1978

Between my company's and our riding stable's christmas parties on Friday and today I went to Austria for the 30th birthday of my old mate Steffi. After riding the Alpine Coaster (a kind of roller coaster in the snow) we went up the mountain above Bludenz to party in a very scenic mountain hut of the ski club.



Tony and Steffi filled the guests with delicious local food and drinks,...



...local friends guided a torchlight procession...



...and triggered some fireworks.



Just before crawling in our sleeping bags Tony and me escorted Steffi circling around the hut barefooted in the snow, which seems to be a local tradition when getting 30 without being married, at least somebody told her to do so. :)



In the morning I hiked back to the cableway enjoying the nice mountain panorama.



What a great short vacation in the mountains. Living here does not look like bad idea.

November

The November is almost over and I haven´t run very much so far due to lot of work and other activities. We have been to concerts of Udo Lindenberg and Die Toten Hosen. Moreover was my sister visiting with Mikael Babajanyan who was singing the Marcello in the La Boheme opera.



Last weekend the the first (and seldom) snow was falling in Mannheim, so I show you one more garden photo for this year, our last wine grapes I harvested 8 days ago.



My haflinger Andor is quickly becoming familiar with his new surrounding. The neighbouring mares are already fallen in love with him. On Sunday I could go on my first small trip outside the riding stables with Andor, yet still on led by Astrid.



The December is already planned with lots of Christmas and birthday parties. I will be in Mecklenburg around Christmas eve before leaving for a weeklong ski trip to France with Astrid and her home ski club.

Andor

We just came back from a weekend in Hesse and bought a new horse, a 3 year old Haflinger named Andor.



It is a very cool character, taking everyting as it comes. Now it´s mostly up to Astrid to teach him. :)

The last warm and sunny sunday this year?

Last Sunday was a big exception in the last weeks with its very warm and sunny weather. So it was a perfect fit for our small trip to Freinsheim in the Palatinate where a wine festival was hold.



We met some actual and former collegues and had nice food, fresh and old wine.
And Lea had a big hangover afterwards. At least it looks like. ;)

Yearly birthday

September is birthday time. As the weather continued to be rainy, I invited for a bbq session in the garden on short notice and some friends could really make it.

As a preparation we temporarily changed a part of our living room into a dining room. As we liked it we kept it. So we have now a new dining room and a sofa in the kitchen. :)



Below one of my birthday presents, a new phono player from my Camelot colleagues.



Lea also likes it. As she rests and relaxes in the living room every morning, she is happy about the new phono as well.



We are still very happy with our garden and especially the previous tenants which managed to plant colourfull flowers for every season...





...and present us with some really delicious apples. Yam yam!!!

4 legs are faster than 2?

Not yet, just started to be a rider. ;)

On Indian tracks

Do you know the book "A walk in the woods" by Bill Bryson? After passing by it at the Delaware Water Gap two times in the last year I couldn't leave it there again this time.

So I used the chance and convinced my colleague to run a small part of the 2600 mile long Appalachian trail after arriving in New Jersey on Monday afternoon.



We went up a most of the way up to Mount Nimsi from Delaware Water Gap, having wonderfull views on the Delaware River from time to time.



We will stay until Friday doing workshops on a production site in Belvidere, an hour and a half west of New York City. It's quite rural here and our hotel is in a very small town called Hope, founded by German pilgrims.

See typical Belvidere below...



...and the crossing over the Delaware.

Summer garden parties

Last weekend was a party weekend. We had our annual summer party of the company with lots of sport, relaxing and fun and perfect weather on Friday.



And we had a nice "bbq in the rain" garden party on Sunday. :)

Happy 2nd birthday, Lea!!

We love you!



Leave a message on her website if you like.

Kassel Marathon

My 21st marathon, but an important one. After last year with very few training, a bad marathon in over 4 hours and an unfinished ironman I started a regular training in January and had some very first signs of better performance at the Strongman and the Lichtenwald half marathon. So my goal was to finish a marathon in under 3:30 h for the first time since the end of 2005. And I did it. 3 hours and 27 minutes and I saw the finish line under this extremely hot and sunny conditions. It's a nice track with nice people cheering during the race. The photo below has been shot by Astrid just minutes before the start.

Berchtesgaden Alps

We are on a week long holiday to the Alps near Berchtesgarden. We went hiking, but its very rainy and cold and the snow still covers most of the higher trails.





But independent of the weather I love the mountains and especially running in the mountains. Below you can see a face shot of myself right after climbing one of my running hills.



On one of the last days we went to Salzburg to the zoo and met our new favorite animals, the cute Alpakas (see here).

Our garden becomes a jungle...

Here some impressions of the jungle in our backyard.











By the way, tomorrow our one week holiday starts. We'll go to Berchtesgarden in the Alps for some hiking and stop over in Ingolstadt for a big party with old university collegues. Enjoy the summer!

Home in Mecklenburg & Run to the sky!

A weekend at home in Mecklenburg, a seldom experience these days. It was nice to see the family again and have a nice bbq in the garden.



On the way back to Mannheim I stopped over in Berlin and met my cousin at the Alexander place for participation in the second big stair run in Germany (after the one I ran in Frankfurt last year). The race went up the 39 floors to the Park Inn Hotel, quite exhausting. I succeeded as 26th overall from 500 participants and was 2nd in my age group.



Below you can see my cousin in his sandals on the 20th something floor.

Garden party

As we didn't organize a party after moving into the new flat at the end of last year, we did so last Saturday and invited some friends to a garden party. 4 free days and sunny weather made it a nice event.

Thanks for all who came and for the new garden bench.

Lichtenwald half marathon

Only 7 days after the successful mud run I went to a small village in the Swabian Alb to take part in a mountain half marathon organized by a friend. It's one of my favorite runs where I have been the last three years already.

Besides meeting friends of my marathon circle I was really fast and became 19th overall and second in my age group. The continuous training since January finally pays off.

Strongman, Weeze

The long and hard training in the woods around Mannheim ;) finally did pay off. I went with friends to Weeze, a former army base in Northern Germany near the Dutch border, to take part in the mud race. And I became 295th from over 5000 participants.



See some videos and articles about the race on the official site.

The last days...

...of Strongman training. :)



edit: PS: When watching this post Astrid mentioned that her involvement in the washing process of this trouser is worth a notice. Yes it is! Thanks a lot! You know I love you!

Mortal Zennern

We went to Zennern this weekend to Astrid`s parents for a big family party. This morning I went out for a short run around the fish lakes of Zennern. Somehow I managed to get my face caught by a barbed wire. Luckily it had snowed last night, so I could cool my face and continue running.

Easter holidays

The last weeks have been busy working in Switzerland. Moreover Astrid´s horse was ill and we made some visits to the clinic in Baden Baden, not forgetting to entertain Lea all the time. :)



Luckily my parents have been on a short visit last weekend, because I won`t go home before May this year. Next week we'll go skiing, I am really looking forward to it!

The Mexicans in Cologne...

We hit Cologne with and spread the music. No CDs have been left after the evening. A tremendous success. :)

Back at work

What a nice holiday. We arrived in Germany last Monday and I dived back to work the same day. It took some days, but finally I adjusted back to our really different way of life here. And I'm really happy to be back with Astrid and Lea! :)

Find the first photos from Heiko here.

Back in Conakry

After a day at the beaches we arrived late in the night, but safely in Conakry. Holidays are almost over, the plane leaves on Sunday. I am glad to see you back soon. :)