On Friday morning, April 24, the Dresden Oberelbe Marathon crew from my running club met at RB's house to begin our journey. Our crew consisted of three that were to run the marathon - RB, Holm and I - and Holm's wife Marianne who planned on running the half-marathon. We also had friend Bernie along who was bringing his bicycle to spend several days cycling around the Dresden area.
At around 9:00 a.m., I piled into Bernie's car and RB jumped into Holm's and we were off to Dresden. The approximately 6-7 hour trip went uneventful, other than a couple traffic jams, but that's normal on German highways. We met at the Guesthouse in Konigstein where we would be staying until the following Thursday and settled in.
On Saturday we took the train into Dresden and picked up our start packets at the World Trade Center. We took a few minutes to walk through the marathon messe.
Afterward, Holm and Marianne, who are originally from the Dresden area, gave us a quick tour of the downtown area until lunchtime.
After lunch we made our way slowly back to the train station taking in the sights as we went and eventually took the train back to Konigstein. Here is a pictrue of Konigstein with the wellknown Festung (Fortress) on the hill in the background.
On Sunday morning the Oberelbe marathon was slated to begin in Konigstein at 9:20 a.m., so we walked over to the start (10 minutes away) arriving about a half-hour before the start. We checked in our shower bags, which would be bused to the finish line in Dresden, and found a place to relax.
A few minutes later we learned that the start of the race was delayed because someone through themselves in front of a train (suicide) and the train bringing runners from Dresden to the start was blocked. The organizers scurried to solve the problem and ended up organizing buses to bring the over 800 stranded runners to the start!
In any case we stood around in a cool wind for an additional hour before the organizers confirmed that everyone had arrived. Finally at 10:20 RB and I could finally embark on her first ever marathon! Holm was with us at the start, but at nearly 75 years old his pace was a bit slower than ours, so we said we'd see him at the finish line.
A graphic from the marathon website showing the route:
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