Munich City Run

I like the Munich City Run Half-Marathon because it's more of a people's race than a serious one. Most races in Germany are for serious runners only, though that is starting to change. The City Run series is the biggest series of races in Germany. City Runs take place in 8 major cities. I like the route of the Munich run because it's flat and all but 3 km of the half-marathon are in the English Garden. 

Because of the warm weather, my expectation was to finish on my feet. I didn't set any time goals due to the heat and humidity. I would be happy with any finish under 2:10. My plan was to start slowly, take drinks of diluted Gatorade that I carried with me every 15 minutes, and eat some Gummi Bears every 5 km. I ended up drinking the full half-liter of diluted Gatorade in the race. The plan worked well because my time of 1:55:52 was quite respectable. It wasn't my best time, but wasn't my worst either. That time was about halfway between my best and worst. My average pace was 5:30/km or about 8:50/mile. I was the 354th woman out of 1539 and 21st in my age group out of 102. I don't know how I did overall because the men's and women's results are listed separately. It's nice to know that I'm not slowing down yet. 

After the first couple of kilometers I found my pace and was able to hold it pretty well. Being the non-anal runner that I am, I totally forgot to hit the split button on my watch to record my kilometer split times. When did I realize this? Around the 5 km mark. But I could tell that I was keeping a consistent pace because my time at the 10 km mark was around 54:30 and my time at 20 km was 1:49 and change. Even with the drink stops every 3 km or so, I was able to keep a steady pace. The funny thing was that I felt like I was really holding myself back because of the weather. I decided not to push myself at all, especially in the last 5 km. But even at the later stages of the run, I was passing more people than were passing me. The time seemed to pass very quickly, even in the last hot kilometers. 

My left hamstring was a non-issue, though it was a little tight in the first kilometer. Once it loosened up, it was fine. Even the walking that I did when I took my drinks didn't make it tighten up. I did have something weird happen though. Sometime in the last 5 km a woman passed me and bumped me, causing me to stumble. That stumble caused my 3rd and 4th toes on my right foot to cramp. But they fortunately loosened up after a few meters. I did get a bruised toenail on my right foot though. When I did my post-run stretching I used my Stick, which helped to loosen my stiff muscles. 

This year's shirt was ugly. It was orange like the others from previous years. In this race nobody gets a number; but everyone has to wear the same shirt. That's part of the City Run experience and also how you get refreshments at the water points. It was two-toned orange with black stripes on the sleeves. It seems like the shirts get uglier each year. But they're good technical shirts, so I shouldn't complain too much.  The post-race refreshments were a little weak. The organizers handed out bottles of mineral water and cherry or berry juice mixed with mineral water. There were apples, oranges, and Power Bars. Runners could also get beer. The last time I did this run, the refreshments were much better with pretzels, oranges, and rolls in addition to the other fruit and Power Bars. 

The Munich Marathon people were at the 1.5/19.5 km mark and announced that this year for the first time there will be a half-marathon to go along with the marathon this October. The weather is nice and cool in October. Guess what I'm thinking...