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!

# 1113

Today we ran the Patti Smith Marathon on our home course. Is there anybody who doesn't know whose 60th birthday it was today on December 30th?
The weather was quite uncomfortable: about 5 °C, sometimes rain (and wind), so the trails were quite muddy and in some parts also slippery.
I ran most of the time alone. The 2nd and 3rd (of these 16.3 laps) I did together with my running-friend Peter who did his last running-event in his old category M45. So these laps were the fastest. Later I did the 9th, 10th and 11th lap with Sabine, Peter's wife, and because she was walking these three laps were the slowest.
The last 5 laps I ran as slowly as possible without feeling cold (but I was quite warm dressed!). So I did a 6.19.50 h in total.
Nothing serious, but it was just important to finish, even on a bad and unmotivated day.

# 1112

This was a quite crazy marathon today, the Johann Christian Poggendorf Marathon on Dec. 29th:

The first 4 (of 16.3) laps on the trails I did with my very good friend Oliver who pushed me quite fast for my 7th marathon within 8 days. When he dropped out I ran 3/4 of a lap alone. Then I met two of my patients and walked 1 3/4 laps with them which costed me about 12-15 minutes in total, but was good for my recovering. After half a lap with a group of strange runners and 1 lap on my own I met my collegue and running friend Rosemarie who was running with her 11 years old shepherd dog Sina and we did two fast laps in about the same speed as I did before with Oliver. And finally I had 6 more laps on my own without any need to hurry too much.
The result was a 5.54.44 h with a small negative split and my 1112th marathon/ultra at all. Which means that I tied with Kalevi Saukkonen from Finnland as no. 3 in the multi-marathon-runners' world list.
Anyway: It has been fun again to be on the trails and the weather hasn't been as bad as yesterday!
By the way: Johann C. Poggendorf was a physicist, born on Dec. 29th 1796 (today just 210 years ago) in my hometown Hamburg, lateron researching and teaching in Berlin, he became most famous because of his works about galvanism.

Janas 17th Birthday

Today is also the 17th birthday of my daughter Jana. She is living nearby Hamburg, in Ahrensburg. So I will leave soon to join her birthday party...

# 1111

My 1111th marathon/ultra is done!

It has been the Hildegard Knef Marathon on Dec., 28th, named after the 81st birthday of the German actor, singer and author.
The weather had changed completly: In the morning there were just 0°C with some fresh snow which looked very much like in a winter tale. But unfortunately this was followed by some rain and hail and the trails were full of water and sludge.
I ran together with my running-friend Manfred who did his 1st marathon after having returned from Egypt one week ago which he mostly spent with healing up his diarrhea. So there was no need to hurry up and therefore we spent just 6.15 h on the trails.

Rest

Today - Dec. 27th - I was off work (as the next two days, too) but I also missed running and managed a lot of things at home.

Meanwhile I was twice at the marathon trails watching and cheering the other runners who did the Larissa Semjowna Latynina Marathon - named after the 72nd birthday of the sowjet-russian / urkrainian gymnast who won 1956/1960/1964 9 gold medals, 5 silver medals and 4 bronce medals, more than any other Olympic competitor!

# 1110

The 4th marathon on the 4th day in a row - looks a bit like "business as usual"...
But no way: The weather had changed to beautiful sunshine and clear colours - with some small fog-banks over the grass in the early morning.
The disadvantage during noon was: Too many walkers on the trails! They all seemed to enjoy the winter sun and this peacefull 2nd Christmas Day.
I also enjoyed running together with Hartmut for the first 4.5 (of 16.3) laps and later listening to the nice request program in the radio.

The 1st song they played when I switched on the radio was "El Condor Pasa" - the original from 1970 by Simon & Garfunkel...
Oh, my time? Don't remember... Okay, a 6.00.41 h - which is also a minute I never finished in a marathon before...

PS: The event's name today (on Dec. 26th) was Wilhelm Dörpfeld Marathon - named after the 153rd birthday of a German archaeologist who worked at Troja, Mykene, Tiryns and Orchomenos...

# 1109

Today - on Dec. 25th - we had been again 6 runners plus a dog at the Nova Meierhenrich Marathon on our local course. (Nova Meierhenrich is a German actor and talkmaster, born on Dec. 25th, 1973.)
The weather was exactly as the day before. The radio speaker said this is just perfect for the Christmas illuminations looking great even at day. I agreed with him.
I run the first time at daylight with a small radio listening most of the time to nice Christmas songs. And I enjoyed it.
So the result (time) was really secondary: 5.46.23 h. Nothing extraordinary, but what can you exspect on the 3rd day back to back?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everybody in the web - and especially on my blog - & happy seasons!

# 1108

Today it looked a bit like "business as usual": Six of the sixteen runners from yesterday arrived to run the Howart Robert Hughes Marathon on Dec. 24th.
The weather was quite similar to yesterday: 7 °C with high humidity, but nearly no wind.
I did the first 6.5 laps together with Hartmut.
From the 8th lap it became more and more interesting to "fight" against Wolfgang who slowed down more and more. I nearly caught him several times but everytime he escaped again. 5.5 laps (2.583 km each) before the finish he was again 3 1/2 minutes ahead, but one lap later I was in front of him with just these 3 1/2 minutes. And in the finish he was even 12.33 minutes behind: 5.43.00 h for me, 5.55.33 h for Wolfgang...
Anyway - a nice day out on the trails!

# 1107

Today the weather had been very foggy with a temperature of 4 °C. We were 16 runners for the Tim Hardin Marathon, celebrating the 65th birthday of this american singer and songwriter. Do you still remember his songs „Reason to Believe", „If I Were a Carpenter", „Lady Came from Baltimore"?

I ran with my friend Hartmut for the first 13.3 (of 16.3) laps. Then he speeded up for his aim, a time of 5.00.00 h, and I slowed a bit down for my preferred time of 5.25 or 5.26 h. It finally became a 5.25.01 h, just 2 seconds more than last Saturday. So I also have this minute in my collection, too.

It was - despite the conditions - nevertheless a nice running day and a gift. We just have to realize that!

New Computer at Work

Today there had been much stress at work: We've gotten a brandnew computer system (hardware and software)! Can you imagine what how many functions don't work their normal way?

So I had to phone about a dozen times to the hotline.

There still will be a lot of trouble and work until everything will be okay again. But nearly no chance to run during the week...

# 1105 & 1106

Last weekend the weather in Hamburg was quite "refreshing" - just 3-8 °C plus fine rain nearly all the time.

Nevertheless I was on our home marathon course for two more marathons:

On Sat, Dec. 16th we (= 11 runners plus 1 dog) did the "Heike Drechsler Marathon", named after the double Olympic winner in long jump (1992 & 2000) who had her 46th birthday that day, and

on Sun, Dec. 17th the Armin Mueller-Stahl Marathon (with 10 runners and 1 dog) was named after the 76th birthday of this well-known German actor.

On Saturday I had been running my first 10 (of 16.3 certified) laps together with my good running friend Claudia and had to slow down then to save some energy for the 2nd day. So I finished just in 5.24.59 h.

On Sunday I did the whole distance together with another friend, Ulf. We ran a little slower but more constant, overtook another runner just two laps before the finish and did a 5.41.44 h.

Not really good but just the level I'm able to run most of the weekends. And without any training during the week because I've usually to busy then.

Anyway - these had been my marathons (or ultras) # 1105 & 1106...

Wellcome

Wellcome on my new blog! You will find here some short versions of my running reports. Most of these reports have a long version on my website www.hottas.de. Look under "Alle Berichte" (all reports) and "Auswärtige Events" (foreign events) or FEM-Events (events organized by myself).

You will find there also a lot of running reports which I've got via the ULTRALIST.

I started running marathons and ultras in 1987. In the early 90ies I tried to improve my PBs and I did up to 2.59.20 h for marathon and 8.14.51 h for 100 km.

Later I changed to more adventurous events like the "Grand Union Canal 145 Mile Trail Race" from Birmingham to London (which I did in 1998 & 2000) or the "West Highland Way Race" (95 miles in Scotland).

But I also like underground races. Organized by myself the "Elbtunnel Marathon" in my hoemtown Hamburg which is run with 48.4 laps in a more than 90 years old tunnel below Elbe river. Did also the "Greenwich Foot Tunnel Centenery Marathons" 2002 in London and the first 6 marathons in the salt mine Brügman Schacht in Sondershausen (Germany) which is - with 700 metres below surface and 500 metres below sea level - the lowest and deepest in the world. Of course I did also the 2 salt mine marathons in Merkers (Germany), too.

I also like the North Sea Beach Marathon in Denmark which I run 4 times. And the 1st marathon in the sea: The "North Sea Seabed Marathon" in 2005 (also organized by myself) - 42,2 km on the seabed of the North Sea (of course at low tide) between Cuxhaven and Neuwerk Island.

I the US I enjoyed the Ultracentric 48 H Track race in 2000 where my wife Barbara Szlachetka (who died of colon cancer on Nov. 24th 2005) did the course record with 304 kms. We also run 48 hours indoor or 48 & 72 hours road.

Up to now there are 1104 marathons/ultras (905 marathons & 199 ultras) in my statistics. But in the last years I don't take care for time anymore. I just run alone - thinking about important or other actual things in my life - or together with some friends - talking, making plans and enjoying life.

Life is too short and every run is a personal gift!