Brave Race - Happy Face

stats of the week: run 67km, 1 gym
London Marathon result: 3:40:55

It was sort of a venturous experiment to combine my first ultra race with the compulsory London Marathon following only 3 weeks later. However, as the graph shows below I made a brave attempt.

I set out at a pace for a 3:30 finish (5 min/km). Actually I knew that this could only be too brave not to say lightheaded. Close to the finish line I still hoped to come home sub 3:40 before a hamstring cramp forced me to take a rest at km 39 opposite the London Eye. At least I can proudly claim that I have tried.

Needless to say that I am very happy with my result. Getting older means getting slower but it still means finishing and being part of it!

Congratulations to all London Marathon finishers. I had a highly enjoyable time to see so many familiar faces again. See you next year!

Irina ready to race

Irina has arrived! The defending double London champion made her way from Germany by train and says she's ready to win a third time. "It will be a tough race. London always has the highest quality of elite runners at the start line. It's like a world championship!"

She's confident but has high respect for the race and for her competitors. "Every race is different. After the first 5 or 10 km I'll have to decide about my tactics."

Besides her will start: Constantina Dita, Olympic Champion 2008, Bai Xue, World Champion 2009, along with runner-up and third, Deena Kastor, London Champion 2006, Mara Yamauchi, London runner-up 2009, and Liliya Shobukhova who beat Irina at Chicago last October.

Despite Irina has'nt raced once since Chicago she's sure to be in form to win a third time in a row - only second woman to do so after German fellow Katrin Dörre in early 90s.

Volcanic and personal clouds above London

stats of the week: run 32km, cycled 30km, 2 gyms

There is still some pain and strain that forced me to walk back from today's recovery run. But I still hope to have recovered until next weekend for the London Marathon - provided I can get there. At least we can be happy that we havn't planned to run Boston tomorrow! If the flight ban will persist we should manage to get to UK via train or car and ferry.

By the way: German speaking readers are invited to have a look at my Two Oceans Report.
And there are three short race videos at YouTube.

Attempt of Vindication

stats of the week: recovery time! just 50km mountain bike done

Sabine, you're obviously right! I was sort of carried away to run my first ultra marathon as part of preparations for the London Marathon. I have to admit I won't even have thought of doing this in recent years. Formerly I even refused to ascend my bike to avoid any chance of being injured. But with 10 Londons put in the box things change.

Last year I did the London Marathon followed by our local Karstadt Marathon 3 weeks later. I got the feeling that my performance was better in the latter one. That let me try the double again, this time with Two Oceans first and London following.

To my excuse I point out that I didn't test my very limits on the Two Oceans. As you see I was still able to smile on Chapman's peak. Alas - the stride has got the form of a shuffle already.

Luckily there is no photo of the scene which saw me forced to stop due to a stomach upset.
I managed to get over it with only 5km to go and found back to an inside happyness, now knowing I'd make it to the finish line.

It's done:

Finsihed within Cut-off time - Bronze Medal

stats of the week: run 74km (including Two Oceans Marathon 56km)

Folks,

Just a short note to let you know that my first ultra marathon was a success. For the first time ever I continued to run beyond 42km and did a further 14. It was tough and I had to walk a number of steps but without any major problems - pitstop and stomach upset not mentioning - I enjoyed most of the race and the sensational route along Chapman's peak drive.

Finish time was 5:35 hours what probably set me in the middle of the field of about 7000 finishers. I feel fine with this result and I still hope that my joints will recover within 3 weeks to carry me around London on 25th April.

Free Man and Animals

Stats of the week: run 42km, 2 gyms

Regards from Cape Town where I look forward to running my longest ever distance on Easter Saturday. The race is modestly called the Two Oceans Marathon and we met a couple who entered without knowing that the distance is longer than usual 42km of a marathon...

Imagine a prison where a former prisoner gets his own statue at the entrance of his jailhouse!
That is what happened to Nelson Mandela at Cape Town:

My main reason to do a bus tour around Cape of Good Hope was to meet the penguins at Simon's Town. Notice my disappointment when our guide let us only have 10 minutes to see them and take some photos:

Walking around the cliffs we came across the little dassies which are really tame and show a cool behaviour:

Long Island Run

stats of the week: run 68km, indoors cycled 1:26 hrs, 1 gym

Most of the work is done now, what my knee is likely to be happy about. To avoid any boredom at the final long run I did it by taking part at the popular Syltlauf - a 33km run along Germany's longest North Sea island. It was supposed to be a training run but as it happens often when part of a runners' crowd it ended up to be slightly too fast. Accompanied by fellow K I was tempted to keep the pace and finished after 2:55 hrs, what made an average of 5:17 min/km (8:30 min/mile). I hope my body won't take it amiss.

Now it's time to taper off for my longest run ever.