The trip

Germany was the finale of a very busy start to the year - the 4th marathon in the 4th country in January. And this one was an official race, albeit a very ‘local’ race.

We flew from Stansted to cologne early Saturday morning. The trip took a little bit of logistical planning because the race was in a small town called Pulheim on the outskirts of the city. There were train and bus options to get there but we managed to rent a car for not much at all so decided that was the better option.

Avis upgraded us which was great. I’d booked the cheapest little manual option there was and they upgraded us to an automatic crossover that had an interactive screen with google maps built in. This was my first time driving on the other side of the road so jumping in at a shallower point was much appreciated.

When we left the airport, instead of heading straight to our Airbnb, we made a detour to an Aldi to pick up some lunch and food to make for dinner. The Airbnb was the converted loft of someone’s house in Pulheim. It had a tiny little kitchenette with a single hob. So a simple massive pasta and sauce dinner seemed like the best option.

We then made another, slightly more significant detour… to Phantasialand. This is one of the best theme and when we realised it was in Cologne, we thought we might as well go. It did not disappoint. Fantastic rides and atmosphere; it was a great way to spend the time. Walking around a theme park for hours probably isn’t the best preparation the day before a marathon but by this point I was very much used to just making myself run and adjusting the speed to handle what I can. We stayed until the park closed, finishing on the drop tower in the dark, then jumped back in the car.

We got to the Airbnb and were greeted by our host. It was then a very quick case of cook, eat, wash, bed. There was so much pasta that I still had loads left for the morning.

The race

The race started at quarter past 10 on Sunday. I scoffed down some of the remaining spaghetti around 9 but, as expected, wasn’t in the mood for a full plate. The race started in a school just a 10 minute walk from where we were staying. It had a great local feel to it, although it was still absolutely rammed in the main hall. I picked up my number accidentally answering with my number when asked “What is your name”. I expect I was one of very few there that didn’t speak German. After a little bit of stretching on one of the benches, it was time to start.

The race was a 5k loop, quite rectangularly shaped, 8 times over for the marathon with an extra small lap at the beginning. It was also the first race I’ve done that was primarily a relay, which makes sense with this course. There were also 5k, 10k and half options. It was mostly flat expect for a slight uphill at the far end and opposite downhill at this end before the approach to the start / finish.

The weather was less ideal - it was freezing at the start. Not a surprise in January. I still think it’s the only official race I have done in leggings at the point of writing this. After the cold in Austria and Slovakia, I was very cautious about how numb and painful my hands might start to feel. I took it easy to start to keep my body temperature low and not avoid sweating too much. After I started to warm up a bit, the snood became problematic around my neck so with the first drop of sweat I started wearing it as an extra hand wrap, alternating from left to right.

My body was feeling quite good so I managed to keep up a reasonable pace through the first few laps. The sun did eventually start to heat me up a fair bit as well so frostbite stopped occupying any space in my mind around lap 3.

As it was primarily a relay, it was very hard to track how well I was doing. I was overtaking lots of people by lap four or five but then also getting overtaken myself. All faces were unfamiliar. The numbers did give an indication as to what was going on but I only figured out the system on lap six or seven.

I started to pick the pace up a little bit around lap 6 as I felt like I had a bit in the tank still. Often I make this mistake around half way and then regret it very soon after. The push around three quarters of the way through this one though worked much better. I did have a bit in the tank so the 6th lap was a little quicker and then the 7th lap a little quicker again. As I went over the lap line and started my 8th and final lap, I started to really go for it, as much as my tired legs could.

The last lap was relatively rapid, given the context. I just kept accelerating through the first flat section, up the short hill and then all the way towards the line. I finished so surprisingly quickly that I beat the lower time bound that I told Ciara to be at the finish line by. I came in at 3:13. Only 5 minutes behind PB, in the cold, in leggings, without proper prep and focus. To say I was pleased was an understatement. Through a lot of these runs, especially the slow ones, I felt very unfit and weak at times. It was nice to feel stronger again.

After the race

One of the things that made the trip work logistically was the showers in the school being open for use after the race. Ciara was responsible for checkout of the Airbnb whilst I was running so I had no shower to return to there. Ciara brought my bag and I washed up and got changed. We then walked back to our car by our airbnb and dropped some stuff back in it.

The return flight was at 8pm, so I wanted to be there at about 5 with enough time to return the car. It was about 2pm by this point so we didn’t really have much time for exploring. We were initially considering going into Cologne to see the city proper and the Cathedral, but Ciara had done so on a school trip when she was younger and I was tired and wanted to minimise driving. So instead, we just opted to walk around Pulheim for a bit. We had a lovely bit of lunch in a Pizza restaurant and before long it was time to go and tick off another marathon with a smile.

Evidence