Proud champions and a happy amateur

stats of the week: run 63km, gym 3h
London Marathon result: 3:52:52

The 35th London Marathon was another great day of running. Crowds were bigger than ever, elite fields strongest ever and the new champions happy, proud and extremly likeable. Tigist Tufa is the first Ethopian female winner since Derartu Tulu in 2001. Eliud Kipchoge confirms to be the world's best marathon runner of the year beating world record holder Dennis Kimetto and two-times London champion Wilson Kipsang.

My personal race was fairly successful not only because it was my age-graded best marathon since 5 years but also I fulfilled the Boston qualification time for M60. It follows that next year I have to run 2 marathons within 6 days.

I was also very happy we had two-times London Champion Irina Mikitenko with us who affectionately cared for all the runners in our group.

Step of aging

stats of the week: run 43km, cycled 60km, gym 3h

Legs felt tired two weeks before the London and I got the impression that another step of sudden aging hit me. Or was it just the amount of racing this spring?

However, on Sunday I put another 10K race in the box. Without reaching personal limits I clocked 47:04 what hopefully is just a wake-up for the muscles one week before the marathon.

Counting my recent half marathon time I theoretically should be able to run sub 3:40 h. I know this will be out of my bounds of possibility. I will be happy with a sub 4 h. And I have to admit I will try a sub 3:50.

Mucky paradise

stats of the week: run 31km, cycled 352km

Sardinia offers numerous low-traffic hill roads with breathtaking views and is a paradise for cyclists. On the other hand I have never seen so much rubbish alongside the streets. It is surprising how the residents painstakingly separate their waste into half a dozen boxes while many others throw their trash right into nature.

Italian cycling week

stats of the week: run 10km, cycled 113km, gym 1.5h

It looks sunny but the Italian island of Sardinia turned out to be rather cold. We cycled at a chilly temperature of 8°c today. Only the local red wine makes up for the conditions.
A short Easter holiday enables us to do some cycling in preparation for summer challenges before I get back to running and the London Marathon. I look forward to the London weekend especially as we have German record holder and F40 world record holder Irina Mikitenko with our group as a special guest.