Stuttgart 1/2 Marathon

I celebrated my birthday today by skipping church to run a half marathon. It was my first 1/2 marathon and my first race in Germany. I learned lots of cool things.

1. Everybody here is named Wolfgang. This fact gleaned by reading people's names off their race #'s. I also saw several Jan's (not women).

2. Being European means being able to drop your pants in public. I showed up already dressed to race. A newbie mistake. It turns out, you can strip in public and change right in the stadium. Ditto for using the bathroom along the racecourse.

3. Long races are all about managing your blood sugar. I had a (very) light dinner and no breakfast so that I could avoid the need for bathroom breaks along the course (see point #2). As a result, my body crashed at the end.

4. Other than the blood sugar, a half marathon is no big deal. All you have to do is read the training guides and mindlessly follow instructions. The ability to repeat boring repetitive tasks is one of my gifts so this isn't a problem.

The race was disappointing. Since this was my first long race, I'd been advised to run slow and have a good time. I ran at the slow pace I used on my training runs. At the 10 mile mark, I wasn't breathing hard and was on track to finish in 2:00. Then my leg seized up and my blood sugar evaporated. I wound up walking a good bit of the last 2 miles. Final time was roughly 2:11 (adjusting for the crowd at the start).

I need to do another one to get it right.

And then I got to come home, eat lots of sugar and sleep.