A Trip to Rostock

Last Sunday I made a spontaneous trip to Rostock, my city of birth. A city run on a 2.5 km round course was held, directly in the area, where I lived for 10 years, went to school, played and shopped. I arrived around half past nine and registered for the half marathon. The time until start I killed by looking around the town and spending some time with my grandparents, who came to see the start.

My goal was something under 1:30 hours, and I also dreamed about a new pb, my old one being something around 1:28. I started from the front of the pack in my desired speed of around 15 kph, and had to let go ten other runners. Passing slower runners, especially from the bigger 10 km crowd, which started 1.1 km in front of us at the same time, was no big problem. The first two laps I clocked at around 10 min each, and still felt good, or even better than at the start. So I kept on going that speed until the end. After the 8th lap I reognized one of the runners who I had to let go at the start, and accelerated as much as I could, overtaking him and finishing 10th overall in 1:23:44 h (all results). I was really baffled having reached such a time.

At the finish I met Friedemann and Christian (who took the photo below) with his girlfriend, talked a while and had some ice cream before I went to my grandparents for the afternoon.


All in all, it was a happy Sunday which I will keep in memory for a while. :)

New week record

I started ten days ago to finish my usual 17 km cross track around the Neumuehler Lake once a day. So I accumulated a 116 running kilometers last week, around 170 km in the last 10 days. And still I'm feeling fine. But it's enough for the moment I guess. Tomorrow is a day off.

Two runs and a 10k pb
I took part in two runs, a 10 k on Sunday, which I finished in a new personal best of 38:11 min. This time meant the 6. place overall and the first place in my age group. It was a run in memory of the death march by prisoners of the KZ Sachsenhausen.

The second event took place on Tuesday and was an one-hour-run on a track. I finished fourth overall with 14.01 km, just some meters missing to the second place.

Welcome...
It's a good day for Europe. Welcome to the 10 new countries joining the EU. Strong political and economic cooperation means leads to political peace and prosperity. And it finally turns down that wall thich has cut Europe in two peaces since many decades now. So be welcome!

"Kill Bill"-Night
I've been at this cineastic event today, from 8 pm to half past midnight. I can't understand the critics, I like the second part as much as the first. And if you see both together, it's perfect entertainment. This movie has it all, a nice story, strange characters, good action, and a very nice end. My advice is: Go for it!

Post-Telekom Run
I am back home, still trying to bring order in this chaos in my room. On Saturday I took part in a 15 km run in Schwerin, the Post-Telekom-Lauf. It's a nice track arount the lake Fauler See, then along the Schweriner Lake and the castle gardens back to the Fauler See.

I started fast and tried to keep the speed, always chasing a small group of runners, who supposably aimed for the hour. But in the last third of the race the group fell apart and I couldn't accelerate, so I finished in 1:01:20. It's still a personal best for me, and I'm very satisfied with it. In June there is another 15 km run on my schedule. So I'll try again. :)

Weinstrassen-Marathon
I finished the marathon together with two friends from the Berlin Marathon Forum. Sabine wrote a comprehensive review, so I don't need to write something anything else. :)



Now I'm sitting in Wittenförden, after 700 km driving home. See you.

Marathon Weekend
I'm in Stuttgart with Julia right now and recovering well from the race in Barcelona. This weekend I'll drive the 800 km home, taking a rental car. On the way I'll probably visit a friend near Frankfurt, and run the 4th Marathon Deutsche Weinstrasse. It was simply too tempting, running my 4th marathon on 4/4/04.

Barcelona Marathon
It was a tough race for me, quite a bit too warm and with just a bit over 200 km training this year, but I felt good and ran a new personal best in 3:22:09 h. Now I need to recover, until later, Jolle.

Sun, wind and mountains
The last days I did a lot cycling around Benalup. I went to the beaches in Bolonia, Conil de la Frontiera, Barbate..., I went to the white mountain villages like Arcos de la Frontiera, Alcala de los Gazules, Vejer etc. I also found some time and a very nice track to a lake for running.

Today I planned another day trip on my bike, to the British enclave Gibraltar. I fought against the heave wind from the South-East and against the steep mountains in the Parc National de los Alcornocales, just to find at the border checkpoint, that my passport waits at home for me. What a pity, but this is me. :)

So I had enough time on the way back to explore the scenery Parc National and enjoy the wind, which now came heavily from the back.

On Thursday I will take a night bus to Madrid, and arrive on Friday in Barcelona. Julia arrives on Saturday, so we´ll have a week for sightseeing the city, if I am still able to walk after the marathon.

See you and have a nice time, Jolle!