Mannheim Marathon Relay: Germany here we come!
15 May 2004

Friday afternoon: Helen and I met at Stansted Airport for our flight to Frankfurt Hahn and the Mannheim Marathon weekend...months ago, Sheila let us know that Mannheim, her nearest big town, was hosting its first ever marathon and there was a marathon relay to be run. Sadly, Anne was off with injury, but Helen and I - despite injury and lack of 10k training - headed off to Germany for the race. 

We had a smooth flight over to Hahn, where Sheila scooped us up and drove us to Mannheim and the Goldene Gans, our hotel for the weekend. After booking in, we headed over to the old town, which is built on a grid system. We found the expo, and as Sheila waited in the queue to pick up our chip, Helen dived into the Saucony tent and was quickly the proud owner of a new pair of shoes. We picked up our bags (very nice, and made of some light weight material rather than plastic), and Sheila took us into her favourite sports store. Five stories of complete bliss. Then we found a great pub where I could get my spatzle fix, and we supped wheat beer. Freshly shot sucking pig was on the menu - delicious. 

Race day...Helen had told me on the flight that the race started at the 'famous water tower'. This had puzzled us until we saw the wonderful wasser-turm, carefully restored after war damage.

Wasser-turm with fountains playing

Helen and I wandered round the water tower, admiring the preparations for the evening's race.

Helen by the waterfall

Fountain behind me

It was a glorious day, sunny and warm...and after mooching around the old town, we hit the expo again. Helen was after advice about how many times round the water tower she would have to run on her leg, but didn't get much joy. I succumbed to a light-weight jacket (something I'd forgotten to bring) and a pair of purple shorts. Helen bought a lovely Mannheim marathon technical top. I think we were both worrying about the race: my first ever 10k, and a good 30% more than I'd run before, and Helen about her calf injury. After some shopping we stopped for some protein loading at a cafe: cheesecake seemed like a very good idea. More shopping, then a light lunch: ham and cheese sarnie for Helen, hot pretzel for me.

Helen pretending not to be interested in the cheesecake

Sheila arrived at 1400 and I dragged her out food shopping, finding some lovely cheeses and a bag of spatzle to bring home. And Sheila gave me a bottle of German red wine, made near her home. Thank you, Sheila!

At 1600 our substitute Nelly arrived, with her husband John, who's a very speedy marathon runner. By this stage I was a complete bag of nerves, and Sheila and I went up to my hotel room to get changed. Sheila gave me a brilliant pep talk about telling myself I could do 10k, and passed on greetings from RW forum friends.

In the Goldene Gans before heading off to the start: Helen, Sheila, me, Nelly

Sheila and Helen were sporting their URWFRC shirts, and I'd gone for the new German shorts and my FLM expo top. At this point I was very nervous, and just trying not to think about how I was about to run double the distance I'd ever run before. JJ had suggested I run/walk every half kilometre, which was a help as I felt I was allowed to do this if the going got tough. (Yes, I like rules!) We downed some water then headed out to see Nelly start for us.

The team: Helen, Nelly, me, Sheila

Helen, John, Nelly and Sheila

We headed up to the water tower; runners and in-liners milling around us.

Sheila, John, Nelly and Helen head up to the water tower 

It was still warm, and the fountains were going full blast as the light grew lower.

We managed to find a good spot very close to the start and after a bit of a wait they were off! The marathon started with a circuit of the tower, and we spotted Nelly on her way round. Nelly had reckoned she'd do the first 10k in an hour, so John led us through Luisenpark for the first change point.

By now, I was trying not to think about what lay ahead. I'd studied the map, and knew the rough outline of my leg: a wonky kind of square the other side of the Necker river. But I was trying hard not to think too much...the hour was nearly up and I positioned myself in the relay lane, hanging back with lots of other relay runners. One of the marshals was yelling numbers of arriving first leggers at the top of his voice...after a few minutes I spotted a tiny speeding figure and Nelly was home! A quick change-over of the chip and I was off...

At the start of my leg on Josef Braun Ufer (pic by Sheila)

The change-over point was a little bit short of the 10k point, and after two or three minutes I saw the 10k marker. Looking at my watch, I saw that I'd forgotten to start it, so I turned it on and thought, well, at least I'll be timing the 10k properly. 

Soon we were heading over Kurpfalz-bruke, the bridge over the Necker. Just over the bridge the outward and homeward routes diverged, and I thought: when I see this again, I'll be nearly home. The first two kilometres into Neckerstadt-Ost were horrid, as they always are, and for a while I ran with a German woman and we enjoyed the supporters together. I grabbed water and poured some over the back of my head to cool down. The Mannheimers were out in force, with cowbells, rattles and claxons - wonderful support. 

At the 15k marker I thought, good, I've done this before and everything after this is a bonus. I passed my 5k point at 32 minutes, two minutes over my 5k first race pace, but I'd been running at a comfortable pace so I was well pleased. I had a couple of 45 second walk breaks over the next 3k, and took great joy in shouting a loud (and English) 'thank you' to the Mannheimers, which seemed to surprise them but also brought further clapping and shouting. 

I was trying to keep a look out for all the kilometre marks, but after 17k I missed them...by now, I was running steadily. My knee, strapped in its new German support, felt fine. Suddenly I was near the bridge, and my legs still had plenty left in them. I asked for speed and got it, and I was starting to overtake other runners.

Then I was over the bridge and on the stretch of road that Helen and I had recce'd the day before, looking for our change over point. My watch showed just over an hour, and I felt ecstatic...I thought I couldn't possibly do this kind of time. I ran even faster, and started grinning like a Cheshire cat. But I missed the change over signs and wondered where on earth Sheila and Helen were...had I run past them?? If so, what should I do?? But then I saw Sheila, waving madly and indicating where Helen was.

Coming in and removing the chip - soooo happy! (pic by Sheila)

I passed the chip on to Helen and she was away...then I grabbed Sheila and hugged her while gabbling about how thrilled I was...and, I hope, thanked her for her brilliant pep talk! I'd stopped my watch at 1 hour 5 mins - much much better than I thought I'd do. Then I took Sheila's bag while she headed off to her start point. I went back to the hotel for a quick shower and change before heading back to Josef Braun Ufer to meet Helen finishing and Sheila starting. I popped into a first aid tent and a very nice woman gave me a blister plaster - ah, that's better!

Helen and I had had some very interesting conversations about the importance of believing you can do something, and Helen proved it in spades when she arrived...she'd had a horrible asthma attack five minutes from home and her puffer hadn't kicked in til for a few moments, so she'd had a frightful time. AND she hadn't run more than 15 minutes for months...yet she'd done her 10k in around 75 mins - a fantastic result. The chip was passed on to Sheila and Helen got a breather - literally.

Helen after her 10k - a complete star! Her cap was a Stansted airport buy

We walked back and Helen stopped to thank the policeman who'd asked her if she need help near the end of her run. Helen said another runner, seeing her dig out the Ventolin, had shouted 'Superwoman!' - which sums up Helen!

We stopped at the Red Cross tent where the excellent staff quickly found some apple sports drink for Helen, which stopped her post-run shakes. Then it was back to the hotel for Helen to shower and change, and back to the water tower to see Sheila finish.

We found a spot close to the finish and after a few minutes Sheila appeared, looking very strong. We yelled and she waved back.

It's too dark to see Sheila - but she'd just run past, heading for the finish

Our team had finished in just over 4.5 hours - a great result. Helen and I scooted round the corner to meet Sheila, resplendent with all the team medals.

Cheers! Sheila at the finish

Weary but very happy, we headed back to the Goldene Gans. Helen was so tired that she retired to rest, and Sheila and I downed some wheat beer and a yummy German supper. We agreed that Sheila would pick us up at 1100 the next day, and I headed for bed, tired but hugely happy.

Update on 22 May: race photos now posted here.

The superhunde arrive! Sheila, Shani and Oz

On Sunday morning, Sheila arrived to collect us and we finally got to meet the wonder dogs, Shani and Oz, who are even more beautiful in real life. Shani is a little bit smaller than Oz, and she holds her head to one side when she looks at you, which is so sweet.

Sheila drove us out to near where she lives, and we met Sven, who trains the dogs. Shani and Oz came out of the car and we headed into the forest to walk off the run stiffness.

Sheila, Oz, Shani and Helen - and yes, those are our race t-shirts

Sheila said that one reason she'd find it very hard to come back to the UK to live is the huge range of sports in Germany...even the small towns we drove through had cycle paths, and on our walk we saw runners, cyclists and inliners all out and about on the forest paths. 

Once we were back at the dog club, we settled ourselves on the balcony overlooking the training field, and Sheila gave us a wonderful obedience demo while we sipped a glass of wheat beer.

Oz leaps to catch the ball

and again!

Shani about to turn round Sheila

The superhunde were so impressive - the bit I loved most was when they followed Sheila perfectly at walk, run and very slow walk. The dogs had a rest while we had lunch in the sun. Then is was time to go to the airport, where Oz and Shani were wonderfully well behaved and attracted much attention!

It was a smooth flight home, and I said goodbye to Helen who was meeting Peter. I headed for the train and home.

What a wonderful weekend: hard to see how it could have been better. A lovely town, a pb, great company, good German food and beer and the thrill of taking part in a wonderfully supported event. Many thanks to Sheila, Helen and Nelly for being such a great team, and to John for his support. I'll be back next year!