(missing in action - or should it be inaction?)
(thanks to Debbie Consani - I borrowed the image from her blog: http://debsonrunning.blogspot.com/)
It's three weeks since we were in Frankfurt for our last marathon of 2011, I had been fighting a chest infection for about 10 days before we went, and really wasn't sure if I would be able to run or not. I thought I'd just picked up a bit of a cold, there was a lot of it going around, but I think by the time we left I knew it was on it's dreaded "way down"...
I guess this is also partly why I haven't been on here for a while - I've really struggled to shift the infection and my energy levels have definitely been in the below zero range for a couple of weeks...
So what have we been up to?
When we arrived in Frankfurt on Friday 28 Oct the weather was sunny and mild and this was the forecast for the weekend, we checked in to our hotel and then went to the expo where we met Fauja Singh.
A venerable gentleman indeed.
We had dinner in a wee local pub just round the corner from our hotel where we had the largest schnitzel either of us have ever seen, and it was delicious!
As it was the 30th running of the Frankfurt marathon, we got a commemorative backpack which is really nice, with the strangest contents ever... a box of hard boiled eggs :-)
yes the really were hard boiled eggs and they were dyed different shades of gold and green. They tasted nice but definitely the weirdest thing we've ever got in a marathon goodie bag!Saturday morning dawned beautifully clear and warm and the international friendship run or brezellauf beckoned - this was a led 5km run along the banks of the Main which Fauja Singh took part in, along with runners from many nations. I had a great run - ironic considering how I had been feeling - and we met lots of friendly runners, including Stefan a German who was in a kilt and Jacobean shirt which he had purchased in Edinburgh.
We finished back at the Messe - where we were given plenty of water and sports drink, and lovely fresh brezel.
It was a great morning, then we met our Canadian friend Kirk and a German friend Henning who had arranged an afternoon's gentle cruising on the river for us. It was a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon. A very nice pasta dinner followed and as the portions weren't huge, we then stopped at a takeaway outlet where they made us delicious freshly made pasta and pizza.Back to hotel and kit was laid out for the following morning, numbers pinned on etc etc... Still undecided at this point about whether or not I'd run.
I eventually made up my mind about 20min before the start when I bid John Good Luck and walked down to the start line to watch the race. It looks like a good, fast course, the winner Wilson Kipsang was only 4 seconds shy of the World Record which was set in Berlin in September!
John managed to finish in under 4 hours although he struggled with a sore hip and leg. The finish is quite spectacular, you finish inside the Messe on a red carpet with cheer leaders, loud music, ticker tape etc what an experience!!
So that's the end of our running year - we've both had a month off and I am just about at the point where I think I should be able to jog round 5k tomorrow so fingers crossed. John is still nursing a "sore bum" so he's not going to be running much before 1st December when we are both taking part in the Marcothon - this should be interesting :-)
Wish me well for tomorrow as I set out for my first run in a month on what is appropriately designated as "Hug a Runner Day"
