sweetie mooi and i registered for this run as a duathlon team - one of many categories offered for this race - two people, one bike, switching allowed, finishing together. so that was a way for me to get my run in and she would be part of the atmosphere and help me on the way with food and drinks. in addition to the normal marathon and half marathon race there were several other categories as well, such as teams of 5, who all have to finish together, and another - "Pack" category, 20 people, the slowest 5 count. more than 1000 people participated, many in costumes, some in lederhosen, a wheel barrel containing 42 of the best wines of this area was pushed for 1K each by the wine growers, at the finish this barrel was then auctioned off.
we lined up in ehrenhausen on a perfectly sunny day, the weather report was predicting the hottest day of the year so far with temps rising to 26C around noon. immediately after the starting gun we began to proceed uphill. as expected there were no stretches that were flat and based on my experience of the last few weeks i decided that i would try to maintain around 6min/k pace, slower on the uphils and catching up again on the downhills - this remained a theory and was abandoned after 10K. the first 7K towards spielfeld-strass, a town right on the slovenian border, were conistent uphills and although i walked some of the steepest stretches I went past 10K only just behind schedule. i could feel though that this plan is not gonna fly. i had paid for this pace with a heart rate consistently above 155 ond often around 160 and their was no way that i should maintain that for any longer - i decided to take this run as the trainings run that i had it planned as and go with the flow.
the scenery was wonderful, vinyards on both sides, proceeding across the top of hills right on the border where we could see far into slovenia in the south and austria in the north. despite what our right-extremist politicians would like to tell us, the land on both sides looked just the same :-), the hills made our plans for mooi crewing me very difficult. the uphills were so steep that bikes could not keep up and fell way back. on the downhills we were then again passed by all the bikes just whizing by at breakneck speeds - hey this was mooi ... the breaks on her bike did not work well and she had to go all the way to the bottom of the hill until she could stop :-) i hit the first watering hole set up in the courtyard of a pretty old farmhouse surrounded by vineyards. a local band played some local music with shiny brass instruments. i grabbed the first container and am ready to head out again when i realize that this is wine :-O, i swallowed the mouthfull as the guy was quizzically watching me and asked whether his wine tastes good :-), yeah, definitly, now can i please have some water :-) a group of runners had settled there and were more focused on dancing polka then continueing their race in a hurry. another table contained some styrian meat pastes with lots of lard smeared thick onto heavy, dark, rich bread. the proper procedure for obtaining food was a sequence of water - wine - dancing - then on to the food :-) - the pattern set at this first water stop was to be repeated 17 more times and the support from the entire population was very strong - quite unusual for austria. i was passed by a tractor that pulled another ummpah band on a big waggon in the back. even though i violently dislike that kind of music, its rhythm pulled me up onto the next ridge. then the first sustained downhill, i just hear some shouting coming up from behind, some laughing and giggling, some hollering, and zooom, there goes a wine barrel flying past me, a group of students from a local school for wine-making was pushing a barrel on wheels, on the downhill they jumped on. ahead there was a group of three runners spread across the road and in the attempt to pass them on the outside edge of the road they lost control and went over the edge, they jumped off just in time but the barrel was launched into the vinyard below where it wedged quite a ways down. another tractor pulling the rest of the students of this scholl pulled up and everybody jumps out, hollering, jodeling, and whisteling to retrieve the barrel. went through halfway in 2:12 and was seriously bushed at that point. in addition to the hills also the heat was beginning to take its toll, my shoulder and my calves were turning red from sunburn, the field had spread out a lot by then and there were few people that i saw on the road except at the watering holes, which were all bursting with people, dancing, music, wine and laughter. i saw mooi every few k, when either i was passing her on the uphill or she was passing me on the downhills, she appeared to be struggling quite a bit herself at that pont and i was happy that i could walk some of the uphills without having to push a bike :-) i repeatedly got into the range of 160-170 just walking these steep suckers and i got an added apreciation for the work these vinemaker do when they carry the grapes. i now began to catch up with people who had started ahead of us for the half marathon. also from 30-36 it was a long steady downhill, mostly through the woods, i was able to pick a side that offered shade, i had managed to pop those GUs that had not exploded in moois bag (what a mess :-), coupled with some of the electrolyte caps, and the much slower pace i now made "relentless forward progress" - baby steps, baby steps, baby steps ... the downhills were tolerable, the flats felt tough and the uphills were a bitch. also the course distance measures were off as far as i could tell from moois bike odometer, at 43.3K i decided that i had enough and i switched off with moi. i rode the bike into the finish while she ran - 44.9K total in 4:37. in the finish i overheard that all the leaders had gone out too fast and had struggled seriously from 35 on, winning time was 2:59. i could believe that on this hot day with these merciless hills. we also saw quite a few people attended to for heat stroke. i am so glad that i abandoned the hard stuff at 10K, otherwise i would not have made it to the finish.
in a somewhat masochistic sense, it was a fun run, quite different from other races i had done, a lot of excitement and action. for me it was a good trainings run and the experience was very valuable as i recognized my folly in thinking that i could do a 6min/k pace on a hilly course such as the comrades, this morning, damage to my legs is minimal and i am happy that the hills on my daily route appear to have prepared me reasonably for the ups - and downs. i look forward to another week of focused preparation for the C. vrp keith binge insists that i do a 67K long run in two weeks, then the vienna marathon the week after, then tapering for june...
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