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 24.10.2010
12.
Morgenpost Dresden Marathon
"Dresdner
Trolle" got inter-national - Bernd, Gerald, Christian, Roman,
Zenon and Caitlyn from Chicago built our team for the 12. Dresden
Marathon; Roman ran his perso-nal best time (3h05) and left the
others far behind - Christian (3h18), Bernd (3h30), Gerald (3h44),
Zenon (3h48), Caitlyn (4h02) Not only we run all over
the world (in more than 50 countries so far - s. Statistik)
but now we also have - at least for one race - an international
member in our team - Caitlyn from Chicago
(Photo).
 We
met her yesterday at the Marathon Fair in the Congress Centre
during the "Pasta Party" (photo).
It was quite full; she was standing alone at a table. "Können
wir uns dazu stellen" - Gerald asked. "Or sorry, I do
not speak German" - she answered. "No problem".
We switched to English and learned that tomorrow it will be the
11th Marathon race for Caitlyn and her 2nd "Country Point"
("Laenderpunkt"). So far she ran marathons only in the
USA - e. g. in San Francisco, New York and 14 days ago also in
her hometown Chicago. Compared with the Chicago
Marathon is Dresden with its 1500 participants (full marathon)
just a small race. "But still - it is well organized, has
a nice course and a good atmosphere" - we say. "Which
club do you run for?". "Oh, I'm not in a club, I just
run for myself, just for fun". "O.K. so maybe you could
join us.
We'll be
5 Trolls running tomorrow but for a team we still need a women".
"Why not, I can do it but do not expect me to be very fast.
I'll finish after 4h or so. "That's o.k., no problem".
Today morning
we met at 9:30 am. Caitlyn, Gerald and me - we started from the
4h-block. Roman wanted to join us too but I sent him to the head
of the race. "You are to be our best and you have a mission
to fulfill; you must not loose time at the beginning".
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The first
kilometers are like a sightseeing tour. First we run over the
bridge Marienbrücke, then we pass the Bellevue Hotel, the
Goldener Reiter (Golden Rider) and cross the Elbe river again
on the Augustus-Brücke
having a nice view on the Dresdner
Panorama with Albertinum,
Frauenkirche,
Schloss,
Hofkriche,
Zwinger
and Semperoper
(s. big photo above).
 We
are talking, taking photos and having a lot of fun (photo).
After 5 kilometers I say to Caitlyn: "Now we have to speed
up and care about the finish time of our team, see you later,
good luck!". We leave Caitlyn and run from now on a little
faster but still making a lot of breaks, talking to relatives
and friends (e.g to the "beer man" Jens
Seidel ( s. photo bellow
and also >> this
report) and making a lot of pictures. After 9 kilometers we
reach Großer
Garten. - the "Central Park" of Dresden. It has
an area of 2 km² and is a popular meeting place for jogger,
biker and inline-skater. Running allong the Grosser Garten we
pass Deutsches
Hygiene Museum and then the Transparent
Factory.
After 26
kilometer, on the second lap, we meet Caitlyn again. She is just
10 minutes behind us and looks still very good. "You are
making a great job, you can do it, keep on" - I call out
to her and I must think of "Americas frendliest marahton"
- the Richmond
Marathon I ran 4 years ago (>> Report).
 After
30 kilometers we are again in the "Central Park" and
it is now getting hard for me - more and more. I have to slow
down. Gerald is running away and will finish in 3h44'39''. I manage
to rest bellow 3h50 and this is o.k. for me. Caitlyn is happy
with 4h02'35''.
Roman did not disappoint us and ran his PB - 3h05'10''
- an excellent time, a won bet
(a bottle of champagne) and a big step towards 3h what will be
his target for the next year. After the race we are drinking beer.
"Beer belongs to a german marathon like hamburger to a marathon
in the USA" - we say to Caitlyn and laugh together about
these clichés (photo here
and bellow)
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