Are you a runner?

I didn't mention that when it happened but it might be worth to post ;-)
Around three weeks ago I had to go with my son to a pedagogue, our child doctor said he should go for a knowledge test to see how "far" he is (by the way he is 5 1/2 years). So, we stepped in, I had a pretty long talk with her about his behaviour (socially and educationally), then she made a pretty hard and long test of nearly one hour, the results were fine and everything was good as I just wanted to stand up and leave with him. Suddenly she asked me "Excuse me, are you a runner?", I was pretty surprised, thought intensively why she asked it, I thought, maybe she recognized my well muscular legs, my thin arms, or most probably my emaciated face, or maybe she saw me in race where I ran so spectacular ;-) I replied "Yes, I am a sort of a runner, how come you are asking?"... "I saw your watch, it's a runner's watch, isn't it?!" --- My watch, I see, and actually, I have just a pretty cheap Casio with basic functions (no heart rate monitor or so), nothing special. I just use it for running... Off course, she was also a runner!
In the end, it seems that I am runner, you are runner, and both we know it (sometimes w/o words)!

Saalburg run

Today I just extended "slightly" my lunch time. Usually it's no longer than 50 minutes, today I took off for 2 more hours. Actually it's no problem as we have so-called "Jahresarbeitszeit", i.e. the total working hours of the year should not be lower than what's written down in the contract, so I was happy that I had some motivation to go for the LLSD (Lunch Long Slow Distance run ;-)). I took the route which brings me in the mid of the Taunus to the Saalburg and back, i.e. approx. 28k with gaining/loosing approx. 500m on height. Finally I was running uphill much faster than running downhill, that's cool, isn't it?
See also here.

Stats:
Distance: 28k
Time: 2:17:30 (1:07:00 / 1:10:30)

Let's get started again

I had a pretty good run today in the morning. Just started at 9 AM and headed out of the village, first 20min is just along the Autobahn, I like that not feeling alone ;-) Afterwards I headed uphill to the forest, and about 1:20h later I accepted a higher pace and really ran to my home. I felt really good during that run, I didn't have that good feeling for more than 2 weeks, it was the first time since then that it wasn't such hot and humid. I am really NOT a heat runner, I read in a sports magazine that for hot weather your body has to work a certain percentage more compared to when it's cool, I don't remember that percentage but I think it was around 10-20%. Actually, personnally I feel that I loose about 80% of my power and energy when it's hot... Is that just a mental thing? ;-)

Stats:
Distance: 17k
Time: 1:25:30

3*5k relay Night Run in Frankfurt

We did it! One runner and 2 soccer player were the fastest Duracell bunnies in the Night Run today... My colleagues from work Andi and Stephan joined our relay team. More than 20 teams started for our company, in total more than 400 relay teams participated in the run. It was really fun (with some little ambition). The weather was pretty nice compared to the past days: No rain and a bit sunny. The race started nearly the Römer in Frankfurt and was just an oval round crossing the river Main two times.
In the end we had a really good time, lots of runners, big crowd, nice weather and successful run...

Stats:
3*5k in 0:58:51 with 0:17:20 (Oliver), 0:20:28 (Stephan), and 0:21:03 (Andi)



The Duracell "winners" ;-) from left: Stephan, Andi, and myself

End of Rest

Today is the fourth day w/o running. That's the first time that I didn't run for such longtime (except when I was ill winter). Actually it started on Saturday, I was badly motivated for the race and couldn't motivate myself to give 100%, on Sunday running with my club mates was a run w/o fun (just from a pain perspective ;-)). So I decided on Modnay morning to take some days off from running and think about my next mid-term and long-term goals. At least I didn't run but I am still not clear about my goals ;-( Anyway, today in the evening I will participate in a 3*5km relay race. It's a pre-race of the German Ironman which is held in Frankfurt on Sunday. As the Ironman is sponsored by Duracell (which is a daughter company of Gillette which is also the mother company of Braun = my company, puh) all employees are invited to participate, off course race fee is paid and everyone gets a free Durcall race shirt, yippieh...

--> Night Run

Something completely different ;-)

The Toaster is a large picture, 5 meter wide and 4.5 meter high, totally made from slices of bread toasted in different lengths of time to reach the nuances between black and white, ochre and rust. It took several days of work and several friends and their toasters to prepare the 2.500 pieces of toast necessary to build the gigantic mosaic, which reproduce a photograph of a toaster.

After-race run

We (Silke, Udo, Frank, Michael, Axel, Charlotte) were all a bit tired from the race yesterday, so, just a quick one.

Stats:
Distance: approx. 13k
Time: 1:10

Race Day for All ;-)

Sabine and Amelie joined the race for cheering and Luca-Henri and me intended to run, yeah, not only to run but to run pretty FAST ;-) Actually, I like that race in Eberstadt, it's a small one (less than 200 runners for 800m, 1200m, 5k, and 10k), well organized, and it's in the neighbourhood. What I really don't like is the 10k course, 4 1/2 round thorugh the city, and lots of edges and up and down. It doesn't matter how fast or slow you are starting, believe in me, at least the last round with its 2.2k are really bad for everybody ;-( Anyway, I don't talk about the 10k, the 800m were just more interesting:

Luca-Henri (344) just waiting in a pack of 9 for the start:


Let's go!!!!!!!!!!!


Sabine "helped" him to cross the finish line:


Stats:
Distance: 0.8k
Time: 4:27

Besides, my result:
Distance: 10k
Time: 0:36:49
Ranking: 7/111

Morning Run

Stats:
Distance: 10k
Time: 0:51