I told myself a few years ago that I wanted to do a marathon before I turned 30. On Sunday May 27th, at 11:14 a.m. I made good on that commitment. I’ve been training for the 2007 Mad City Marathon since the end of February. Since then, Katie and I took a trip to Europe which really hurt training, although I did two runs, one in Munich and one in Freiburg.

The training really had an impact last Wednesday as my tapering was coming to an end. I had gone on a 4-mile run that felt fantastic. I came home and told Katie that I was ready – that the training had prepared me for Sunday’s race. Saturday evening Katie put together a family dinner for the carb-loading.

Saturday night, I was a little nervous. Katie and I loaded the final songs on the new iPod Shuffle she got me for birthday/marathon gift. By the way: if you’re training or working out, you need a shuffle.

I won’t take you through the play-by-play of the marathon, but here’s a summary: I went out as slow as I could for the first 6 miles and felt good. I sped up the next 9, and “cruised” for miles 15-18. Miles 19-21 got tough, and from 22 to the end, I wasn’t quite prepared for how difficult that was. One coach of mine calls the last 6 miles the “survival shuffle.” Now I can see why. I walked more than I wanted, and I was slower than I had hoped. At mile 22, I had a chance to finish under 4 hours for the race (which was my ultimate goal) but I couldn’t quite hold on. I finished in 4:04, which I am still happy with for my first marathon.

Katie was a fantastic supporter the whole race. I will never forget her running across a field to get ahead of me, take a picture, and give me a high-five. My parents, sister, and the Robertsons were wonderful encouragement also. Special props for my sister who ran about 8 miles that day due to bike failures.

On the back of the Shuffle, Katie inscribed the following:

Plan, Work, Perform, Succeed. 26.2

There is nothing more satisfying than planning, working towards that goal, performing your best, and finishing with success.

My father-in-law would like to spend a few more days on the golf course than he actually gets to in a season. So his wife organized a 4-some last weekend for his birthday — dad, Grant, Peter, and I.
Dad had the best round, shooting an 89. We all played really well. Luckily for me (and probably Grant and Peter, too) the course was wide open. I’m proud to say I only lost 2 or 3 balls.

Golf is such an addicting game. One good hole and you’re hooked for another couple rounds! I had the drive of the day (310 yds), Grant had the chip of the day, and here dad had the put of the day.

Grant had a great shot on this par 3, 133 yds. The funny part was the next picture (click to enlarge) which shows how he used his driver off the tee.

This is our 18th. On our last hole, “We shoot ’til we’re happy.” If you look closely (click to enlarge), our four-some had 7 balls on the green. Happy Golfing!!

The train ride to Munich was a little difficult because Katie had a migrane. She slept most of the way, and to make things worse, we could only find a seat in smoking. That was difficult for me, so we changed seats after the first stop. We had to change seats a couple more times because Katie was facing the wrong way, which made the migrane worse. When we got off in Munich, I realized we had left a bag on the train. I threw my bag off and ran back to the train. When I got on, I was frantically looking under the seats for it. Finally, I found it and got off the train (I was worried it might take me off to another city without my wife!!!).

Munich has been great. We had pizza again at our favorite place – Monaco Pizzaria. Literally, the best pizza I have ever had. Munich is by far my favorite city. Yesterday we rented bikes and really got to see a lot more of the city. We went to Nymphenburg, where the original ruling family lived. We had lunch packed and ate in the Enlish Garten. So many people out there – very social and recreational.

We finished off the day with a couple red brats. After taking our bikes back and walking the city, we will be on a train at 15:00 for Frankfurt. As the trip comes to an end and we prepare to fly out of Frankfurt, I eagerly await to begin putting more money away for our return trip to Germany.

Well Katie`s trip to the bath was eventful – not as close as she thought it would be. She walked a bit, but she figured it out like the seasoned traveler that she is. My day in Freiburg was relaxing, and it was very exciting to wait at the train station for her to arrive.

We had a nice date at a restaurant I had found. Sitting by the river (which flows through most of the city) will never get old.

The shops were closed yesterday, so we are going to check out of here, take our bags to the lockers at the train station, and walk into town for a couple hours. Then off to Munich.

On a strong recommendation from two women we met on our way out of Gimmewald, Katie decided to travel to Baden-Baden for the bath. We looked up a couple of the descriptions of what a bath entails (16 sections, 10-15 minutes each) and I almost joined her. Hot and cold baths, massages, all sounded very appealing, especially after our hiking in the Alps. But we figured Katie wanted this more than I, and I would rather wander Freiburg for a few hours.

I just got done with a 60 minute run. I headed out of Freiburg and ran the entire way along a river. I am guessing I went about 3.5 miles out and was never more than 20 feet from the water. At one point, I crossed in front of a dam across some rocks for a little variety. There were bikers, walkers, and runners everywhere. A very beautiful run.

Now I am off to the city. I still have a tram pass that is very convenient. My mission is to find lunch and then find a place to take Katie on a date tonight. The weather is expected to be 64 today – another beautiful one here in Germany.

We checked out of Ester`s Guesthouse this morning after purchasing some more of her wonderful homemade bread and yogurt. We said goodbye to our new friends from Seattle and were on the gondola down from Gimmelwald. The travels were decent. It was rather sad to leave the Swiss Alps. But a couple transfers later we arrived in Basel. Soon we were in Freiburg and our only small glitch was finding tickets for the tram to our hostel.

We are staying at the Black Forest Hostel and it is VERY cool. I have never been in a hostel before – very airy, earthy, and cozy. One small walk around town and we are calling it a day. Props to John Swee for recommending Freiburg.

If you spend a day hiking in these beautiful Alps, you can say you`ve hiked them. After two days, you have gained a level of comfort. But when you have hiked three good days here in the Alps, you can really say you`ve been there – done that. That is how Katie and I felt coming off our final hike today.

I am sad to report that this computer is not reading my card – I cannot get any pictures to load. I really wanted to get a couple pics uploaded here for you all to see.

Anyway, here is how our hiking went (pics to follow):
Thursday we had our most difficult day. Open this map (you have to zoom in once, and zoom in at different places to see detail). We started in Gimmelwald (bottom left) and went up to Murren. Then we cut left (on the map) and followed “3 and 4” up and around to Schiltalp. This is an easier hike in the summer, but there is still a lot of snow, so it was a very difficult day. There were parts where we were on our hands and feet crawling up the hill. It was great, but very tough coming down. The altitude really got to us. As anyone who has been in altitude knows, we were having to stop to catch our breathe, but weren`t necessarily tired. Still, the stops were necessary. The hike was 16 km round trip.

Friday we needed a more casual hike. Katie wasn`t feeling well with her sinuses acting up. On this day, we hiked up to Murren again, and continued (right on the map) across the top of the valley, on the dark red and black line towards Grutschmit. We walked along side a train the whole way and had excellent views of the Big Three (Eiger, Monch, Yungfrau). I cannot even begin to explain how beautiful the scenery is. When I have more time, I will describe the layout here in this valley and the surrounding mountains. So we walked to Grutschmit and took a gondola down to Lauterbrunnen. Then we hiked back (left) towards Stechelberg. At the station, we took another gondola back up to Gimmelwald. On that rectangle that we just hiked, the top part was an elevated view of the valley. Once we were on the lower part, we saw paraglider everywhere. Note: I will paraglide next time I am here. And there will be a next time. This hike was about 12 km.

And today we took it easy. We were up early and took a gondola up to Schilthorn. This is the top of the skiing here. And boy is there skiing. We actually felt very out of place taking the gondola up because we were the only ones without ski gear. Just wait until you see the pictures from this restaurant. It is also where part of a Bond 007 movie was filmed, On Her Majesty`s Secret Service. We took the gondola down, and were feeling the need for an early afternoon nap from that fantastic breakfast. We woke and hiked from Gimmelwald to Murren and then up to Sonneberg (just above Allmendhubel in bold type). It was our shortest of hikes, but had great views of Murren.

When you look at this map, Katie and I really explored the entire thing. Kind of crazy. We are very proud.

Again, I am so sorry I cannot get pictures posted. I will try again soon.

Tomorrow (Easter) we leave for Basel and Freiburg. We canceled our trip to Dublin – more on that later. It was too much of a hastle and we would be wasting time that we will spend (gladly) back in Munich.

Auf Wiedersehen.

Well I didn`t know what the internet situation would be here in Europe. Frankfurt and Munich were tough because we were so busy exploring things that we didn`t have time. Plus you need to pay for the internet service and use junky computers with funny keyboards. It just didnt fit into our schedule.

Here`s what happened:

Munich was fantastic. Our hotel was a little hike away, but to get there we had to walk through their version of State Street meets Michigan Avenue. Our hotel was verz nice, and I give up on the YZ thing. There was a market right up the street and a Starbucks on the other side. I went and got coffee everz mornign for us. We did Mike`s Bike Tours on Sundaz and that was excellent – easilz the best waz to see Munich. So manz people bike. Our tour guide, Steve, was an Irish guz from Dublin. He was verz helpful. We were whipped out after the tour. The next daz we did Neuschwanstein Castle. That was amazing for me. It`s just so grand and majestic. Onlz 1/3 was finished, so that was a little disappointing.

Zurich was rather uneventful. I got my Swiss Army knife and Katie got a verz cool jacket – militarz stzle. Everzone in Munich had militarz coats – their stzle here is verz cool. Now I have expereinced what Katie means bz dressing `Euro`.

Then it was off to Interlaken – our gatewaz to Gimmelwald, where I`m writing from. I wish I had time to explain the trip to get here. Everzthing went well, but there were quite a few parts. The Alps just got bigger and bigger. First thez were covered bz the clouds. Then this morning we saw them in their entiretz. I can onlz hope our pictures do some justice. This morning we hiked to Murren, which is a ski resort. We went through and hiked up as far as we could. And let me tell zou, I just skipped over the tough part of the daz. The hike was èasy` but that is when there`s no snow. The altitude was getting to us, and we had to stop numerous times to catch our breath. The sights were amazing – I`m sorrz I cannot send zou anz now. Here was the bad (reallz bad) part of the daz – we got fried. I think Katie has here first everz Farmer`s Tan. Our faces hurt when we came off that mountain.

And that`s all we have for now. Zou can`t imagine how much we`re leaving out. But we are exhausted and I just wanted to write so zou could get it todaz – in our time. Sorrz we didn`t write sooner. Esther`s has internet, so we`ll trz to write a couple more times. If I can, I`ll send zou a link of a map where we`re hiking. It`s so amaying. What the visitors saz is “I will be back” and that is so true for Katie and I.

If you`ve made it this far -thanks. I truely wish I had more time to write and post pics, but such is life for a traveling team like Katie and I.

Tomorrow I will post a couple pictures to prove that we`re really hear. How`s that for a teaser?

As Katie and I checked in for our international flight, we learned that had been moved up to business class, but we wouldn’t be sitting together. The lady said it would work out fine – suggesting we’d “make it work.” Sure enough, two gentlemen were kind enough to let us switch so that we could sit together – did I mention business class?

In business class, my feet couldn’t reach the seat in front of me. For our meal, I had a choice between cheese tortilini and filet migon (I chose the latter). Everyone was taking off their shoes – it’s a German thing. The things we learn when we travel…

I won’t go on and on, but the flight couldn’t have been better. The lay overs were managable, and it actually seemed painless when we finally reached Amsterdam. The one our flight to Frankfurt was easy.

When we finally figured out which train to take out of the airport, we were on our way. As we left the dark terminal on a high speed train, we popped out into my first sights of Germany. The train sped it’s way through a forest of trees – birch and pin oaks. What an amazing introduction to the country!! The trees were all seemingly perfectly straight. Browns and whites were streaking past us as we made our way to the city. Two stops later, we were at the main train station. Our hotel is literally across the street. We just got done walking the downtown. Hard to describe – wonderfully new and fresh. We ate an appetizer outside at a nice cafe, and now we’re off for dinner.

Thanks for checking in with us. Pics might be hard to come by but we’ll do what we can.

Until then, hope you’re well.

Hans and Katie

It’s 7:29 am on a SATURDAY and my wife is checking online to see how how she’s doing in the NCAA basketball pool. That’s about all I have to say.