A couple flower boxes that I built this summer:

Some new lettuce plants springing to life:

And some spinach (look really close):

Do you see the butternut squash?

The next big race is the Baden Marathon in nearby Karlsruhe on September 21st. This is the big race for the year for most of the folks in my running club. Currently 23 people are signed up, the most for the half-marathon. We are all meeting at a local restaurant after the race, it should be fun.

I am also looking at several shorter races including a 10K and a half-marathon, I only have to decide which ones as there are several alternatives.

What I am really hungry for is another ultra, but the events remaining this year all require an overnight stay. I thought about trying to find one during my vacation in the USA in October, but my wife is less than understanding, so I am not pushing it.

I have a couple 10K and a half-marathon on the calendar for November and December, but these will be more spur-of-the-moment decisions. So it is looking like the Baden Marathon will be my last long race of the year, I am looking forward to it.

I have lots of ideas for next year, including my first 100K race, but I have to wait and see how busy work and life will be before I unravel these plans.

Last night (Monday) I went for a recovery run, just over 5 miles, and felt good enough to walk around the local Home Depot equivalent for an hour afterward.

I am still going to do my legs a favor and relax a little this week, my next marathon is only 3-1/2 weeks away. My next run will be an easy run on Wednesday night with my running club, then probably a two hour run on the weekend.

Have a great week!

The Koberstaedt Marathon started at 8:00 a.m on Sunday, so we were up at 4:30 a.m. in order to get ready and make the hour drive to Egelsbach. We arrived around an hour before the race and went about my business picking up the race packet while my wife looked for a cup of coffee. A school friend who lived in the area was going to meet her at 8:30 and give her a short tour of Frankfurt while I was running.

It was a bit chilly (15°C/59°F) as we sat around waiting for the start, but the sun was shining and I knew it would start warming up soon. I decided to run in shorts and short sleeve shirt, as it was supposed to warm up to around 22°C/72°F. There was a cool breeze blowing as I lined up at the start with around 200 other marathon runners. Around 1500 half-marathon runners would join us later on (10:00 a.m.).

The course consisted of a loop around a mostly dirt/gravel forest trail with approx. 150 meter (500 feet) elevation gain/loss with each loop. The half-marathoners ran one loop, the marathoners two.

I really didn't have any specific time goal for the race, I didn't taper at all so figured I would try to at least break 4 ½ hours if at all possible. The race was chip timed, so when the starting pistol went off I leisurely made my way over the starting line, letting the speedsters move on ahead. I then set into a comfortable pace and tried to warm up my legs.

We wound our way through town and into the woods, the sun was shining and the last of a misty fog was rising to meet the day - what a beautiful morning for a run!

It was fairly quiet the first part of the run, the two hundred marathoners were pretty spread out and I was pretty much running on my own. I passed the 10K marker in 56:22, faster then I expected, but definitely not a record breaking speed even for me.

I lost myself in my thoughts over the next hour, passing the 20K in 1:54:18 and the half-marathon point in 1:59:59. My pace was fairly stable, just over 9:00 minutes per mile, I was staying hydrated and taking in isotonic drink at every other aid station. The aid stations were around 4-5K apart, well-stocked, and run by some super friendly people, bravo Egelsbach!

On the first loop the marathoners branched off and took an extra short loop before rejoining the main loop. This left us in the forest rather than looping back to the stadium. Shortly after rejoining the main loop the half-marathoners merged with us, or rather the 200 marathoners merged with the 1500 half-marathoners. Suddenly I was jarred from my lonesome plodding and thrust into the midst of a stampede. My pace picked up as the mass carried me forward, I passed the 30K marker in 2:49:42, about 10 minutes ahead of what I had expected.

The tractor wide forest trail remained full as I fought to climb a wall that was trying to drain my energy. I passed a couple marathon runners, but was still being passed by the faster half-marathoners. I concentrated on making it as hard as possible for these runners to drop me, falling in their steps as long as I could.

With about 5 miles to go I started doing the math and figured out if I could keep the pace going I would be very close to a new PR. My legs were tired, but my energy was good and my spirit high, I plodded forward.

I passed the 40K (25 miles) marker in 3:47:11 and it was clear that I would have to run a 10K race pace if I wanted to break my record of 3:57:14. I did my best, but couldn't get my legs to churn over any faster. As I made my way over the last half-mile I still pushed hard, if I couldn't have a new PR, then at least a sub-4:00 race!

As I made my way through town and into the stadium my legs were screaming with protest. I tried to must some resemblance to a sprint as I made my way around the track and over the finish line, but I felt more like a lumbering elephant. Finally I stumbled over the finish line in 1:58:58, out of breath, out of power, but totally satisfied, thank you lord!

I caught my breath and wobbled my way over to get some coke, I knew I needed a sugar boost. I drank down three cups of coke and found a bench and sat for awhile, stretching my legs a bit. When I stood up an amazing thing happened, my legs didn't complain. I actually could walk comfortably, albeit slower than normal, but without the normal robotic motion normally associated with post-marathon movements.

I walked to the car grabbed my bag, showered and found some food. As I was eating my wife showed up and we sat for a bit, my wife was amazed how fit I was. I guess I was too. As we made our way home the sun was shining, the sky blue, what a beautiful day!

I set off with the mid-pack group, but they were a bit slow, so after the first 6-7 minutes I took off with a couple faster runners. After about 10 minutes I started feeling the dull ache in my leg so let the other two run ahead and I trotted back and rejoined the mid-pack group. After a couple minutes this group started their interval training, i.e. took off and left me behind with a couple ladies who didn't want to speed up quite so fast.

Eventually we caught the group again after they finished their 800 meter sprint. We ran around 800-1000 meters, then the group took off again, my leg was feeling better so I hung with them, albeit barely. We continued this for another cycle or two, then jogged in the last couple kilometers.

I ended up with 14 km (8.7 mi.) for the night, at an average pace of about 5:30/km (8:51/mi.). After the run I enjoyed catching up on the news with the group, stretched, then headed home for some food. Later the muscle in my left thigh started tightening up and became quite sore, but I messaged it the best I could and it gradually felt better. This morning it feels almost back to normal. Tonight I want to take a rest night to get the body in shape for a race on Sunday.

On Sunday I am running my seventh marathon/ultra for the year, the Koberstaedt Forest Marathon in Egelsbach, between Frankfurt and Darmstadt, Germany. The marathon route consists of two loops around a mostly dirt/gravel forest trail with approx. 150 meter (500 feet) elevation gain/loss with each loop.

This is generally the kind of race that I excel at, but I haven't trained for a fast race so will wait and see how I feel on race day. The weather is looking very favourable with sunshine and temperatures in the low 70's (°F) expected. I'll let you know how it goes!

I headed out over my normal route, warming up on a relatively flat stretch, then heading up the first major hill climb. When I reached the plateau on top I ran over the rolling hills and down the other side of the mountain. I then wound my way over an entirely new route which brought me over several steep hill climbs, pounding downhill's, very scenic vineyards, fields, woods, and finally back to my normal trail and my car.

I rolled in after around three hours and 20 minutes, covering 20 miles, with a total of about 1350 meters (4000 feet) of elevation gain. My legs were tired and sore, but in a good way.

On Saturday my legs were a bit stiff, but by the afternoon back to normal. I completed a long list of to-dos around the house, including varnishing the last flower boxes for our yard. Tonight I have to pick up some potting soil so we can plant the boxes - we decided to plant spinach instead of flowers, nothing like harvesting fresh spinach when the cold weather comes around.

On Sunday I met a member of my running club, Iris, for a run. She is training for a half-marathon in September and doesn't like to run alone. It was sunny, but cool (low 70's °F) as I ran by her house at 9:45 a.m. and we headed out over a bike path towards the next town, Blankenloch. Iris wanted to run about two hours at about a 6:00/km (9:40/mi) pace. We settled into roughly this pace and cruised over some beautiful field paths, forest ways, finally looping back to her house after two hours and several minutes.

Due to our chatter we actually were running faster than Iris wanted to, around 5:50/km (9:25/mi), and covered over 21.5 km. Iris looked totally fit after the run, she is totally ready to blow the half-marathon away in September - and she still has five weeks to train! We plan on running again at least once or twice before the race - if she keeps it up she will running a PR race for sure!

I spent the rest of the day trying to catch up on a project for work. I did manage to get in a nap in the afternoon, that felt great. I wish everyone a great week!

The short nap did wonders, I was totally motivated as I left the house and made my way to the trailhead to run with my running club. I was a bit early, so warmed up with a 3 km (2 mile) run. It was a pleasant 26°C/79°F, the sun was shining, the birds were singing...perfect running weather.

When I got back to the trailhead I chatted with some friends for a few minutes as we waited for the rest to arrive. I took off with the mid-pack group and heard Lena, who was running behind me, ask if anyone wanted to run a faster pace. When no one responded positively I said "Lets go" and bolted ahead of the group before she had a chance to think about it.

As we pulled away from the group, Lena, who is training for the Dresden Marathon in October, said she wanted to try to run 10K at around a 5:25/km (8:45/mi) pace. So we cruised around the 11K loop and I kept track of our pace with my Forerunner. By kilometer seven a couple other runners had caught up to us and through their chatter Lena started slacking off with the pace. In an effort to help Lena meet her goal I said to new members of our little group that she wanted to maintain a steady pace and we were slacking off. This had the effect that I knew it would, the three of us pulled ahead and left Lena with the choice of catching up or running behind. Wisely she caught up to us and we were able to keep up the pace she had desired...well actually we speeded up to an 8:30/mi pace, but don't tell Lena ;-)

After the run I hurried home to shower and met the group at a local Greek restaurant for our monthly meeting (Stammtisch). It was a good time as always, but after 11 p.m. before I made it home - so much for catching up with my sleep.

Tonight is a rest night and Friday after work I want to run at least three hours on my hilly route. Running my long run on Friday night will allow me to sleep in on Saturday :-) On Sunday I am meeting a running club member, Iris, for a two hour run - should be fun!

...that's how I have been feeling lately, much like the overtrained triathlete that used this picture on her blog.

It's one of the busier times of the year for me at work, and this year its even worse because we are evaluating the need for a content management system which equals lots of time required. Somehow this together with weird weather swings is causing me to lose out in the sleep department. I find myself laying awake at night thinking about everything imaginable.

I have been wanting to get back up to 50+ miles of running per week in preparation for a city marathon in September, but I know this is not going to happen. I ran a solid 50-mile race and my first sub-four hour marathon this year, which is very satisfying, so I have pretty much decided that I need to just stay in maintain mode and run the rest of my races this year "just for fun".

The brand new blonde waitress, not wanting to appear stupid, went to the kitchen and said to the cook, 'This guy out there just ordered three flat tires, a pair of headlights and a pair of running boards. What does he think this place is, an auto parts store?'

'No,' the cook said. 'Three flat tires mean three pancakes, a pair of headlights is two eggs sunny side up, and running boards are 2 slices of crisp bacon.

'Oh, OK!' said the blonde.
She thought about it for a moment and then spooned up a bowl of beans and gave it to the customer.

The trucker asked, 'What are the beans for Blondie?'

'She replied, 'I thought while you were waiting for the flat tires, headlights and running boards, you might as well gas up!

FOR ONCE THE BLONDE GETS EVEN!!!!!

So I have to read another hour of reading then I can chill out an hour before calling it a night. I hope everyone had a nice weekend, I'll try to catch up reading your blogs soon.