42 km of Pain

Good Salty Morning! 🌊

The Malta Marathon is behind us. Maybe you already know.

Maybe you saw the highlights. But what about the lowlights?

And what now?

Read on 👇🏻

1. Beautiful island

I reach Malta a few days in advance. Mainly, to get used to the climate.

Though not super hot, I never ran under the mediterranean sun before.

To be honest - in the last weeks - I didn’t run much at all.

Nagging injuries caused me to sit out.

But 3 days before the race, I wanted to get the feet going at least once more.

2. Running for what again? 🤔

Just a marathon wasn’t enough. Many people run marathons …

So why should anyone care about mine?

Thinking of this, we came up with idea of running for the yachts.

To honor the ambitious boat crew who give it their all - day in and day out.

The story went like this:

‘A crew member wakes up 1 morning, and gets an urgent call to work. Dedicated as he is, he makes a run for his job. No matter the obstacle.’

Of course, I get to star as the crew member - welcome to the startup life.

The plan: While trying to get to work, I would casually run a marathon.

Arriving there, I would switch my shoes - from dock to deck mode 🧼

3. No yacht, no chance

1 issue. We were short of a superyacht willing to shoot that.

Not only that: We had a specific spot in mind 📸

In our dreams, the superyacht sat right behind the Marathon’s finish line.

Anyone seen the Napoleon movie? Remember the fortress scene?

Lucky for us, we reached out to the Marathon Management.

Keep in mind: Malta is 27km long and 15km wide.

Everyone knows everyone 🙋🏻‍♂️

That’s how we got in touch with 35m Azimut Pantera.

2 hours of ‘a quick shoot’ turned into 2 days on board.

4. Half a million cars 🚗

Now, we were preparred.

Cameras, Drones. And people knowing what to do with them.

Only the marathon, we couldn’t prepare for …

On an island with +500.000 cars, traffic jam was a safe bet.

So our plan was to take a rental car and film me whenever possible.

5. Final shot

Waking up at 4:45 AM. Quite a chilly morning.

30 minutes later, we look at the first runners warming up.

At 6:30 AM, the pack makes it across the start. We shoot our last scene.

As the organisers start tearing down the constructions, we wrap up 👀

At 6:35 AM - 3 minutes after the last runner - I begin my first marathon.

6. The race? 🏃🏼

• 1-15 KM: Race begins. I start last, but feel great. Good rythm. Good views. I slowly overtake 250 runners.
  
  

• 16-25 KM: First signs of fatigue. Climbing 360 meters in height doesn’t help. I complete my half marathon at 1:59 h. 5:40 m/km.
  
  

• 26-30 KM : I walk for the first time. Only ever did that once in training. I lose track of time. First runners I passed overtake again. 7:00 m/km.
  
  

• 31-35 KM: I walk as much as I run. I can’t say why. My breathing is okay. But I got nothing left. Walking hurts. Even more then running did.
  
  

• 36-40 KM: I lose my sense of direction. Don’t know if I’m at 20 or 40 km. Every muscle hurts. I run (walk) my longest kilometer up a hill. 14:07 m.
  
  

• 41-42 KM: I need to stop, and sit down. Once at 41. Then again at 42. The last 12km have taken me 2.5 h. I swear I never run again.
  
  

• 42.195 KM: Can‘t be seen walking across the finish line. I run the final 200 meters. I break down right after. The next 2 h I shiver and throw up.

7. Sounds dramatic?

It was. Many things didn’t go as planned.

But the 1 thing that didn’t fail me → Modifox 🚀

During the run my shoes felt heavier and heavier.

That was expected.

But no matter how awkward I moved, the soles never came off.

Want to see for yourself? here’s our Run for the Yachts.

8. WHAT NOW?

While we battled the last 10 km, our suppliers worked tirelessly.

Last Friday, the first 350 pairs arrived at our German ‘warehouse’ 😉 

3 years in the making, they are finally shipped to their new owners!

For me, this is a dream coming true.

But also, a moment of truth.

• How will they hold up?

• How useful will they be?

Questions, I cannot wait to see answered.

If you ordered a pair, please drown me in feedback! 🙏🏻

Good and bad. It’s all welcome.

Until then.

Stay blissful,
Devin

PS: I just arrived in France again. Even though, we’re young as a company, it’s never too early to give back. That’s why we support the Blue Ducks Foundation on their mission to combat mental health struggles and abuse on open water.
We put together a 1/1 package worth 5.000€. I personally think it’s really cool.
Anyone can take part in the silent auction to win it! You can check it out here.