Hello my friends,

I'm sorry it took so much time to write a new blog posting. I didn't have much time for my blog so often. But today I want to write about the Einstein Marathon again. The Einstein Marathon stayed place recently. It was the first time in my life I joined such an event.

Before the marathon I was a little bit worried, because I knew I didn't have enought training. During the summer I had terrible hay fever and much to do. So it was hard to do training. I often thought: "Is it possible to run a half marathon with my training level?" But anyhow I was optimistic.

The Einstein Marathon happened on Sunday at started at 9 am. One day before on Saturday I went to the public event to pick up my equipment. So every person who joined the marathon got a small survival bag. In that bag you find the starting number (bib?), time counter and other things like two Iso-drinks and of course much advertising papers.

Ohh and everybody also got a red t-shirt with the Einstein marathon logo!

On the next day I stood up in the early morning. It was unbelievable how much people joined that event. I read more than 12000 joined this year. About 5000 joined the half marathon same like me.

The weather on Sunday was not really warm. In strict case it was windy at morning and a little bit cold.
As mentioned above the starting signal was at 9 am. But it took much minutes to cross the line because of so much people. Every kilometer on the route was signposted. At an interval of some km there was always a stand with water and Iso-drinks available.
The first part of the route was out of Ulm into the green environment. I guess after 12 km we came back into the city. The rest of the distance was completely in Ulm.
It was really a nice and interesting experience. So much viewers on the route with so much acclamations. It was so great!
But after 2/3 of the distance I felt a little pain in my ankles and knees. The pain increased more and more. I realized it was a bad idea to run with "normal" sport shoes instead of real running shoes.
Well so I decided not to run with the same speed like before. I tried to run a little bit more slowly. Then it was almost ok.
I drank water and Iso-drinks on almost every stand. Mostly I was not really thirsty but to drink is important.
After 18 km I felt the pain more and more again. So the last three kilometers was really hard. But I never give up I always thought in that situation. After 21,089 km I passed the finish line. And I was really happy.
It was very very cold there. Especially with the wet shirt everyone felt cold. So all people got an insulation sheet after the run. It looked strange but it was very helpful.

Everyone also got a medal. It was so a great experience! At first I was only a little bit sad because my counter didn't worked I realised later. But now I think
it doesn't matter. Because I joined and I passed the half marathon. This is more important for me.
Next year I want to start again. But an important note to myself: NEVER EVER run with sport shoes instead of real running shoes! There is really a big difference.

It was really a fantastic event!

Best wishes,
Heiko

Recently I have been in Munich. But not for work, shopping or something like
that. There happened an other very special situation for me.
I met my japanese friend there! It's the first time we met us in real life. Before that day we knew us through Email/internet and snailmail only.
So it was really a very interesting and of course exciting situation for me and respectively us.

Some days before I talked with some colleagues about my planned trip to Munich. I said something like:
"On that day I will go to Munich. Even when I have to walk the distance of 150km from Ulm to Munich. But I will be there!"

Before the trip I and my japanese friend talked about where to meet in Munich exactly. So we decided to meet us in front of the city hall. It's a very special building which is easy to find.

It was really a great day and a fantastic experience. It was also the first time I met a friend from a foreign country which I knew throught internet only.

We both had a lot of fun. We really had a great time in Munich.
We visited some sights, famous buildings, ate bavarian food together and exchanged "Omiyage" (souvenir presents).

I stayed in Munich as long as possible until 10pm. On the next day I had to work again.
It was really a pity we could meet us one day only. But somewhere in future we will meet again.
And now I also hope I can meet my other Asian friends as well in future. That would be so great!

Unfortunately I noticed on that day my English is really bad. I didn't expected there is such a big difference between writing in English and speaking English.
In fact I don't really talk in English in my daily life. I read English websites and write some English mails. But I don't really talk in English in my daily life...
So I really had some problems to express what I mean.
So an important note to myself: "Try so speak more English in daily life."

Well now I'm looking forward to meet all my friends. I really hope it works.

Best wishes,
Heiko