18th Pentecost Run in Krofdorf-Gleiberg

New race, new luck ;-) Actually the weekend was pretty exhausting as my wife and I drove to a wedding on Saturday morning and just returned back yesterday afternoon. Nevertheless, the traditional run on Pentecost must be attended for three reasons:
1. It's a local race just 20min by car
2. It's a race of the Rono Cup
3. MOST IMPORTANT: It's the fastest course in our area here

So, don't think about the heavy rain just think about race tactics. Which is quite easy for a 10k race: "Just go out there and RUN" ;-) The course itself has a turning point at km 5 with same way to and back. The first 5k have a moderate rise and, eventually, the last 5k have a moderate descent which seems to be perfect for running (as a lot of runners have set their PB here).

The Race started at 9:30 AM and was accompanied by slight but steady rain. After the first km the lead pack was nearly already away, strong runners participated (10 runners finished with a time less than 34min!), I clocked with a 3:15, much too fast, off course but beeing aggressive sometimes pays off. My further splits were 3:39, 3:41, 3:50, 3:46, i.e. 18:12 for the first 5k resulting in a 29sec improvement compared to last year, further on the splits were as follows: 3:14, 3:20, 3:24, 3:26, and a final 3:25 -> In total a 35:01 (meaning 58sec gained compared to 2003), actually I could have done below 35:00, but my finish is not as good as I liked to have it, lacking a bit of focus. I was right behind another runner for the last 4k, I could have overtaken him on the last 500m but I didn't. I am uncertain if it was due to lack of courage or some sort of "honesty" (not to overtake him because he had the lead for so long time)... I don't know... Anyway, I enjoyed it and I really love to run such short distances in a pretty fast way (compared to my Marathon jogging ;-)).

Stats:
Distance: 10k
Overall: 14/350
Age-group: 3/45
Time: 35:01

Impressions... (C)2004 by the race organizer

Oberhessenlauf

Just decided yesterday to start in a race quite nearby (just 20 minutes by car): The Oberhessenlauf in Staufenberg. The two main distances they are offering are a 10k and a 30k race. Both of them starting in the small village and then just heading out to the deep forests here. Additionally, some "hills" need to be defeated. Actually, I have chosen the 10k race meaning to climb the first 4k, having a flat round in the forest of about 3k and then to rush to the "valley" finish line.



Some more pictures of the race -->

Time: 34:51 min
Rank: 6th overall (out of 170)

Learn to sweat in peace

Sometime ago I read this in a book:

"The harder you are on yourself, the easier life is on you. Or, as they say in the Navy Seals, the more you sweat in peacetime, the less you bleed in war."

Actually, I thought about it when I ran some days ago the Gutenberg Marathon in Mainz/Germany. There is that one bridge which you have to cross twice and pretty late in the marathon. Last year I failed their but for this year I had some "hill training" nearby my work in the Taunus. Hill training in the way that the whole run consisted of a lot of ascending slopes especially also when the run was nearly finished (i.e. after 90-120 minutes). This really gave me a boost on race day when I was just right before the bridge at the deepest point of the whole course.

No running but flying

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.

Marathon countdown - 44hrs left

The race is getting closer. Training is over, actually I intended to have a short run today but it's still raining, so I just cancelled it, maybe I will have a short one tomorrow morning. It seems that we will have nearly perfect weather on Sunday, it's pretty cool now (less than 12 degrees Celsius) and possibly rain will stop. That would be great!

Marathon countdown - 4 more days

Had another early morning run today. I covered about 14k (8.7 miles) in a time of 1:01:30h (4:24/km resp. 7:04/mile). Pace was a bit lower as I intend to start with on Sunday.
Weather is really fine for running, today in the morning we had around 12 degrees Celsius. I hope for same conditions on marathon race day ;-) The last two years we had to fight with bright sunshine and up to 30 degrees Celsius, obviously tooooooooooooo hot.
I am still struggeling with race tactics for Sunday. I'm worrying about being not fit enough to stay the course with a 4:16/km (6:50/mile) and finishing in less than 3 hours. Let's wait and see.

Lunch w/o lunch break run

I had to rush a bit today. I could not make it in the morning so I took the chance to extend my lunch w/o lunch break a bit and "enjoyed" a 10k jogging across the "acres". Actually, I don't like too much to rush when I am jogging but what to do. Additionally, lunch w/o lunch break runs mean that I am pretty hungry before the run and afterwards the canteen has usually closed ;-( Fortunately a super market is nearby and I bought 1 liter milk and 2 small yoghurts (in total 1,07 Euro, wow, actually I didn't have much more money in my pocket). This should be enough until family diner tonight.
More to come.

Last long test run

After the heavy rain yesterday I was lucky to have great weather today in the morning. I planned to have my last "long" distance run test for the next Sunday Marathon in Mainz. I met Robbie, Axel, Udo, Charlotte, and Frank (fellows from our local running club "ASC Licher Wald") and we just started to run using bikeways and avoiding the forests as it was pretty dirty and muddy. After one hour my fellows except Robbie left me and returned (they had their long distance run already on Saturday). Robbie and myself just added one more hour to run, I felt really good, no problems at all, I could have run for one more hour but had to leave for home as my wife and children were waiting for lunch...
In the end, we covered around 26k / 16mls in 2:14h. Not to bad but I am not too confident for the marathon next Sunday, actually, I had only three runs where I covered between 25k and 28k during the last 5 weeks. That's not too much. Usually, it shouldn't be a problem to get to the finish line but clocking a time less than 3:00h could be painful...