The Decision

On Sunday, July 29th, 1 am, I once again quit smoking. I had again smoked like hell since after running my half marathon in Stuttgart on June 24th 2007. I wasn't really able to do much sports in July anway after I chose to fly off my horse and land on my stupid head - it was in no way Clyde's fault. Nonetheless it gave me a minor concussion and three nice bumps on my head. It was a pretty dizzy month...

Well, as July went on I got more and more dissatisfied with the situation and with myself. No sports but partying non stop. I once again needed a goal - a sporting goal, to push me and to help me get my ass up. The fact that 21 km don't stress me much any more (most of the time!) and having competed in three races and always finishing in a time between 1:37 and 1:38 (no matter how I did my training) - I guess I once again wanted more - did I really? After long and intensive thinking about the options the answer came out to be YES! So it was again time to take on the challenge of running a marathon. Although I had sworn to myself that I would never run this distance again - I just had to. Maybe this time the training would be easier it being Summer - no long jogs at 0° Celsius like when I trained for my first marathon in Salzburg. I just had to try to do it once again...

I got up late on Sunday morning July 29th and searched the internet for a good race to compete in. Not that easy at all because I wanted to start immediately with my training and also needed one to give me enough time to do enough decent training. The marathons in Germany were all to early. Ah, but look here - Basel in Switzerland. Actually pretty cool because like in Salzburg, Tina and me have friends there. Ok - let's go - no, wait a minute - not yet! I had to test myself before registering for the race because if I didn't pass the test I wouldn't have had any self confidence whatsoever. So I started to run. My goal was to run 21 km under 2 hours. I felt pretty good, although I still don't know why - and my wife Tina looked pretty astonished when I arrived back home after 1:58:46. Yippie! Boy, was I happy - and ready to rock 'n' roll! I immediately sat down - still sweating and stinking - and registered for the race!

And then it was time for...

My Training for Basel

Well, here I sit still sweating after my last 10 km run thinking to myself, "Where the Hell have the last 3 months gone to?". Saturday will be my big day for the second time. I guess my training was ok but I'll have to wait til Saturday to actually find out. I only had a little bit of problems with my legs at the beginning of September. At the moment I'm feeling fine. The only thing I'm a little bit worried about is my weight. I still don't smoke and I guess I needed all the carbohydrates to withstand my training. I weigh 90 kg at the moment and that's 4 kg more than in Salzburg. But we will see - I only hope that it doesn't rain...

The Marathon

After a strenuous week with very little sleep – we had had a very special guest from Holland at our home – we arrived in Basel, Switzerland on Friday evening at our friend’s (Regi & Tatjana) apartment. After having dinner together I had to say goodnight – I needed some sleep and Tina accompanied me. The next morning the four of us had breakfast together before Tina and I left for the stadium. We took the tram and it was still dark outside.

When we arrived we saw that not very many people were there – and we noticed that there wouldn’t be much more coming anyway – oh shit, I guessed I again had a lonely run ahead of myself…

Well, who cared – Tina was with me – and that was what counted!

Still a little bit tired and a little bit uncertain but in a great mood my race began. There were 4 laps to be done...

I thought to myself, that I should try to stick with the 3:45 hours pacemaker and see what would happen. Andrea was wearing an orange shirt like me. I actually just wanted to arrive without dying and maybe being just a little bit faster than in Salzburg.

So we ran together in our group and it was beautiful – although there were no spectators around – the landscape was very relaxing and the tempo was perfect.

During the second lap I saw Tina and immediately ran a little faster – I told the others about “Wife-Adrenaline” and we had a laugh together – it was just a very nice atmosphere.

I ran the first 21.1 km in 1:50:44 - super!

At the end of the third lap I had to leave our group – I couldn’t keep their pace anymore…

During the fourth round I gave my belt to Tina, who was getting pretty cold but was still there to shout needed cheers of encouragement! The race was easy going up until then. The weather being perfect – 13° C, no rain and no wind.

I was now running on my own and my legs started to get spasms – not really that bad, but I had to slow down and was pretty glad to pass the 35 km-mark. Only 7 km to go – cool! It was totally different to Salzburg. I was able to run without having to make walking breaks - until the end. And although I drank water at every water station I was always very thirsty.

Running a marathon is really very different compared to shorter distances. You think you’ll be able to keep your pace without any problems and it really isn’t a question of stamina – it’s just that your legs always start to get spasms…

And then there it was – the stadium. I looked at my watch and thought to myself, if I could sprint the last meters I’d make it in a time about 3:50 h. Well, I actually was able to sprint and arrived at the finish line after...

3:50:52 h. Tina was waiting for me there and this time she had tears of joy in her eyes – so great to have her by my side. And sooo great I was 5 minutes faster than in Salzburg and I didn't have to stop in-between and I wasn’t dead – well, not totally…

...walking down the stairs after showering was hell!

We drove home and had „Raclette For Two“. After drinking a couple of beers, I granted myself a bottle of Mead – I needed to gain my strength again, didn’t I?

This marathon was really a great experience and I’m very satisfied with my result. My legs ache like hell and I am pretty tired at the moment but you can be sure – I WILL DO IT AGAIN!