In exactly two weeks time I'll be running my fourth marathon. I actually wanted to participate in Mallorca this year but due to a slightly fractured hand I couldn't do any running in Summer. So, the only marathon that was left was the one in Bad Arolsen (I didn't want to break my own oath to run two marathons per year!).

Bad Arolsen - haha - two years ago I didn't even know that the village existed but thanks to MANOWAR and the Magic Circle Festival the tiny town has become quite famous. I've got friends there so I guess it'll be pretty cool to run "up" there. I won't be able to beat my record - my training period was too short and the run itself is quite hilly but who cares - I'm in this one for the fun. Members of The House Of Death will be there to cheer for me and the party afterwards is gonna be huge - I'm really looking forward to see my family again.

My diet ended yesterday (91 kg were a bit too much!) and I now weigh around 86 kg, which is pretty cool. I can't wait for the race to start, although I know that after about 30 km I'll be again asking myself, "What I'm doing here - like man, am I stupid or what? Why the fuck am I torturing myself?" Ok, stupid or not - I just have to do it. I'm competing against myself. And I want to win. I will endure the torture just to enjoy the feeling of victory - I need that feeling - it makes me strong. So, can there be any better reason to run?

The following review was done by Udo & Tina.

First of all I’d like to say a big thanks to Katja and Jürgen. Their hospitality was unbelievable. They really gave us everything and even more than we needed and were more than perfect hosts.

And of course I’d like to say thank you to Tina, again to Jürgen and to my friends Carmen and Volker, Petra, Pierre and Suz, who all stood by my side freezing their asses off during my race – giving me so much needed energy and strength.

A special thanks to Petra and Carmen who bought me a great T-Shirt to remember this cool event.

The sun was shining beautifully when Carmen and Volker picked us up on Friday to drive to Bad Arolsen. It was a strange feeling to drive to Bad Arolsen in the winter time. Four months ago we had celebrated unbelievable moments at the Magic Circle Festival and now Udo was to run the Advents-Marathon there. So many memories came to my mind while driving up north.

There wasn’t much traffic so we arrived at the Hotel Salewski to meet Katja and Jürgen at 4.30 pm. Crazy Katja had been baking the last couple of days and the whole table was full of cookies and sweets – yummy. Soon afterwards the other warriors arrived – Pierre and Suz came all the way from Holland and our “Bavarian-War-Dwarf“ made it up north from Regensburg. All together we were to be Udo’s personal fan club.

Udo and Jürgen went to the gymnasium to fetch Udo’s starting number while we finished drawing the flags which Carmen had brought. Afterwards we went to a Greek restaurant for dinner. Greek food and Ouzo are the best things for Udo to have before running a marathon. They give him strength and make him happy as well. Katja was a bit disgusted looking at Pierre eating an octopus - so, like usual the people around us knew we were „here“.

Back at the hotel we wanted to chill out while watching the new Magic Circle Festival Volume 2 DVD which was a definitive must. I am always so proud when I see and hear Udo on the DVD. But it was not only him -  Katja, Jürgen, Carmen, Pierre andPetra looked great, too. We had a lot of fun.

Udo and I had to go to bed earlier than the others because of the marathon the next day. So we said our goodnights.

Falling asleep wasn’t that easy. Volker and Katja were very loud and proud. Katja’s  "I'm immortal..."  screams were not to be ignored  *smile*.

We woke up early after a restless night. The day began very beautifully and Udo felt good. But something outside was disturbing. The cars that passed the hotel seemed to be driving on a wet road although the weather forecast for the day had been good. Well, looking out the window didn’t really make us all too happy. Snow, wind and everything was wet. And I thought to myself, „Oh my God my husband has to run 42 km in that kind of weather. Hopefully everything will work out fine…“

Well, I was actually thinking the same. But what the fuck – anyone can run while the sun is shining. I wasn’t here to break my personal record anyway. I just wanted to run one more marathon this year and that was exactly what I was gonna do. I had slept decently and was woken upvery lovely by Tina – I was ready for the day.

Downstairs the first warriors were already ready to Rock!

We drove to the gymnasium with Carmen and Volker after having a great breakfast. The others weren’t really awake yet and would follow soon afterwards. In the gymnasium the host held a speech while Udo got ready to go. I was nervous as hell. The weather was not getting any better either. And… Oh my God – I had forgotten my camera in the hotel. Luckily I was able to phone the others because I wanted to document the whole race!

The Advent-Marathon started at exactly 11 am. Just about 600 participants were ready to run through snow and wind. The start was at a lake. I would have really enjoyed the picturesque nature had the weather been better. But the way the conditions were I was really worried a lot about Udo.

Bang – the race had begun. Pierre and I tried to take a picture but Udo was already on his way.

The Hand of Doom...

Haha – I was on my way but I still had 42.195 km in front of me. It snowed, it was cold and damp, the temperature was not getting above 0° C and the wind blew viciously. The bunch of us headed onwards towards the unknown. I started running easily – I felt good in spite of the shitty conditions – actually very good. My wife was there and my friends really wanted to stay out in the cold for about 4 hours. The first kilometers were even and ran alongside of theTwiste Lake until we got into the forest. We had to run uphill and the path was pretty slushy. What I really missed were the signs on the side telling you your distance. The first one came after 3 km – my time was quite OK – 17 minutes. I forgot when the next sign showed up – they only had a few that were placed irregularly. I’m a runner who likes to know his average – it kinda calms me down, but what the fuck. Today the path let you forget everything else anyway...

We jumped into both cars and started our fan clubtour guided by Jürgen. We parked our cars at Kilometer 10. We got our flags out and ate a couple of cookies for strength. The first runners arrived – they were full of slush and a couple of them already didn’t look like they were in all that good of shape. I looked at my watch full with anticipation. And there he was…Udo was waving to us from a distance. We were happy, he looked good. We applauded and cheered like hell as he ran onwards to the next part of the race.

After a long period of running uphill I finally made it to the 10 kilometer point. How cool was that? All of them were standing there and yelling and cheering for me with their self-made flags - Tina, Jürgen, Carmen and Volker,Petra andPierre and Suz. It had taken me 57 minutes for the first 10 km which didn’t really put me in a positive mood. But I still felt great and of course newly motivated.

We would see him at kilometer 21 – that’s what we thought anyway. We quickly drove back to the hotel to make a peepee-pause. Telephone calls that the world definitely does not need held us up. We drove like hell to the meeting point hoping to make it in time and not to miss Udo. Immediately after we positioned ourselves Udo showed up. We applauded and were happy. Wow, just in time to take care of our fan club chores!

Thank God they made it in time because their cheers were balm on my soul. The path until kilometer 21 had been hell on earth. I was soaked with sweat. After about 12 km the path led us deep into a valley – I said to another runner, „I don’t think this is a good sign!“ And a good sign it wasn’t – this time after the descent we had to ascent steeper than before and the path was yet slushier – the first runners had to walk up the hill. I made it – although slowly - thanks to my training at home running up and down the hilly countryside. The warm water at the stands and my Ovomaltine chocolate were gold for me. It took me 01:59:34 for the first half of the race. That was quite good because I didn’t think that I would be able to run in less than 4 hours anyway. The route was pretty much equivalent to the one inHeilbronn where it took me 04:06 to complete the race running in the beautiful sun. The second half of my first three marathons had always been much slower than the first 21.1 kilometers, so wait and see.

We stayed where we were due to the fact that Udo had to run a round course of 5 kilometers. We used our time until he came around after 26 kilometers and cheered all the other runners as well. It was a great pleasure to witness their reactions. Many of them thanked and applauded us. They smiled although you could see that they had endured strains already at this point of the race. And then I finally saw him – my husband, running upright and still looking damn good (OK, I am in love!). His woolen cap was frozen on the outside but it had stopped snowing. We yelled, applauded and sang for him to get him motivated for the next kilometers to come. I kept thinking to myself – how in the world is it possible to run a marathon in the first place… I guess a couple of participants were thinking the same. Some of them had stopped running and were walking, were pale or had started to get cramps.

The round course was a bitch. We left the forest and got out to the open countryside where the fuckin’ cold wind crept inside every tiny crack in my clothing. I was soaked with sweat and started to freeze. I got minor aches in my back. A piece of chocolate saved me once again – believe it or not. This part of the race was even so that I didn’t slow down and I was really very happy to see my fan club for the third time.

Their enthusiasm provided me with energy, although shortly afterwards the phase where I started to doubt myself rose up due to the fact that I began to freeze again – my feet had gotten wet right at the beginning but now they were getting damn cold, too. Would I make it, why am I doing this in the first place, questions and yet more questions – one has a lot of time to do a lot of worthless thinking. My marathon had finally „begun“. The next kilometers would show if I would break or bend. I was quite astonished to see that my time wasn’t that bad after passing the 30 kilometer line. I was sure that the next water stand was at kilometer 32. I ran and ran and ran but nothing showed up. It went straight uphill all the time and of course I noticed that I had slowed down. I was getting a little bit depressed because I just didn’t want to believe that I had fucked the race up during those last kilometers.

The next stop at kilometer 34 was pretty cool for us. There was a small restaurant "Waldschmiede" where Jürgen had a couple of beers and we enjoyed a nice hot red wine punch. We checked our watches and were all sure that Udo would take 10 more minutes to get here.

Yet Carmen and I had to get out. We were applauding the other runners when all of a sudden we couldn’t believe our eyes – it was Udo right in front of us. We really didn’t think he would be arriving that early because Jürgen had told us that the route up to this point would be the most strenuous of the whole race. I pulled out my camera and ran beside him screaming words of encouragement. Now the rest was all downhill. I saw that the race had worn him out. But I also felt his iron willpower and had a good feeling inside.

And in the same way Tina couldn’t believe her eyes – I couldn’t believe mine – the water stand was at kilometer 34 not 32! I looked at my watch which read 03:18. Tina yelled, „You’re doing great – run, run!“ and Jürgen added, „From here it’s all downhill!“. I drank two cups of ISO and started to calculate: 42 minutes time for 8.2 km – shit or maybe not? My average had been 5:49/km up until then. To make it under 4 hours I would have to run the last 8.2 km in an average of 5:07…

The words from my beloved wife Tina and from my colleague Jürgen hit me like a hammer. I raised my hands and head and started to run – really run. And I was able to run like I had never been able to after a distance of 34 km. All of a sudden I loved the crisp cold air that filled my lungs. I wasn’t freezing any more. Was it Runner’s High? I don’t know why but everything started to look positive – the long distance runners among us will know what I mean.

There were always the same runners either in front of me or behind me during the whole race – it was give and take. That was to change. I ran like a clockwork 3 km straight downhill and 5 km evenly (a small ascent inclusive!). I had power – more than at the beginning of the race – or was it just the fact that I felt so sure that I could make it? Crazy – totally crazy! I passed a minimum of thirty runners – my next „finish line“ was always the next runner in front of me. I didn’t feel any cramps or fatigue in my legs whatsoever. I had never had feelings like that before.

I kept looking at my watch and was able to cut my average. I saw the finish line and I saw my friends standing there – screaming for me – it was fantastic.

We drove like hell to the finish line which was again at the lake. The fan club was photographed and we got a lot of praise. Paralyzed I looked at my watch and I didn’t really think he could make it in less than 4 hours. After 03:58:00 I was starting to give up all hope. I was wrong…because there he was, coming our way sprinting maniacally like a machine. After 42 kilometers he still had the strength to fight. I screamed together with the others.

He made it in less than 4 hours – what an achievement on this revolting day!!!

Well, I crossed the finish line after 03:58:50 to be accurate which meant that I had run the last 8.2 km in an average time of 4:53 minutes. How cool was that? To me it was grand. I was actually able to run under 4 hours. But the most important part was the fact that I was able to kick serious ass until the very end. I felt great.

We packed him in a blanket and we were all very proud. Shortly afterwards we drove back to the hotel. Content but worn out. I peeled off Udo’s soaked and dirty clothes in our room. I was pretty astonished to see that he was in a pretty good condition after showering. Finally the fest could commence.

And a fest is what I really wanted – all through the race I kept thinking about our evening that we would have together. At the end of the race I had to catch my breath and calm down. I couldn’t really say all my thanks for the unbelievable support which I was granted – I proudly accepted the congratulations and was looking forward to a hot shower.

Katja had cooked a great amount of great food. After being stuffed we walked to the Christmas market in Bad Arolsen. Even Udo joined us. We raised a mug of mead to his marathon.

Back at the hotel we enjoyed drinking „Feuerzangenbowle“ (hot red wine with rum!), watched the DVD again, witnessed the singing of warriors and had many many beers. It was great to spend the weekend together with all the others.

All of a sudden it was Sunday and we had to make our journey back home. I guess everyone aside from Udo had gained weight due to the huge of amounts of food and drink – but we were all very happy.

And while we were driving home my thoughts meandered toIreland because on June 1st 2009 I would once again be standing on the roadside for Udo.

Oh yeah – June 1st 2009 in Cork, Ireland – I too, thought about my next marathon. I wouldn’t have to endure hills, snow or slush and cold weather. I would only feel the warm sunrays against my skin, right?