Hamburg Marathon...

...in 3:09 h. Plus warm and sunny weather. Plus meating friends and family. Quite much for "just one" of the year's 52 weekends. I'm happy!

The Long Break

Some time has passed since my last message, but a lot happened. The Mannheim Eagles lost the play-off finals, my favourite soccer club Hansa Rostock has won some matches in the last time, so there are still some chances that they will stay in the first league.

This week I've been on another SAP-training in Walldorf with two colleges, which was quite some fun as well as helpful.

The winter has finally left Germany, it's getting warmer and brighter. I started my cycling season and added some swimming sessions, but on the other hand neglected running a bit. Well, the positive effect is, that I am well rested right now, so I decided to visit some friends over the weekend and run the marathon in Hamburg. My target is 3:15 h, eight minutes faster than in last Spring.

Ice-Hockey Play-Offs

Yesterday, I was in Frankfurt with a co-worker to watch the playoff semi-finals of the German ice-hockey league between the Frankfurt Lions and the Mannheim Eagles. It was a close match in the end, with a very exciting last third. Frankfurt had a lead of four goals after the second break, before Mannheim came back with a lot of action and speed play, shot three goals and had some more opportunities. Ice-hockey in its finest version!



The Eagles could have kicked out Frankfurt. Well, now they will have to try it again on Sunday. Ingolstadt also lost Berlin, again, and now needs two consecutive victories against the Polar Bears, which will be quite hard. Anyway, we?ll see it on Sunday. My dream of a final between Mannheim and Ingolstadt is still possible.

Jeep Tour

I'm back from the long weekend. It was nice to be at home again, see the family, run my old favorite track around the Neumuehler Lake, swim with my triathlon club...

Monday I went back with a rental car. I got a Jeep Grand Cherokee this time. Hell, what a monster machine. After some offroad tests in the morning :) it made 190 km/h on the highway. Not bad for a car weighting 2 tons. Anyway, not a car I would buy.

Ray

I just come back from town. Originally I wanted to get my hair cut, which I also did. But when passing by the cinema I couldn't resist in watching the Ray motion picture, as the cinema was playing it in the English version just this Wednesday afternoon. It is a great movie and I was really glad to have seen him live in concert a year before he died.

I'll go to bed now, as it was a long day. I got up at 6:15 am in Stuttgart, where I went yesterday for a dinner of Julia's company.

Tomorrow we'll go to an ice hockey playoff match, Mannheim vs. Nuremberg, before I'll drive home on Friday to relax some days.

Lichtenwald Half Marathon

Last weekend I was in Stuttgart. Saturday Julia and me went to Lichtenwald to take part in a small but nicely organized run. I ran the half marathon distance, and finished first in my age category, 13th overall. I guess I'm quite in a good shape this year, even the mountains were quite easy to master. For results and photos visit the official homepage www.lichtenwald-lauf.de.vu (my bib was 141).

Until Wednesday I'll be in Walldorf (some SAP-education). Friday I'll drive home to Schwerin for the Easter Holidays.

Back from Skiing

Skiing was perfect. Plenty of snow and sunshine, nice panorama views, a very comfortable accomodation and party every evening.

Plus, Hansa Rostock won its first home match this season. The week couldn't have been much better. :)

Swim: Mission half completed

I went swimming tonight after work in the very old and imposing Herschelbad. My plan was 2 km in 45 min and it was a tough start, cause the water was really crowded with kids, splashers and so on. But around 8:20 pm the people started moving out and I could stop criss-crossing the water. I even had enough power to accelerate significantly for the last 250 m. A completely new feeling and a very good time for me: 44:44 min. Now I can be pretty sure to be out of the water in less than 90 min and still reach my bike alive in August. :)

And if I manage to continue my regular training once or twice a week, I'm sure I can even do much better.

Skiing

Last weekend was fun. I explored a bit of Mannheim's nightlife with Julia, guided by Basti, Eli and their friends. On Sunday Julia and me went running. I did a nice run along the river Neckar from Heidelberg to Mannheim, which is around 25 km. There is also a nice track along the Rhine, so my training can go on. I just need to find some mountains to get in shape for the Rennsteig.

Thursday I'll go skiing to Austria (Pitz Valley) with some colleges from the company, I'm really looking forward to it. After all, I've been only one day in the snow this season and had not expected to get another chance so soon.

On top of that, I even may get the heating in the bathroom fixed this week. My landlord sent me an email today. We'll see.

Short News from Mannheim

I found a room near the main station in the city centre. Very small, no heating in the bath, but ok. I won't have much time in there, anyway. I did a first run today, actually tonight, from 9 to 10 pm along the Rhine.

Julia is coming on Friday, as well as Basti, an old friend from Freiberg. We'll explore a bit more of Mannheim then. Next Thursday to Sunday I'll possibly join a ski trip with the company to the Pitz valley.

So much for now. Need to get some food and sleep now. Good night, Jolle!