Halfmarathon Wilhelmsburg…: running for a food basket

Today was a brilliant day for a nice run…: little sun and 13°C in southern Hamburg. Reason enough for me to go out for the “Wilhelmsburger Halbmarathon”. I had decided short handed and just wanted to see what I can run on the 21,1 km.

There were nearly 400 runners signed up for this distance and we were gunned off at 9:30 a.m. As usual there were about 15 runners dashing out of the stadium as if they were only to run 2000m. After the first K I was in front with another athlete and we started cruising hard though the suburbs of Hamburg. My legs felt great and Oliver (the other runner’s name) and I took turns in setting the pace. I was not checking my clock at all but after 10 Ks I had a glance to it: 35:21… (!) Oops…. That was far to fast. So I reduced my speed and Oliver just cruised on dropping me bit by bit until he had a lead of 100 m. Funnily at 12,5 K I noticed I was closing down the gap again but without having to get faster. I caught up to him at 13,5 K and said to myself: “o.k.: just keep myself mini/max running up to the last 5 Ks and then go for it.” The stupid thing about it was that he had the same idea. Oliver had such a strong finish…. Wow. I could not keep the speed up (we had passed the 15 K in 53:48) and started suffering server calve aches. I actually lost 2 minutes on the last 5 Ks but entered the finish in 1:17:32.   

Yum yum.... @ home

I am very happy about the finishing time considering that I still have not done any track or speed sessions. I was even happier about the awards ceremony: at last an event where the winners get something they can really use (instead of a tin cup): I got this wonderful basket full of goodies to eat… really healthy!

“The faster you run, the earlier you eat” (running for a food basket).

Two weeks to go for the Lanza trip and three to the Fuerteventura Challenge… I am getting exited.

Aloha