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.

first time - it was so painful

7° celsius. sunny and dry. 16:07 (0:38:35)

i've made up my mind to go out. out and run. i couldn't even remember when was the last time i ran. i thought it would be simple - just put on your running shoes and start running - unfortunately i have to learn the hard way.

it wasn't that cold and windy like last week and after such a long time being down with bad cough and cold, i was ready to start my 'running life' again. i think it was end of november 2008, was the last time i ran. bad knees and health problem and of course 'bad weather' stopped me from putting on my running shoes. anyway, today was supposed to be the first.

just as i ran a couple of steps, my knees hurt very badly. really, really bad. i didn't know why. i knew i had knee problem but i didn't think it would turned out this way. i played badminton and did step-aerobics - no problem at all. cycling was also no problem. after about hundert meters, i felt like stopping and returning back home. don't stop, just continue - just very, very slowly. so i just heard my inner self and ran really slow, so slow that i myself couldn't believe it. almost 8 min/km pace. walking pace. it was an agony.

after about 1.5 km i felt better. though i couldn't run much faster, i felt the pain subsided. i told myself not to overexert(?) and to run as slowly as i could managed. either 5 km or 30 mins was my limit for today. it was a little over but not much. i felt really good after the run.

one-eyed light runner

3° celsius. clear sky. 17:18 (1:00:50)

i don't even know when was the last time i ran. had to follow my doctor's orders , not to exert myself too much when doing my running. i wasn't allowed to run the quickborn 25 km run fortnight ago and on coming sunday the very popular advent run in ratzeburg for 31.5 km. i had to give up my starting place to someone else (my running mate).

where were we today? there were 16 of us and i didn't know where we ran cos rainer introduced a new route for us instead of the usual rounds around the stadtpark. we ran in the stadtpark and it was really dark. some of my running mates brought lights while others carry that bicycle blinking light. there were few joggers who ran with the headlight - you could only see the light on their forehead and nothing else. we ran through the neighbourhood and through the train station, whereby people were wondering what the hell was this group of runners doing in their neighbourhood during this cold weather. for the first time i realised how nice it was to run in the dark along the river alster. the sky was totally clear and the lights from the houses near the bank were reflected on that still water. it was simply beautiful.

i wasn't sure whether i could cope with the "long run" today. thanks to annette who kept talking to me during the run which i totally forget about my fitness and endurance problem. after running zigzag through lanes and houses, we finally made our way back to the sportcenter. what rainer told us in the beginning, that he would lead us to a 10 km run today was true. 9.77 km recorded on my gps watch. that's why he's the trainer i guess.

running like zombie

10° celsius. sunny but windy. 18:03 (2:01:47)

it has been really sometimes since i did a long run. i mean a long training run. okay, the marathon in berlin shouldn't be counted, neither should the first laufcup (halfmarathon). i was undecided between running in the cold and playing badminton in the warm hall. the thought of giving up for the coming advent run in november told me otherwise - i have to do some training! so i did.

2 layers of sport t-shirt were underneath my jacket. ran slowly at the beginning (what else can i do, not trained) and when i reached the alster, i met a colleague from my running group. he is training for the coming crossrun on wednesday - for the betriebssport (intercompany related competition). we talked for a while but i had to cut it short cos the damn wind was blowing right through my skin! it was damn cold when you stood on a bridge where the wind blew right through.

for the first 3/4 round i ran at a moderate pace with stopover at the fountain to drink. i just hope that it would not be shut down during winter - well, i know the water could freeze during winter but it really helps a lot for the runners, cyclers or just strollers.

after 9 km, i began to run in trance - i didn't know why but i could just run without bothering about the pace. overtook someone and he followed closely with my pace but somehow later he had to gave up. i continued with this pace till 14 km and slowed down to take a drink again. then it was all about running back home.

once again, i couldn't do much about my running. couldn't run any faster but stuck to my pace. on the way back, a car parked on the pedestrian pathway and 3 persons were standing next to the car. as i couldn't shout (i was out of breathed), i just clapped out loud to signal them that i was coming from behind and to make way. the two guys moved slightly to the side but the girl didn't move a bit. she stood there with a cigarette in her fingers. i just had to pushed her with my right shoulder as i ran through. what a bitch. maybe next time i should wear something hard and pointed on my shoulder or arm so that i could pushed through some idiots that think that the whole road belong to them. what really annoys me and to my astonishment was that, most of the time it was the girls, not the boys!

anyway, i continued the run like a zombie. if i stopped or slowed down i could not continue anymore. once i reached home, i did some warm down exercises and then went directly to the snack stall and got myself a croque for breakfast!

18. volkslauf durch das schöne alstertal (1. laufcup)

23° celsius. sunny. 10:15 (1:40:20)

i really hate it when i had to wake up quite early on sunday morning. it was the first run of the hella laufcup 2008. this was also the first time that the halfmarathon would be the first event in the running order of the race, which normally took place on the last sunday of september. due to collision of city's event (alsterlauf vs cyclassics), the alsterlauf had to be rescheduled to take place a week later than usual, which inturn, coincide with the second run of the hella laufcup, the airport race. the organiser had to do something about it and therefore, the alstertal halfmarathon would be the first event, followed by the 10 miles airport race and finally 10 km alsterlauf. thank to this situation, for the first i was able to take part in the laufcup - usually the last run (this alstertal halfmarathon) coincides with my berlin marathon.

anyway, i'd decided not to drive there cos there wouldn't be any parking space available. took my bike and rode to the train station. due to construction, the final destination train station was closed. my idea of using the bike was good cos i didn't have to wait for the shuttle service.

parked the bike outside the school gate and soon i met many running colleagues, which i had not seen for ages (due to my lack of interest for training). a group photo was taken before we started our journey.


group photo
there were several other events for today. the 10 km walkers started first at 10 am, followed by the halfmarathon for the laufcup runners, then 10 km, halfmarathon, 4 km as well as kids run - in which order, i was not very sure cos i was running at that time :-).

there was a warm-up exercise conducted at the starting point, which was about 200 meters from the school ground. loud music blasted from the speakers, as if to wake everyone up. i was unfortunately being knocked down by a runner while dancing to my mp3 music - i couldn't be bothered much about warm-up or clocking best time. i wasn't trained up neither for this event nor for the upcoming events, including the marathon later. anyway, the starting point was in the school field and at exactly 10:15 am, the race began.

the course runs along the river alster, over several bridges as well as watergates. it was a zigzag course at the beginning and it was only 5 meters wide maximum for the whole stretch of the course due to the nature and bridges. i had my fun running behind people or even overtaking them and the fun lifted much higher as i saw the hill in front of me. it was time for me to overtake the runners in front of me, or at least closing up the gap.



i saw three of my running colleagues coming from the opposite direction at the 10 km point where all the faster runners were. i was surprise that these 3 were running at about 4 min/km pace, even though only one of them had the ability to do so. i was quite jealous and at the same time angry with myself that i didn't train hard enough for this event. later on i realised that they were just doing their sunday long run and cheered me up along the way, whenever i met them.

one of the highlights running in the nature and along the river alster was running through the wellingsbütteler torhaus. this building also known as alstermuseum was built in 1757. running under the archway was great, cos from this stretch onwards it meant downhills.

even though i like the hills, there was always the downside. i had to terribly slow down running down the slope. i guessed due to this stopping, slowing down and sometimes sprinting down, my feet were taking the toll and i had to pay the price of getting severe pain in my toes as well as blister on my foot. i had to slow down after 15 km. at times i had to stop and walked. what a waste of time, after i knew that i could clock a good time inspite of the hills and little training.

i felt really terrible, not because i was tired but because i knew that i could still continue my pace if not for my feet problem. one after another i was overtaken by runners towards the last 2 to 3 km. even anka, one of my running mate, overtook and cheered me up to continue running. i was really down.

at the last 200 meters, i heard my name being announced from the loudspeakers and people were cheering all the participants coming in towards the finish line. i was glad that i was done for the day and drank as much as possible, thanks to the sponsor of the laufcup. unfortunately no medal was given (damn, i should say that i had kids), therefore a memorial mug from the organiser was substituted instead. by the way, after crossing the finish line, there was a tombola/raffle and as always i didn't win any price (what's new anyway).

windy summer

19° celsius. slightly cloudy but windy. 18:27 (1:05:46)

i wasn't sure whether to run today. my halfmarathon is on this coming sunday and i haven't been running "properly" for such a long time. well, the weather was also to be blamed - rainy, windy and sometimes stormy. and it was supposed to be summer.

ran quite slowly towards alster as usual. on the halfway point, i received a sms saying that i should pick up something from a friend who happened to be in hamburg. hmm... while typing the sms, another friend from badminton stopped by the road to take a look at a 1972-built beige-coloured mercedes which cost about 4600 euro. we talked about few minutes and then i continued my run towards the hotel.

after a brief meeting, i continued my run back to where i started - the sportclub to take my shower. i did the mistake of running a bit too quickly and i knew that on sunday, i would suffer.

alsteration (week 35) : 12.062 km
alstering : 12.062 km
non-alstering : 0.000 km

total running (august) : 52.523 km
davon
alstering : 36.650 km
69.78% gehört zu alsteration

crossroads

1° celsius. clear sky. 17:49 (1:47:40)

with such a lovely weather i wouldn't want to miss my run at all today. i have decided to catch up with the "lost mileage" on wednesday and doing it today. i brought my camera along and since the day is getting longer, i took some pictures along the way.


the alster was really nice during this time, reflecting the light during sunset. waterbirds and ducks are now gathering back to alster. spring is coming :-).


talking about ducks, i had to swerve when i came across them waggling on the running path. unfortunately, it wasn't only ducks that i had to make way but also cyclists without lights! almost bumped into one because the lights from the coming traffic blended my eyes and at the very last minute i could get move aside. damn. running dogs without leash was another problem. hmm... i guess the spring/summer feelings are already settled in.

alsteration (week 7) : 29.085 km
alstering : 14.660 km
non-alstering : 14.425 km

total running (february) : 91.632 km
davon
alstering : 36.650 km
40.00% gehört zu alsteration