NEDVĚD AT THE FINISH OF THE HERVIS PRAGUE HALF MARATHON

I’ll most likely come along to the Marathon as well, though there’s not much time left, said former football star Pavel Nedvěd from Juventus Prague/ The former footballer, Pavel Nedvěd managed to beat his time from
the year before last by more than four minutes. He ran in 1:43:44 which in real time translates into 1720 – to a place in the total rankings. And once again he came closer to accomplishing his marathon goal. Are we about to find out this coming May in Prague?

How did you find the run this time around?

It was great, the people along the course were fantastic. It was a little cold. It was a flying visit for me from Italy where it’s already nice and warm, so it was a change. Far less pleasant was the headwind which pushed against us all the way from Liben to the finish line. That took up quite a bit of energy.

You ran in your traditional group with friend Tomáš Pěček, former team mate from Sparta and the national team Tomáš Votava and adidas Czech Marketing Director, David Horák. Who did the most pulling?

We took it in turns to keep the pace so as to get through it. But we enjoyed it although the guys sped up a bit unnecessarily at the end; we overtook a load of runners. It was fun.

You kept a pace of around five minutes per kilometre. Had you planned it that way?

No, I think five kilometres is about right. Though there were people who took us down. But then at the end the speeding up made a difference. It’s enough to do it for two or three kilometres.
 
Did you experience any crisis point during the course?

No, there was nothing like that. Twenty one kilometres is about right. Now we’re considering as to whether we could handle the marathon. When all’s said and done, this one is merely half of that. And the second half would be pretty long for us, our joints are starting to hurt. It demands a greater level of strength too.

It’s around six weeks to the May Prague Marathon. Aren’t you cutting it a bit fine?

I think it can be done but since I have less and less time available, I don’t get to do proper training as much as I’d like or need to. Juve is doing well at the minute, I’m pleased. We’ll see… I’ll most probably come to the marathon, time is running out. I will be 40 soon. We have been talking about it for the past two years and I’m getting older. I’m going to turn forty at the end of August, am not getting any younger plus my energy levels are going to go down, making the whole thing more challenging.

You’ll need to at least try running thirty kilometres first, no?

I’ve already tried running thirty kilometres, but I properly flaked during it. I have to admit I find all that a bit daunting. As one of the club manager, your job must be pretty sedentary, isn’t it? I try for to make to avoid sitting around too much. I take off from the office to the pitch quite a bit. It suits me and our trainer to do it like this. I am a kind of intermediary between management and the side (players).

Do you feel a constant twitch in your legs to get back out on the pitch whenever you watch a game?

No, not really, I’m a realist; I know I couldn’t do it anymore. And on top of that the guys play well.

Last autumn you treated yourself to some red wine prior to the Prague ten kilometre race. Did you do the same before the half-marathon, or did you adopt a better regime?
 
It was a little bit better because the course is longer. But we didn’t stick to anything one hundred percent. We’re no longer professionals so we don’t have to.

 
Tomáš Nohejl