23. international airport race, hamburg

sunday was the 2nd run for the running cup (altogether 3 - 10k, 10 miles & 21 k) and it was held around the airport. weatherwise was perfect - started with 17 degrees and rising up to abt 20 degress celsius at the end. it was sunny all the way, with no clouds!

the starting point began from a quiet residential area, just outside the lufthansa sport complex - lots of greens and shade, then through the lufthansa technic area near the airport. just as my engine about to get really going, i was confronted with a great surprise. i have to run through a multistorey-carpark! firstly i thought, do we have to run up the whole roundabout here at the airport carpark? luckily it was only one storey run up. when we came out of the carpark, i realised that it was the terminal 2 carpark, which i normally parked the car, when sending someone to the airport. it was just a different perspective when running instead of driving through. 200 m later, we came to the other side of the airport, running along the airport area in the hot sun. if u have the time to look up, you'll see planes taxiing nearby. i didn't notice much cos i ran with my music on from mp3 to block all kind of noises (airplanes, breathing from others, footsteps). but the landing of a lufthansa plane did catch my notice though, cos it flew above my head - great!

3 km later i found myself running on the dirt paths in the woods, in the greens with shade, a small jungle in the middle of nowhere. really cooling. before long (2 km later), out of the woods and greeted by some fans cheering you on. the sun greeted us too with its heat. luckily it was only for 500m cos the route led us into a tunnel, directly under the runway. once out of the tunnel, the route took us back into the greens, this time with lots of bushes and small trees on both sides. the path on the dirt road was really narrow, i must either squeezed through when overtaking 2 person at a time or ran on the sideway (in the bushes). to the left is the airport, and the taking off of planes managed to distract me from concentrating on the run. a nice break. along the route here and there you'll be cheered on from old folks that were doing their morning walks (not tai chi) or those who were taking their dog out for a walk. the last 2.5 km was again in the residential area before finishing it up in the stadium of the lufthansa sport complex, where thousands of people cheering the finishers!

the stadium field was filled up with children's playground, grill stores and small shops. of course beer was not forgotten. a band with cheerleaders(!) was playing rock music(!!) on the stage during my stretching down. later the stage was used to present the winners of various category. at the end, all runners could take part in the tombola aka lucky draw, where you have to put your bib into the box. there were prizes to be won but unfortunately i went empty handed.



i was very happy to do my very first 10 miles competition. i've heard abt this race before and only good things. all the time it was said to be a nice family kind of atmosphere with a route that varied a lot. thanks to my kiasuness and registering early, i was lucky to be able to be part of it cos this run is highly sought-after race. altogether only 2400 participants (800 of it are given to the cups runners) are allowed to take part due to security reasons.

timingwise was also a great success. finally i manage to start slow (or maybe too slow) and ended really fast (last 1.1 km in 3:50 min). the second half of the route (8km) was 4 mins faster than the first half. it was really fun to overtake people (esp. saying hello + goodbye to running teammates) and sprint the last 200 m.


alsteration (week 36) : 45.693 km
alstering : 22.2 km (3 rounds)
non-alstering : 23.493 km

total running (september) : 63.193 km
davon
alstering : 29.7 km (4 rounds)
47.00% gehört zu alsteration