# 1118 - Volker Schmitz Marathon on Jan. 14th, 2007

Sunday, January 14th, 2007 had been a really sunny day, and again everything looked like early spring. Temperatures again were about 10 °C / 50 °F.
We had been 10 runners plus the dog, competing in the Volker Schmitz Marathon on our local course. Volker is a runner from nearby Hamburg who is running our events for about one year and is still undefeated. On his 35th birthday he again was a class of his own and won in new seasons course best of 3.10.46 h.
I did my 16.3 laps on the trails mostly alone as I did the day before. I felt quite tired on this 14th marathon within the last 31 days. Just like "running on empty".
Anyway, it has been great to be out there in the nature! And with my 5.59.28 h I still was sub 6.

# 1117 - Karl Friedrich Bonhoeffer Marathon on Jan. 13th, 2007

Today the trails looked like early spring instead of winter when we did the Karl Friedrich Bonhoeffer Marathon on Jan. 13th, 2007.
Temperatures were about 10 °C (50 °F). I did my 16.3 laps on the trails mostly alone without any of the other competitors. Did a strong last lap, and so I finished in 5.35.53 h.
Had been a great day in the nature!

# 1116 - Uwe Ochsenknecht Marathon on Jan. 7th, 2007

Today, on Sunday, Jan. 7th, 2007 it has been much colder than yesterday: just 3 °C when we started the 16.3 laps of the Uwe Ochsenknecht Marathon (Uwe Ochsenknecht is a German actor, born on Jan. 7th, 1956). But anyway - it's still quite mild for this time of the year.
I covered the whole distance today with Ulf who ran a "sub 4" (3.58.35 h) yesterday and so he has been quite tired today. We've ran much steadier than I did yesterday with Manfred. So we slowed down only a little bit in the 2nd half, did this 2nd half today just 6 minutes better than yesterday, and so we finished after 5.53.49 h.
On the opposite it was funny to look after Wolfgang: He's preparing for a 75 K "Fun Run" on February 25th with a time limit of 5:05 hours at the marathon mark. Today he started very fast, overlapped us twice, but quite soon he had to struggle very hard, and before we could catch him again he dropped out after about 2 third of the distance. Bad luck...
Anyway - it has been a hard day on the trails, but nevertheless a good one!
Results on: http://www.hottas.de/cho01/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2697&Itemid=26
Longer report (in German): http://www.hottas.de/cho01/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2696&Itemid=95

# 1115 - Rowan Atkinson Marathon on Jan. 6th, 2007

After some "normal" days with much work, but no time for running, the Saturday Jan. 6th, 2007 was our next marathon day. So we met with 9 human runner & 1 dog on our 16.3 laps home trails. The marathon was dedicated to "Mr. Bean" aka "Johnny English" aka Rowan Atkinson whose 52nd birthday it was.
The weather was pretty good for running: just 7 °C (45 °F) with some clouds, but no rain.
I did the whole distance together with Manfred who's nearly fit again after a week of Egyptian diarrhea which had been a souvenir of a boat tour on the Nile in middle of December 2006. So we did a good 1st third, a nearly good 2nd third and then he just looked to "survive". Which means, we lost about 16 minutes in the 2nd half and finished after 5.52.01 h.
Anyway - it has been a nice day on the trails!
Results on: http://www.hottas.de/cho01/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2691&Itemid=26
Longer report (in German): http://www.hottas.de/cho01/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2690&Itemid=95

# 1114 - Satyendra Nath Bose Marathon on Jan. 1st, 2007

The first day in 2007 was the chance for the first marathon in 2007. It was the 10th (and last) day of our X-mas series.
The weather forecast has "promised" some rain and a hurricane but it was quite comfortable on the trails: Just 7 °C, some light wind, no rain, nothing bad.
I ran together with my running-friend Ulf - and also some laps with Wolfgang who came along to visit us for about 6 of the 16.3 laps. It was a lot of fun and we had much to talk about. So we enjoyed the laps and finished a real fun marathon in 5.37.00 h.
It has been the 6th marathon within 10 days for Ulf and the 8th in the same time for me.
It's a pity but we have to return to work tomorrow...

New Years Eve 2006

The today marathon on New Years Eve has been named after Herman Boerhaave, a Dutch physician, born on Dec. 31st, 1668 who was one of the founders of the modern clinical diagnosis and medical teaching.

But because our home course with it's 16.3 laps for the marathon was occupied by a 10 K run with about 1100-1300 competitors we had to run on another quite new course with 12.5 laps about 17 K away from my home.

I decided not to run but to do the support and lap counting / records. So I did only about 3.5 km running (to the start and from the start to the finish area) plus some walking with the equipment.

Anyway - it had been fun!

Happy New Year to everybody!

Happy New Year 2007!

Happy New Year 2007 and all the best for you!Here in Germany we are just two hours IN the NEW year, so I can send you greetings from 2007 back to the US - still (for some few hours) in 2006!