Munich half-marathon
With some folks from work, I ran in the half-marathon Sunday. Dreading the occasion a little bit, because I've slacked off on any running for the last month or so. The combination of hot weather and visit from Kris's parents gave me a lot of excuses! So I knew it would hurt a bit.
There were 17,000 runners. I was hoping to come in somewhere around 2 hours total time. It was definitely interesting running in a huge crowd. We headed north from the start at Marienplatz into the English Garden. The bulk of the run took place there, going up and down along different trails. I drank water a few times at way-stations. I also gave myself 3 one minute walk breaks. Somewhere after the half-way mark, my legs were running out of gas. Oh well, just have to crank through! I looked at my watch and got excited to maybe beat 2 hours, and that kept my pace up until the end. In the last minute I "sprinted" though my legs were so slow you probably couldn't tell the difference!
It paid off though...I came in with a time of 1:59. One minute under 2 hours!
Afterwards there was free, cold, alcohol-free beer. Only in Munich, eh?
Thanks to Assaf at work for organizing our participation!