Germanland Marathon

Or "How to Run a Marathon on No Training"

After a long gap between incondite adventures, we return for a trip to Germany. Last year I was coming off of my most serious running ever, followed by an attempt at a 100 miler.  That base left me able to capture some hardware in Doha in a 50K, and then I finished the Dubai Marathon in January, 2015.  Since then, well, running hasn't exactly been top priority.

Over the summer I kept a base of about 30 miles a week. Coming back to the heat, humidity, and dust of Doha, it was unlikely that would increase. I went to circuit training to get a full-body workout in and came away very sore.  The next night I played hockey. It was my fault, really:  A bad pass and now I am sprinting after a Qatari player on a breakaway. Diving to poke at the puck, I hyperextend my chest. It gets steadily worse over the next 3 days. I can't sleep from the pain. It is hard to bend over, I can't tie my shoes, and I cannot lift anything. The doctor visit consists of an x-ray (no fracture) and some meds.  I am on the mend, that is, until hockey again.

First hockey game of the year and I score the first goal. Then I pull my ribs again.  Soon, I can't take a faceoff and every time someone bumps me I shudder in agony. I have to leave the game and miss the next. No running for 10 days. Which brings me to Nuremberg, Germany, in September.

The girls get their race on the night before mine.

Since I had signed up for this small-town marathon (Seenland) 6 months ago, it would have been a shame not to run it, having already marginalized the summer marathon out of lack of interest/commitment. Really, I just wanted to burn some calories before Oktoberfest. So I decided to toe the line. After watching my kids race, we had a pasta dinner and a beer, good pre-race fuel the night before the race.  Dawn met with overcast skies threatening rain and a temp around 50, making it cool but worrisome if it got wet. A 9am gun set several hundred runners down the road.  I attached myself to the 4:00 hour pace group, figuring this was a safe group to jog with to test the ribs and not burn the legs.

Only the best carbs pre-race

Support from my fans at about 10K

The route took us up through the woods to a ridge above the reservoir. With a blue, glossy lake on my left and a wooded valley on my right, it was a taste of heaven. I passed a sign made by my children a few minutes later.  We spent most of the next hour and a half meandering through the woods on well-groomed crushed stone pathways around the lake.  It was very enjoyable.  Volunteers were friendly, though on the second loop they started drinking and were very enthusiastic, honking horns and screaming as if it was Heartbreak Hill.  By 10K I had run more at that point than I had in a month, and by 18K, more than I had run in 6 months.

T gives it a go with me

Kaelia joins the race

After crossing halfway in about 1:56:40, I was growing pretty tired of the slow pace. While I wanted to be conservative for the ribs and not kill my body from lack of training, I was bored, and my ribs weren't getting worse.  So I stepped up the pace, dropping to about 5:10 per K for the next 6 kilometers.  Feeling life return, I found myself running sub-5s for the next 5K as well, spurred on by seeing my kids and wife at several points. Let's keep it in perspective - I wasn't breaking any records, but sub-5s off the couch was encouraging.  That is, until the final hill.


With about 2K to go I was smacked by a long uphill. With no serious goal ahead of me, there was no reason to push the pace.  But what goes up must come down.  I had 1 mile of screaming downhill that just destroyed my underdone legs, which I had been keeping on the brink since picking up the pace.  The third-place woman came in just ahead of me, which was alright by me. I ran 10 min faster for my last 21K than the first (and all of that from about 26-34K). 3:43 was my slowest open marathon ever (i.e., non-mountain, non-Ironman) but good for 78th place. I was just happy to be able to run it. And the rest of the week was worth it!

Celebrating in Munich at Oktoberfest!