 |
| Sister Sister start in Lindau |
Do you think I can train for a marathon in 10 weeks? Came the message from my small sister, Hillary. Of course I replied in the affirmative. What did I know, I've only ever trained for my first marathon and that was probably ten years ago. Plus, I'd always liked the idea of running her first marathon with her and I was up for another holiday. Hillary had picked the Three Lander Marathon; a marathon that started in Germany, ran through Austria, into Switzerland and then finished in Austria. That sounds pretty cool. Hillary flew from New York, we flew from the buzzing metropolis of the Scottish Borders. It was a good excuse to see each other and doesn't everyone think of Germany, Austria and Switzerland when they think of awesome exciting holidays? No? Let me remind you of those giant pretzels (bretzils?) then.
Buggies were not allowed in the marathon which meant Scott could not run. He looked disappointed to hear this news. I'm not sure how I thought running a marathon with a buggy would be achievable anyway, considering my seven month old Master tolerates being restrained in any type of contraction for a maximum of ten minutes. That's barely enough time for me to snap an Instagram photo of the two of us working out.
We got a fab apartment in old town Lindau on Lake Constance, near the start of the race. We could pick up our race numbers on the morning of the race which was a breeze, there were plenty of port-a-loos (although the German lack of queuing made it a bit awkward) and lots of arrows to follow to the start line. A well organised German marathon.
Hillary and I started with about five people behind us and pretty much stayed in that position for the first 10km as we ran into Austria. At this point Hillary started her run then stretch strategy, claiming it was to relieve her knees. I suspect it was an intimidation tactic to psyche out the 70 year old woman we were battling for position with at the time.What was equally intimidating was a giant clown that we came around the corner of the run to find.
 |
| Austrian clowns |
While running through Austria we admired the multiple play parks for children, giant crops of sweetcorn, cow bells and passion for unusual garden ornaments (concrete guitar anyone?) We also ran past some cows who were unusually stood in front of a house, next to a corner store. In New Zealand, we call corner stores a dairy, so perhaps it was a subtle form of support for us both.
 |
| And Austrian cows |
Switzerland greeted us with enthusiasm; banging on tin drums and handing out dried fruit.
Returning to Austria was slightly depressing, both the lack of supporters and the long straight run along the river. Their support signs did make for entertaining reading, even if that wasn't their intention. Fortunately, Austria redeemed itself when some locals presented us with beer. We'd spotted it on our way out and discussed how we'd approach the matter when we came back past at 33km, which was the furthest distance Hillary had run. The steins had been flowing and the locals were delighted to help us partake in some beer tasting. Our names were on our numbers which meant the fans could chant 'Antonia! Hillary!' as we downed the beer. Hillary had sourced some quality beef jerky from the US of A which accompanied the beer splendidly.
 |
| Austrian beer and marathons do mix |
 |
| OK... |
I hope the other runners didn't find us too annoying. We chatted the whole way. Well done to the runner who ran wearing a yellow hard hat in support of Hong Kong. Hillary (a recent 10km champion in California) and I both like to conserve our energy so that we feel strong for the second half of a run. With it being Hillary's first marathon, we were doubly cautious. This resulted in feeling pretty good throughout and maintaining a steady pace. We didn't wear watches but official splits show that we ran the same pace throughout each quarter of the race.
 |
| Running from Switzerland to Austria |
Despite the course being packed up as we ran it, we finished hours before the cut off. The finish was disappointing; few spectators, alcohol-free beer, fruit that had been sitting out for too long, no signage for chips, bags or loos. Maybe they should have the finish line in Germany!!
It was my fifth personal worst in a row. I'm going after Norm's record. Congratulations to Hillary who looked as fresh as a daisy. She says she's never doing another one though...
A week later, not only did some guy storm the marathon distance in under two hours, the female world record was also broken. If it wasn't for those two minor incidents, I am sure our achievement would have been all over social media. I mean, did they stop for beer?
 |
| Winners (OFFICIAL) |
 |
| #SisterSister |
Comments
Post a Comment