Emmersdorf to Loitzendorf

Tuesday morning. 10 kilometer (6.2 miles) uphill run from Emmersdorf to Loitzendorf. Weather: ~5 degree C. No snow but sometimes a bit windy, especially when I came out of the forests and ran along the wide open areas. Elevation gain approx. from 200m to 500m. Not bad! :-)

Running around Simmering, Vienna

Monday morning run. Ran about one hour. Distance was around 7.5 miles.

The weather was cold again, around 2 degress Celsius.

At one point I noticed that it's only 5 kilometers to Schwechat. Maybe I do that run once before I fly back to Seattle.

Es lebe der Zentralfriedhof - running in Vienna

I am now back in Austria, staying in Simmering, the 11th district. So that's where I ran as well. Did a ~5 mile run last Saturday. It's about 2 degrees Celsius, so a little bit colder that I am used to. The track of the run was actually a little different.

For those about to rock....

As I am reflecting the things that happened over the last couple of months I start to realize how important running has become to me. It's certainly a positive change in lifestyle.

I recovered pretty fast from the marathon. The day after I had no pain, besides a few sore muscles. No problems with the left knee at all. :) Still I took it pretty easy this week, my first run was on Saturday morning. 4 miles to Volunteer park and back home. Feels damn good. Weather is great. A bit cool and fresh. On Sunday I added another run a bit longer 5.25 miles.

For those about to rock, we salute you!

Distance: 9.25 miles

Reflection....

Although I have the gift to be athletic and in good shape, it wasn't until this beautiful summer in Seattle that I got that special kick out of endurance events and the desire to run a marathon.

So I started running... I ran in Seattle, around Capitol Hill, Leschi and along Lake Washington. I ran on the San Juan islands. I ran in Austria, along the Danube. I ran in Vienna around the gorgeous Schönbrunn palace and in the tiny village I grew up. I ran when it was hot and I ran when it got cold. I ran in the Seattle rain and enjoyed sunny runs with beautiful views of Mt. Rainier.

Overall I ran more then 300 miles in the last couple of months. That is about the distance from Vienna to Venice. All leading up to last Sunday's successful completion of the Seattle Marathon.

Now I can brag about it for the rest of my life! :-)

The truth is that about anybody can successfully participate in endurance events. The human body is amazing. You just need to get your mindset right. There are folks in the 50s and 60s who run marathons, I saw them on Sunday. My goal is to be one of them.

26.2 miles - It is not a miracle that I finished....

...it is a miracle that I had the courage to start.

The weather was really great for the marathon, fresh air, not too chilly. The moment when I stepped on the I-90 bridge was awesome, everything was covered in fog. Really pretty.

At around mile 14, when running back from Seward park along Lake Washington, I entered the true "running mode". Everything seemed so easy, it was just me and the road ahead - one step at time. The last mile, before entering the stadium was a bit painful on my knee as it went downhill.

I am feeling exhausted and depleted of energy but it was worth every step and breath.

Now I will brag about it for the rest of my life!

Distance: 26.2 miles (42.195 kilometers)
Time: 4 hours 16 minutes and 1 second.

Total distance (since July): 321.6 miles
That is 514.56 kilometers or about the distance Vienna to Venice.

Two short runs on Thursday and Friday

Thanksgiving. Did two runs in the early morning this week. Both ~4 miles. The weather cooled down quite a bit over the last few days. According to the weather report Sunday should be back in the lower 50 (~12 Celsius), although I doubt that in the morning it will be much more then 5 degrees Celsius.

Since July (after the SeaFair Half-Marathon I ran 295.4 miles). Including the SeaFair Half Marathon that is about 500 kilometers.

Tomorrow I am going to rest and pick up my start-tag at the Westin Hotel in Downtown.

Sunday is the big day. 36 hours to go.

Last Half Marathon run before Full Marathon

Today I did my last long run before the marathon. I ran about 14.2 miles around Capitol Hill, Leschi, Madison, Montlake and then back. Weather was chilly but sunny. According to the 10 day forecast it will be very similar next Sunday, although there is a chance of even rain.

So let's hope for the best. :-)

Now I will slow down, do a couple of 4 mile runs and then off we go on the 26 mile track next Sunday.

Total Distance: 287.4 miles

"Cool" Wednesday morning

Did a 4.2 mile run to Volunteer park. The weather was pretty chilly today - around 7 degrees celsious. It took about 2 miles until I didn't notice the cold weather at all anymore. The compression pants are really good.

Total mileage: 273.2

Sunday run - awesome view

Did a reverse run of my usual thing. I thought since the weather was sunny that it will be great to see Mt. Rainier while running along Lake Washington. When I came around 37th Street in Leschi I got an unbelievable view of Downtown Bellevue. Lake Washington was covered in fog and I could see the high-rise buildings reaching out of the fog into the sky. Beautiful. Then I ran over to get a peak on Mt. Rainer and the view was very similar. Afterwards I headed down to Lake Washington and I-90, running through the bike tunnel and back up to Capitol Hill. The run wasn't too long though about 7.6 miles.

Total Milage: 269

Still very warm mid November

Did a nice 8.4 mile run Saturday morning down to I-90 and up on East Pike Street. The weather is perfect for running these days. It was even sunny.

Total: 261.4 miles

Morning run to Volunteer Park

Got up at 7 and run to Volunteer park. Weather is good, kinda wet but not too cold. Everything's smooth.

Total mileage: 253

15 miles on Saturday

The weather is great, a little chilly and windy but mostly sunny. The Sugoi jacket was a great investment. I ran down to I-90 and then along Lake Washington and through the Arboretum back up to Capitoll Hill, also stopped by Bruce Lee's grave and Volunteer Park.

It was a great run. No problem with muscles or feet. :-)

morning run in the rain

This Thursday was my first run in the rain. Might be a good practice for the marathon on the 30th of November. :-) I am really wondering how the weather will be that Sunday.

I bought a Sugoi rain-jacket for 70 dollars this week and this does a great job protecting against wind and rain. It was my regular 4 mile run to Volunteer Park and back home.

Total: 234 miles

6 mile Sunday run

Weather is still very warm and runner friendly. Did a nice one hour run around Capitol Hill and the Central District.

Halloween Run

Yeah, Halloween party was fun but I need to stay focused with my training schedule. :-) Did a 7 mile run this morning around Capitol Hill. Weather was not very chilly and towards the end it started to rain a bit. Currently my speed is a bit slow settled down to run about a mile in 10 minutes.... I need to adjust my pace and start running a bit faster.

BACK ON TRACK

Got up in the morning - it's pretty dark these days, so it was about 8.30 and ran to Volunteer park. No pain in my knee and things are going smoothly. That said, I'm back on track!

I got really worried since the various issues I faced over the last 5 weeks. Especially after I finished my first 20 mile training run. I had to pause for nearly 2 weeks, because of the pain in the muscles on my right foot. Then my knee started hurting on the left. Now things are good.


Total mileage: 217 miles

11.2 miles this Sunday

Did a 11.2 mile run this Sunday - running my favorite distance, down to I-90 and along Lake Washington. Time was about 2 hours. Not too fast, but I am currently slowing down to make sure my knee is fine. Also, I start to get used to eating energy gels now periodically during the run. So that I don't upset my stomache to much. So far I am not used to digesting while running.

Total Mileage: 213.1

First run with new shoes - Crossing 200 miles

Did a 7.5 mile run today. New shoes are nice and I don't seem to have any adjustmend issues. I also put on a compression around my left knee, to make sure it doesn't get worse. After the run I had pretty much no pain in my knee. That makes me really happy because that is one of the worrieitems I am having right now. I will keep using the compression band for some time.

The weather was also great today - cold but sunny.
And yes, I did it - crossed the 200 miles.... :-)

Mileage: 201.9 miles

New Running Shoes

Last Thursday I went to Jock n Jill at Greenlake and got new running shoes. The store is awesome and very helpful. I tried variuos shoes and could run with them outside and try different once. I actually ended up getting Asics, not the Adidas Supernova Control.

194.4 miles - soon to cross 200 :-)

I will buy new running shoes. Adidas SuperNova Control 10 is what the doctor recommended. Wanna try them. Still have about 6 weeks until the Marathon.

2 times 3.9 during the week

I figure I have to start running during the week again more, so that my muscles around the knee are strong enough. Ran Monday and Thursday - both times to Volunteer Park and back. Getting up around 7AM is fun. :-) distance is around 3.9 miles once, so 7.8 miles.

moderate

Slowed down with training since my left knee is hurting quite a bit. Ran on Saturday about 7 miles but had to stop towards the end when it went down-hill. Downhill is just not good for me right now.

mileage: 7

Short run on Sunday :-(

Turns out that my knee wasn't doing all that good. I ran about 1.4 miles and had to stop, since the pain on the side of my left knee got worse. Need to take a break again. It sucks so badly. :-(

Total mileage 179.6.

Nice Saturday run

Back on track, 10 miles this Saturday. :-)
Total 178.2 miles now. It was a little chilly and I have to get used to that. Need to buy new shoes, my knee starts hurting a bit.

Total mileage 168.2

Just to not forget about it. :-)

Unwanted pause...

I had to pause a bit with running for the last 10 days or so, since after my 20 mile run the sole of my foot started hurting. There is pretty much no pain at this point.

Today I went to the podiatrist and he tells me it's no problem, just pushed my muscles a bit too hard. He told me about some exercises I can do to improve them further. I also should stretch more after running.

I will also get some new running shoes soon - so that I can break them in before the marathon. They should at least have 50 miles on them. :-)

On Saturday I did a 3 mile run in the gym, on one of these cycling things, that don't get hard on my feet. Looking so forward to the weekend and a long run again. Weather is getting a bit cooler now, so I am wondering how that will go.

20 miles and still alive

This Saturday I followed the route of the Seattle Marathon down Lake Washington Boulevard to Seward Park. The weather was perfect. Sunshine in September, who would have thought that. :-)

After coming back up I stopped by a running shop in Leschi and got some water and a gel.

It took me 3 hours and 30 minutes to be back at my place. And it feels good.

10.8 miles on Sunday

Did 10.8 miles this Sunday. I have a favorite route now, it's from Capitol Hill down to I-90 and then along Lake Washington. It actually rained a bit in the beginning but that felt ok, temperatures get lower now too.

Total: 145.2 miles

Fall is here

It was raining on Saturday, so I decided to run on a treadmill in the gym.
Did about 3.2 miles in 22 minutes - tried to run fast. Running on a treadmill is not so much fun.

Total Mileage....

....is now 131.2 miles. Whoo Yooo!

Monday Morning

Quick run around the hill (Volunteer Park and back). 3.7 miles.

Saturday Run

I am seriously starting to think that I should do the Seattle Full Marathon instead of the half.

Another 14.5 miles. ;-)

Interestingly it took me ~2.15 minutes compared to last week's 2.40. is about 9 minutes/mile.

bike ride tuesday

biked to work on tuesday (i-90 and back north of lake washington)

Long Sunday run

Ran about 160 minutes. I am actually not sure about the distance. Distance was about 16 miles (25.6 km).

It was definitely a blast and I could have kept going. Only when going downhill I feel a bit uneasy in my knee and the sole of my feet. Need to check if I should get new shoes, already ran a lot with them. I bought them a year ago.

Maybe I should reconsider and run a full-marathon @ Seattle Marathon.

Lazy Saturday morning run

around 4 miles
total: 97 miles

quick 3.1 miles before going to work last week

total 93 miles.

Weekend bike ride

Last weekend I also did a longer bike ride. Usually I don't post too much about biking but check it out:

about 25 miles.

Signed Up: Seattle Half Marathon, November 30th 2008

Today I signed up for the Seattle half-marathon. It's going to be by the end of November and I am already wondering how the weather will be - probably pretty cold and rainy. Let's see. I hoping to make a time around 1:45. The route looks rather hilly going from the Seattle Center over to Capitol Hill and Lake Washington, then back.

Let's see.

Chinatown, Safeco Field, Elliot Bay Park

Nice weater, cool a bit rainy in the beginning then it got sunny and warm. Ran around noon. 85 minutes. Distance 9.4 miles.


Very exhausted afterwards. 89.9 miles total.

Distance ran since Friday, July 11th

total 80.5 miles in 48 days.

Back to Seattle

I arrived around 2pm back in Seattle. The flight from Vienna via Frankfurt to Seattle was pretty smooth and I had time to rest. At around 3pm, I decided it's time for a nice long run around Seattle. Check it out. Conditions were great. Also I am tracking distances in milage again with the gmaps pedometer, since I am now in the US again.

Distance about 10.4 miles. Not too bad for sitting in a plane the last 10 hours. ;-)

Another Luberegg run

Did 2 laps running in the rain: 5.6 miles
Total Distance: 72.1 miles

That will be the last run during my vacation. Next time will be in Seattle again.

Jauerling - run details

Run details. 9th of August 2008. cold and wet weather. excellent for running. distance 9.7 miles. elevation gain about 350 meter. time 90 minutes.

Total distance: 67.5

Jauerling

Placeholder for the Jauerling run. Unbelievable that I did that. Elevation gain of about 400 meters. Distance maybe 10 miles in 90 minutes. Will post route and more details later.

Running and biking before vacation (SeaFair, San Juan Islands)

Before I left for vacation I did another bike ride to work and back around Lake Washington.

I also ran around Capitol Hill/First Hill 2 times for about 70-80 minutes. Distance probably: 8 miles. Once I ran down to Leschi Park (Sunday of Blue Angels flight show).

The week before I went to San Juan islands and I did a little run there around Friday Harbor, San Juan Island. Approximatley 3.7 miles.

total distance as of today (there are a view more runs I did - will post later and I have to add them to the distance):
58.8 miles

Schönbrunn

Nice run through the palace park of Schönbrunn in Vienna. Distance ~12 km. I ran around the park randomly for a little bit more than an hour.

The weather was great and in the morning there were only few people walking around the park.

It's a great run, the view from the Gloriette is beautiful as well.

Luberegg

Haven't posted for a while. Reason: I am traveling. I will try to catch up as soon as I am back. Just found a computer here and thought to post today's run. It's one of my favorite runs. I did it about 12 days ago as well, altough only one round (about 5 km). Today I chose a different route and did two turns, so it's about 9 km. Today was hot, it's a good practice to run under different conditions. Afterwards I jumped into the water to cool down a bit.

Biking to work from Seattle via Mercer Island to Redmond

It's around 17 miles from home to work over I-90. Took about 100 minutes - I had some troubles finding the right way after Mercer Island since I didn't have a Trail Map.

Calculating distances and summary

Distance run since I started this blog: 22.9 miles.
By the way, this is the website (Gmaps Pedometer) I use to calculate the approximate distance I ran. I don't have a fancy GPS system or so, but this site is really awesome and helpful for calculating distances. Check it out!

Total Time: ~~ about 220min?? This is a total guess. I seriously need to start tracking my time better...

Wednesday morning run

My legs been sore a bit from the workout on the weekend so I kept things calm over the last few days. Ran ~4 miles on Wednesday morning.

Alki Beach

Ran along Alki Beach in the morning. Biking in the afternoon around 20 miles or so (Fremont, Burk Gilman Trail to Matthew Beach Park). Already feel very comfortable with my new bike. It's great.

distance ran: 5.2
distance biked: 21 miles

Long Saturday Run, Biking, Swimming... what a day

Saturday. 4.30 or so and walked on my deck. Dusk. Take a look.

Finally got up much later though 9.45 or so and then I started running around my neighborhood. It was a great day, sunshine, warm and I kept going - passing by amazing viewpoints towards Lake Washington and Mt. Rainier (34th & E James). Ran around 10 miles, pretty much exactly 100 minutes, a little shorter.

After a quick lunch, I got on my new bike and headed over to the U-District. Still have to get used to the bike. Rides are totally smooth and the gear-shifting very simple. Can't imagine having to move my hands off the handlebars anymore. Which I had to do on the last bike I owned.... well that was long time ago and now pretty much every bike comes with that feature. It's great. Headed on the Burk Gilman Trail and to Matthews Beach. Then to Gas Works Park and over to Ballard and Sunset Hill to catch an amazing sunset there. Biking home in dark, stop by Gas Works to see moon over Seattle.


distance ran: 10 miles
time: 95 minutes

distance biked: ~32 miles (need to get a computer for the bike)

Running in the morning

Did a nice run yesterday morning around "the Hill" up to Volunteer Park. The weather was gorgeous around 8 o'clock.

Distance Today: 3.7 miles
Time: ~40 min. (wild guess, need to start taking exact time)
Overall distance: 3.7 miles

one step after the other

I can't recall where I read this and don't know from whom it originates but this is so true:

The miracle is not that I finished, the miracle is that I started.

That's what I thought after I finished my first half marathon a few weeks ago. I am a passionate runner. It's a simple sport and it makes me feel... well, it makes me feel good.