No pain no gain

Finally I did it again ;-) On Saturday it seemed that we cannot run but have to swim because it was steady, heavy rain but on Sunday morning it was ideal race weather: A bit cool and cloudy but no sun and no run. I appreciated it! Off course. Race was as hard as expected.
Start time was 9.30 am, nearly 9.000 people waited to give their best. Everybody had to decide which distance he/she should manage: 1/2 marathon, 2/3 marathon, or the full marathon. I planned to take the full portion ;-) Actually, the race course is pretty flat (sometimes a bit "wavy") except for km 22 and km 28 when we have to cross the big river Rhine. Most of the course we could enjoy the support of a lot of people only some areas were "deserted". I felt pretty well for the first 30km, could always manage a 4:10/km (6:42/mile). To my surprise I managed the bridge without greater "damage" ;-) Last year, crossing the bridge was the end of an enjoying run. This time I was lucky. Only the last four kilometers I had to fight with quite heavy stitches in my side. That was no fun but just for 20 minutes or so, eventually to late for walking, haha...
In the end I clocked with a 2:56:53 (officially, net time 2:56:45), PB (since longtime!) and ranked 66 (out of around 2.700 finishers).

Find a race report (in German), the results and the official site.