24 stunden burginsellauf, delmenhorst
20th and 21st june 2009. saturday till sunday starting at 12 noon.
10°++ celsius. sunny, windy, rainy and dark (for few hours)!
it was all jürgen's fault. on 9th june, after winning a game in farmsen in the hamburg's badminton hobby league, he asked me whether i wanted to join in the 24 hours run. i said yes without making a second thought. 2 days later he asked me again because they still need 1 more person. and i confirmed that i will be running, i didn't even know why. he told me that the only person he knew whom he could ask and crazy about running was me.
days went by and i knew that without much training, i could be suffering later on. the longest run in this year for me was the rahlstedter wandselauf (15.2 km). i didn't know what to expect from this run.
we (me and jürgen) drove down there from hamburg at about 8 am. we had to passed through 6(!) road works/construction site on the way to delmenhorst. driving fast on the autobahn was not possible. anyway, as we reached there, the tents were already up. one for the our luggage and the other was for our survival corner - food & drinks.
some of the guys from the mix team were already there on friday evening to get the "hot spot" and set up the tents. it was an ideal spot cos that was where we do our changeover, eat, drink, changing of t-shirts or simply lying/sitting (when the sun showed up) next to our transition zone.
it was the first time that i'm taking part in this crazy 24 hrs run. a group of 10 runners complete the team. we were a bunch of running cracks, average runners, slightly overweighters and a smoker who played football.
the 'compulsory' group photo
a 'compulsory' phototaking session of each team was held at around 11 a.m. later on, we went for a warm-up run to see the running route and i found that the first 600 meters wasn't that really nice. it was barricaded to separate the german challenge cup runners (individual) and the rest (team as well as individual runners). the next 1000 meters was much better cos we would be running in the park and at the end of the park, it went slightly uphill. it was nice from the organiser to put a signboard "bergwertung" (hill evaluation?) to remind us that everything from here would be "easier" and soon we could pass the baton for the next runner.
for the relay, it was all up to the team itself to organize how they want to run. some of them did a 3x3 (3 runners running a relay 3 times continuously - which i find totally exhausting) or a 4 hours 'workshift'.
at 12 noon, all the runners (individual and teams) started together. our team captain, maik, came in first in the transition zone and passed it on to our absolutely fastest runner, patrick. after the second changeover, it was no longer hassle in the team, cos the average runners would be doing their turns. after each individual round, each runner wrote down their time for the 1 655 meter 'interval' run.
as 8th runner, i was quite excited as well as afraid that i could be running too slow for the team. i didn't know what to expect of myself. i wouldn't want to blame myself for taking part in something and not producing anything. as the 6th runner, uwe, waiting for his turn to run, i went on to do some stretching and warming up. as friedhelm (7th runner) went off, i waited for 2 minutes before going up to the transition zone for my turn. then he came.
i took the baton and ran calmly but not slowly between the barricades. keep telling myself to relax cos there was another 23 hours to run.
always in 3rd place for the first 15 hrs until me and my teammates (only 4 of us - 1 had to give up due to health problem) took over at around 3 a.m., which means shorter rest time + really bad shitty weather (rainy, windy and cold). during the short break that each of us received while waiting for our turn, everyone in my team as well as the mixed team were quite quiet and i was totally demotivated by the situation and kept my ipod on and didn't talk to anyone. by the time we were complete (9 runners) 2.5 hours later, we were 1.5 rounds behind the 3rd placing team.
the 16th round was again back to normal, meaning that all 9 of us would be starting according to our running order. finally i have enough pause. i couldn't forget that round. the transition took over simultaneously for both the mix and men's team. i had to run against thomas, the fastest from that group. whatever happened to me, i didn't know cos i've been glued to thomas for the first 600 meters and all my teammates were shouting and screaming at me to keep on. i knew i was crazy to follow him all the way. i slowed down a little and let him run away. in the end, thomas was 20 seconds faster than i was but i ran 65 seconds faster than the previous round!
due to my accidental contribution and the faster runners after me, we managed to close the gap up to within 65 seconds. then the slower teammates ran their turn and we were again 5 minutes behind. it was quite frustrating.
reorganized the group to get back that 3rd place. we'd decided that one of the guy should run twice in a round, to compensate for the injured teammate. he had to run in the second as well as seventh position. team spirit and motivation was very, very high - even the slowest in team kept clocking 10 - 20 secs faster than previous rounds. i ran quite constantly 6:48 mins for that 1 655 meters course. we finally managed to get back the 3rd place but unfortunately it was not over before 12 noon. we had even a 5 mins edge at one point over the 4th placed team.
it was really a nail-biting atmosphere for us because our challenger kept sending their fast runners. the hourly result at 11 a.m. (1 hour before the end) showed that our team was in 4th place, which was later corrected to 3rd place after a 'protest' from us. the last round was really exciting. while many teams were accompanying their last runners, we had to scream at them to give way for our runners.
i am really proud of myself as well as the team. several times i just wanted to give up but i had to think about my teammates. being one of the faster runners, it was so important for the team. only the very last round (20th round) i couldn't run becos i injured my knee by hitting the damn bench. was really angry at myself cos i couldn't help them to maintain/improve the edge we had over the 4th placed team.
in the end, we won our small battle. 3rd place with 528 meters edge over our challenger. and that after 24 hours of running.
10°++ celsius. sunny, windy, rainy and dark (for few hours)!
it was all jürgen's fault. on 9th june, after winning a game in farmsen in the hamburg's badminton hobby league, he asked me whether i wanted to join in the 24 hours run. i said yes without making a second thought. 2 days later he asked me again because they still need 1 more person. and i confirmed that i will be running, i didn't even know why. he told me that the only person he knew whom he could ask and crazy about running was me.
days went by and i knew that without much training, i could be suffering later on. the longest run in this year for me was the rahlstedter wandselauf (15.2 km). i didn't know what to expect from this run.
we (me and jürgen) drove down there from hamburg at about 8 am. we had to passed through 6(!) road works/construction site on the way to delmenhorst. driving fast on the autobahn was not possible. anyway, as we reached there, the tents were already up. one for the our luggage and the other was for our survival corner - food & drinks.some of the guys from the mix team were already there on friday evening to get the "hot spot" and set up the tents. it was an ideal spot cos that was where we do our changeover, eat, drink, changing of t-shirts or simply lying/sitting (when the sun showed up) next to our transition zone.
it was the first time that i'm taking part in this crazy 24 hrs run. a group of 10 runners complete the team. we were a bunch of running cracks, average runners, slightly overweighters and a smoker who played football.
the 'compulsory' group photo
a 'compulsory' phototaking session of each team was held at around 11 a.m. later on, we went for a warm-up run to see the running route and i found that the first 600 meters wasn't that really nice. it was barricaded to separate the german challenge cup runners (individual) and the rest (team as well as individual runners). the next 1000 meters was much better cos we would be running in the park and at the end of the park, it went slightly uphill. it was nice from the organiser to put a signboard "bergwertung" (hill evaluation?) to remind us that everything from here would be "easier" and soon we could pass the baton for the next runner.
for the relay, it was all up to the team itself to organize how they want to run. some of them did a 3x3 (3 runners running a relay 3 times continuously - which i find totally exhausting) or a 4 hours 'workshift'.
at 12 noon, all the runners (individual and teams) started together. our team captain, maik, came in first in the transition zone and passed it on to our absolutely fastest runner, patrick. after the second changeover, it was no longer hassle in the team, cos the average runners would be doing their turns. after each individual round, each runner wrote down their time for the 1 655 meter 'interval' run.
as 8th runner, i was quite excited as well as afraid that i could be running too slow for the team. i didn't know what to expect of myself. i wouldn't want to blame myself for taking part in something and not producing anything. as the 6th runner, uwe, waiting for his turn to run, i went on to do some stretching and warming up. as friedhelm (7th runner) went off, i waited for 2 minutes before going up to the transition zone for my turn. then he came.
i took the baton and ran calmly but not slowly between the barricades. keep telling myself to relax cos there was another 23 hours to run.
always in 3rd place for the first 15 hrs until me and my teammates (only 4 of us - 1 had to give up due to health problem) took over at around 3 a.m., which means shorter rest time + really bad shitty weather (rainy, windy and cold). during the short break that each of us received while waiting for our turn, everyone in my team as well as the mixed team were quite quiet and i was totally demotivated by the situation and kept my ipod on and didn't talk to anyone. by the time we were complete (9 runners) 2.5 hours later, we were 1.5 rounds behind the 3rd placing team.
the 16th round was again back to normal, meaning that all 9 of us would be starting according to our running order. finally i have enough pause. i couldn't forget that round. the transition took over simultaneously for both the mix and men's team. i had to run against thomas, the fastest from that group. whatever happened to me, i didn't know cos i've been glued to thomas for the first 600 meters and all my teammates were shouting and screaming at me to keep on. i knew i was crazy to follow him all the way. i slowed down a little and let him run away. in the end, thomas was 20 seconds faster than i was but i ran 65 seconds faster than the previous round!
due to my accidental contribution and the faster runners after me, we managed to close the gap up to within 65 seconds. then the slower teammates ran their turn and we were again 5 minutes behind. it was quite frustrating.
reorganized the group to get back that 3rd place. we'd decided that one of the guy should run twice in a round, to compensate for the injured teammate. he had to run in the second as well as seventh position. team spirit and motivation was very, very high - even the slowest in team kept clocking 10 - 20 secs faster than previous rounds. i ran quite constantly 6:48 mins for that 1 655 meters course. we finally managed to get back the 3rd place but unfortunately it was not over before 12 noon. we had even a 5 mins edge at one point over the 4th placed team.
it was really a nail-biting atmosphere for us because our challenger kept sending their fast runners. the hourly result at 11 a.m. (1 hour before the end) showed that our team was in 4th place, which was later corrected to 3rd place after a 'protest' from us. the last round was really exciting. while many teams were accompanying their last runners, we had to scream at them to give way for our runners.
i am really proud of myself as well as the team. several times i just wanted to give up but i had to think about my teammates. being one of the faster runners, it was so important for the team. only the very last round (20th round) i couldn't run becos i injured my knee by hitting the damn bench. was really angry at myself cos i couldn't help them to maintain/improve the edge we had over the 4th placed team.
in the end, we won our small battle. 3rd place with 528 meters edge over our challenger. and that after 24 hours of running.
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