentally was that my longest run before the injury had been 24 kilometres. After recovering, I had very little time left for longer runs, and on top of that, I was afraid of tendon pain every time I set out on one.

Doubts came up regularly during training. There were days when I genuinely wondered whether I could do it. What kept me on track was the desire to see it through properly (and I had told far too many people I was going to run it, haha), along with the support of friends and the runners I trained with.

04The week before the race

Like the training itself, the week before the race was pretty tense. All sorts of aches started showing up that I hadn't had during training. I believe some of it was in my head.

I cut running down to a minimum. That week I ran only a few kilometres and decided to rest. I ate well, stayed hydrated and tried to get my body as ready as possible for the effort ahead.

I came to Ljubljana with my crew (my husband, our wedding godparents and a friend), so I didn't have much time or space to overthink how everything would go.

For a change, I actually managed to sleep and rest before this race. That morning I was ready and couldn't wait for the race to start.

Since I was in group D, my corral slowly moved towards the start from the moment the race began. It took about twenty minutes, but it felt like an eternity. It was cold standing there, and when you're already there, kitted out and ready, all you want is to finally start running.

05Ljubljana: 42 kilometres you don't forget

The organisation of the race in Ljubljana was really excellent. Everything was clearly laid out, there were plenty of stations with water, isotonic drinks, gels and chocolate bars, and lots of marshals and medical staff.

And the crowd: perfect! There wasn't a moment when you couldn't hear support from the sidelines. Musicians, dancers, music, cheering props… Honestly, everything was top-notch!

I warmly recommend Ljubljana to everyone, especially those running their first marathon. The course is fairly flat and very beautiful.

The first ten kilometres flew by. Honestly, I don't even remember running them. It was crowded, but there was enough room not to bump into other runners.

The second quarter would probably have flown by too if I hadn't had to go looking for a portable toilet. There clearly weren't enough for the number of runners. I only managed to get to a toilet at the 21st kilometre, and in a café at that. Great! All this for someone on the second day of her period. Yes, that had to happen to me too!

But interestingly, not once did I think I wouldn't finish the race.

After the halfway point, when we split off from the half marathoners, a slightly different part of the race began. There were far fewer runners, and so fewer spectators, but still more than enough for the atmosphere to keep its charm.

Somehow I managed to switch off completely and let my legs do their thing. I switched off so much that I ignored my own people who had come to cheer for me, twice. I literally didn't register them.

The course really is beautiful. One part runs through a forest, another through quieter parts of the city. Now and then you get the chance to step out of the crowd and just give yourself over to running.

And then comes the part everyone talks about, around the 35th kilometre. At times I felt tingling in my body, but I managed to convince myself it was the same feeling that comes over me in the last kilometres of shorter runs, whether five, ten or fifteen kilometres.

Funnily enough, at that moment one of my main wishes was for a photographer to catch me in a dance leap. I want a photo like that from every race. I did manage to find a photographer, but leaping at the 40th kilometre of a marathon is no easy task.

And so, while trying to find something to think about other than the pain in my legs, I got through the last part of the race.

During training I had imagined that crossing the finish line would be much more emotional, maybe even a special moment I would remember for a long time. It wasn't quite like that. There was no movie moment, but I felt enormous fulfilment, happiness and gratitude that I had run it without pain and that, despite everything, I had truly enjoyed every kilometre.

In the end it turned out that this was exactly my goal for my first marathon: to finish it without pressure and enjoy the race.

And for the first time after a race, I didn't think: "Why did I ever need this in my life?"

06What I learned from this experience

Walking was hard after the marathon, but within two days the pain was almost completely gone. And the feeling of having an achievement like that behind me mattered far more than a few days of sore muscles.

The main thing I learned from this whole process is patience. And that it isn't always about how fast you progress, but about knowing when to slow down.

My relationship with running hasn't changed much since Ljubljana. I'm still a beginner runner, but years of competing in dance and gymnastics left me with a competitive spirit. So now I already want new races, mainly so I can improve my time.

After a short break and some rest after the marathon, I went back to training on the same plan I had before the race. I think proper training and consistency are what gave me the physical and mental strength I had during the marathon.

07My advice to anyone who wants to run a marathon

First of all, be patient and give yourself enough time to prepare. How long you need is individual, and nobody else should decide that for you.

If you haven't done sport before, or at least haven't trained seriously, I'd advise finding a mentor or a coach. A marathon isn't just any race. It isn't even a half marathon. And there's no point risking an injury or something worse just because marathons have become a trend.

Also, don't expect motivation to be there every day. It won't be. Especially when, besides training, you have a job, a family and all the other obligations that make up a normal life. But with good organisation and discipline, it's possible to find time for yourself without anything else suffering.

And one more thing I learned the hard way: if you feel a problem or pain that won't go away, don't try to "run it off". Once your muscles warm up, the pain may ease, but that doesn't mean the problem is gone. Get professional medical help in time. Unfortunately, at first I pretended it was nothing, and in the end I lost valuable training time.

Don't panic if an injury does happen, even though that's exactly what I did. Sometimes you have to miss a race, and sometimes, with timely help and a smart recovery, you don't.

08What's next?

Of course, I want to run more marathons. I already have some planned, along with half marathons where I want to improve my results.

I think Ljubljana simply confirmed that I want to keep running and see how far I can push my limits. Now, though, I have one small advantage: I know what those 42.195 kilometres look like and what's waiting for me.

And what started with the thought "who on earth would run a marathon, that's just boring" ended with me already thinking about the next one.

The end · 42.195 km