Munich 10K

A week ago I ran my first non-American road race!
If you ever ran a race you know how exciting it can be, the anticipation, the bathroom visits, the body-glide and sunblock applications, the pick-up of the bibs, the RACE itself, all the swag, and of course the T-shirts and free food.  Races are fun!!!  I recommende to everyone who can run or run/walk to do at least one 5K or 10K in their lives just to experience the atmosphere!

I ran my second marathon October 2010 and basically right after that life happened and I had either no time or complete lack of energy or desire to think about running or anything else that would keep me in shape.  I really hate when that happens.  I tried as hard as I could to keep at least a minimum level of fitness and I think I have achieved that–maintaine minimum level of fitness:  I can walk, bike slowly and run very slowly. Ludwig singed us for this race while I was still writing my thesis to have something to look forward to, to have a goal etc.  Unfortunately for me, I started training for this 10K three weeks before the race.  It was very hard to train, almost weird, like this should not be hard, 6 miles used to feel like a light to moderate work out (depending on the speed) but now, my oh my.
Long story short, I am ready to get back into my running shape.

Outside the Olympic Swim Hall.

Okay some pros and and cons about this race.
pro–it was in the Olympic park–very beautiful scenery
con–we had to run 2 laps of the course and the poor 1/2 marathoners had to run 4 laps
pro–the race was relatively inexpensive about 18 €
con–the race was at 10 am, I never ran a race this late in the day, all I could think was 'I am glad I am not running the half'.  It got nice and toasty by 11 am.
pro–I had the best beer after the race; it was non alcoholic and so refreshing!
another and the best pro–I think this was my favorite part of the whole race, we were allowed to take showers at the Swim Hall.  I felt like a new person afterwards.

Right before the race, let's play 'where is waldo' ;)

Running pictures are always funny!

At the end of the race with non-alcoholic Erdinger wheat beer, it was the best beer of my life!  To the right–after the shower in our matching race T-shirts, ready for lunch!

So, even though I did not set any PRs it was still a fun race!  It motivated me to get back into my running shape and run another 10K in June.  I did get a bit sad because of how much fitness I have lost and how much every pound I've gained made me slower.  But the good thing is–not all is lost!!!

On another note, my language courses are going well.  I got very tired at one point and felt a bit frustrated because all I did all day long was go to class or study and on weekends I would be absolutely dead.  I think I am getting a hang of it now, but I do not think I will continue such intensive course load and do something with less hours per week so I have a bit more time to study, practice and absorb the information.  We will see, I will try and see what fits.

Till next time :)