Berlin Inline Marathon 2009

This weekend brought us back to Berlin, and a meetup with our good friend Marlene visiting from Doha, Qatar! I was excited for the inline marathon, but I must admit that training was something that hadn't been a top priority. The self-powered commute to and from work (bike / skate) was about the only regular 'training' that I had going... But here we go...

This year I was successfully registered as a male (last year I tore up the women's category!), and the expo was held at the closed down Tempelhof airport... and skating was permitted on the tarmac! I quickly got in and out of the expo, trying not to spend hundreds of euros on all of the great skating paraphernalia... even though I really wanted to splurge. I can ALWAYS use more wheels...

So the day of the race the three of us were out touring the city, and someone asked me what time the race starts, my response was something along the lines of “Umm... I think 4:10”... definitely lacking confidence in that response. After seeing numerous other skaters all geared up carrying their skates, I started to get a touch concerned about what time the 'actual' start of the race was... so I headed back to the hotel to verify (and catch a nap) while the ladies did some more sightseeing.

Of COURSE I was right (am I ever wrong, rhetorical question)... and so I skated down to the start around 2:45 with the dog in my arms, which obviously drew some looks... and met up with Marlene and Andrea. After some great coaching tips from both of them and strategizing where they would see me, Andrea sent me off with some famous last words “don't fall”. GREAT! Since I've had an incident in every race in Europe that caused me to re-introduce myself to the asphalt, those were some encouraging words... let me tell ya!

We were all corralled like livestock after warming up, and the inevitable forever wait ensued. The pro women started, with Cecilia Baena expected to win that battle (who did)... then the pro men started with another Colombian Diego Rosero the expected winner there (he came in 12th)... then came our start. In most of my previous races I ended up with slower times because pacelines got away from me at the start, or I got pinned at the start between slower people. I was determined to not let that happen this race, so I took note of who was around me, and the likely ones to follow and the ones to definitely steer clear of... BANG!!!

And they're off...

PURE UTTER CHAOS! If you've never been in or seen the start of an inline marathon... it is unreal. I imagine it is similar to the swimming start of a triathlon. Arms all over the place... skates clinking, balanced and unbalanced people trying not to fall. Fast people trying to go around slow people, slow people trying to convince themselves they are fast enough to keep up...

A few kilometers down the road the madness settled for a little bit... and we managed to form some pretty ginormous pacelines. An '80s arcade guru looking at the race from the sky would have compared it to Battletoads, watching the skaters bounce back and forth between pacelines... like it was the action level of Battletoads with them jumping back and forthe between walls...

I was feeling pretty good and was loving the feeling of a race, and settled into a pretty nice groove. After watching the other skaters and feeling them out, I was ok with this pace... but knew that I could go faster. I kept my eyes out for any fliers, because I was definitely going to chase. That plan didn't quite work out so well, as I made a move on a corner to gain some spots on the paceline.. but instead realized that I was about to pass the whole paceline and there wasn't another paceline within seeing distance. So my options were to settle in with this paceline or hop onto the lead and pull for awhile and try to push the pace; knowing that this would exhaust me, but hoping that I could find respite in the paceline.

I opted to go with the latter and hop to the front and see what we were working with. I had only been on the front for about 2 pulls, the front 3 skaters were rotating and pushing the pace (while about 80+ skaters sat back there and sucked wheel...) when a rec looking skater with his capri pants, wifebeater and rec skates came flying by with a london speedskater in tow. Since I was at the front and was willing to go faster I gave chase. I'm sure the people at the back of the paceline loved that idea, as the slinky effect can be unreal back there...

I caught up with two skaters (as did enough of the pacline for it to still look ginormous) and started talking with the London chic. I was excited, someone else that spoke English as a native language... and evidently the “rec” skater spoke English as well. We settled in for a bit, and then we decided that the three of us would try a break... but we on the front pulling! Definitely not the best time to try it, but we went for it anyway... yeah, didn't work so well. We're 0 for 1 now on breakaways... We tried a few more with no success... but then we gathered strength with another London Speedskater joining us up front, and then a few other faster skaters came up from the back, and the pace quickened. We started gaining ground on pacelines that were now within sight... and then 6 of us broke away and started hammering away...

We were setting quite a pace and passing pacelines ahead of us as skaters tried to hop on... as I started to wonder where in the race we were... I knew we were further than 20 km (where I saw Andrea and Marlene for the 2nd time), and thought we were getting close to the end. I saw my first km marker at 32 km.... did the quick math and realized that I only had about 3 miles left. Yes! One Hains Point loop, and I'm done!... Next marker at 33 km, only 9 km to go... WAIT?!?!?! 9 km! That's like 5 some miles... oh goodness.. Okay, reset the brain, no longer one HP lap... now it's two... at a wicked grueling pace.

I was still feeling good, but knew that sooner or later the lack of energy and food would kick in.. and evidently my mind didn't want to reset or my body didn't get the memo that I had to skate 42 kilometers today and not ~36... because shortly after my grave miscalculation I let the fliers go, and stepped into a paceline we were passing, and tried to settle in.

My skates had been bothering me since about km 22 and had really become noticeable after dropping off the fliers, and sitting in a slower paceline. Every time I set down either skate, the ball of that foot contacting the ground would make me wince.... it was quite an experience for the last 6 km! I proceeded to step out of the paceline and decide I'd just finish alone, and just enjoy the experience. (Or that's at least what I'm going to tell myself!)

I watched a few pacelines pass by, and thought about catching them... but opted not to for one reason or another. I really enjoyed the last bit of the race... although it wasn't as intense as being in a paceline, constantly calculating and watching... it was so enjoyable to have a road all to myself enjoy the sights of Berlin, the friendly people out cheering on the skaters... just a great way to end the race. I gave all of them thanks as I skated by and it encouraged them to cheer me on... what a reciprocal event! As I came skating through the Brandenburg Gate I was alone. About one guy 50 yds ahead of me, and that was it... I came through the Gate and Andrea and Marlene were over to the right screaming for me!

I skated through the finish area “hamming it up” (as quoted by Marlene) and enjoyed my 'alone' time.... evidently I even made the jumbotron at the finish line!

I finished up with a time of 1:23:00, quite an interesting time an exact minute! It was about 6 some minutes slower than last year's pace... but I loved every minute of it.

The Berlin folks run one hell of an event and with over 7,500 skaters... it's a must-do for all passionate skaters.

Europa and all its splendor!

9 days-8 failed lactose intolerant meals-7 exceptional pinned up pictionary drawings-6 people brave enough to deal with this guy for more than...5 seconds... of pure adrenaline sledding down a black ski run-4 flights-3 countries-2 brothers and the others- and 1 hell of a vacation!!!!Day 1-deboard in Stuttgart to a half hour wait time for luggage while Andrea holds a homemade wilkommen(I probably spelled it wrong) sign and chubs(oh we'll get to that later)...I was fascinated at the concept of having a bathroom separated in 2 rooms-the toilets and the wash area so I took pictures...it's what I do...caught the train home where I learned to "sprecken'ze deutsch"!My girlfriend thought she was going to make a residence there the rest of her life and packed an extra 50 pounds of clothes.Who had the honor of lugging that up hill-ON COBBLESTONE?Who do ya think?ha...then 3 flights up the stairs where I wasn't allowed to grunt or even exhale because Germans have some sort of no verbal expression rule unless you're admiring/stalking a little dog named Chubs(I'm almost on that topic...patience)...their apartment is beautiful,very well decorated, and quite cozy(when I leave the window open!)...the BEST scrambled egg whites and toast I've ever had were prepared for me...we then hit up ol Baden Baden(I wanna say 2 different trains and a bus-about 2 hours away)for an invigorating spa treatment like no other with 17 + steps/stations to go through...back to the house to see Brendanamo bay where he cooked up some enchiladas AND chicken pesto to accommodate diets...that's when I got my first taste of Guitar Hero or Rock Band(one of those)...and I was so good I played drums and sang at the same time!ha...no I was terrible and I think they'll have Roxanne forever changed in their minds.Then went to a beautiful city known as Praha(Prague for you English folk).The architecture was just as I'd imagined of old Europe and the castles and towers and bridges were fantastic!One thing you wouldn't have a hard time locating there though would be lung cancer...mm mm Marlboro!Later on my brother and I go to one of the many gambling edifices in place and tear it up!I was bringing in the bacon and ready to walk and then threw it all away.Ya don't need to know all the details-but I blame it on the bathroom ha.So I wake up the next morning and who do I see running into my room,all excited and ready to explore the world?Chubs!How bloody cute...and what does she do when she is just absolutely thrilled?PEES!Nothin like a broken in house pup!So my comforter naturally shifted colors on parts of it and that was that.We were fortunate enough to see the guard change at the castle that afternoon and the metronome,which was under construction.We caught a glimpse of the mini Eiffel in the distance and had great views of the city from above.I was mesmerized at the TV tower they had about a half mile behind our hotel,that had humongous babies crawling up and down the sides...they love their babies over there!It was either after Praha or Switzerland where we stopped at the Dachau concentration camp.You read about these events and places in books but there's no way to capture the feeling of actually being there and seeing the conditions and going through what it was like.....went home that night to Stutty G and we were off to Interlaken in the morning!!!!!!I hadn't been skiing in probably 8 or so years and now I was going to the ALPS!Got all suited up compliments of Katie.I thought I would've been fine in sweatpants or jeans and a couple sweatshirts ha...boy o boy was I an imbecile!I'd done skiing before and thought it'd be cool to give snowboarding a go...I mean come on how hard can it be?Ya got 2 feet on a board and ya weave back and forth...piece of cake!So a lovely couple,Allison and Simon(friends of A & B's)were kind enough to join us and what do ya know?Simon even brought an extra board!So I get on the thing and test out which foot is more dominant and adjust the board accordingly.Well I'm naturally a lefty and didn't listen to his advice when he told me I should switch the footings to work best for me.Do I ever listen?So stubborn me goes on the slopes ready to get some hangtime and I can barely make it down the hill in 1 piece.Ya and then let's talk about once you get to the bottom of the hill you've then gotta get to the top of the next hill(it's how hills work).So I spent most of the first half of the day G.I.Joein it up these hills.So I'm frustrated with myself for A)not listening B)sucking terribly and C)I couldn't get the hang of it and I was holding everyone else back.So Katie was nice enough to sit with me at the top as we waited until our meet time approached.We got some lunch and Simon helped me switch the board to goofy(left-dominant) and then guided me down the first couple hills,waking me through the motions.Hey alright!I was gettin the hang of this thing...as long as I could make it down the hill without falling I'd make it up the next 1 and not have to crawl.So I do ok for a bit and then start struggling again and tell the other to go ahead I'll catch up.I watch as they veer to the right and I try to mimic that and instead I go left.Ha so now I'm on my own in the Alps on this stupid snowboard that I can't operate..AWESOME!So I do my best and just try and take it easy on the path I'm taking and have minor slips...alright!ok!...then there's a point where I can go to the left on a marked path or just shoot down the center underneath the gondola trail,which is basically untouched.Who needs paths???I am stuck in that fresh,clean snow for a good 45 minutes just tryin to get down...and that's supposed to be the easy part.I finally make it down and find 1 of the paths leading back towards Grindewald(our starting point)and I'm cruisin...ya a few slips every now and then but overall rockin this trail!Our meet time was 4 o'clock at the bottom of the hill...so I'm lookin at the phone Brenda gave me to call if I got lost, and it's 330...shite!...I'm clearly not gonna make it on time...I try to call Andrea or Allison-nothin!...ha now I just gotta keep on truckin until I get there...next thing ya know I'm at th bottom of the hill about to commence in my upward army crawl and I see Simon at the top of the hill I just stumbled down...nice!So they go zoomin past and occasionally push me up when needed and we make it there just past 4!...now the bad news-we(as in I)left our stuff in a locker at the very top where we started and the gondola closes at 415 so some of us were walkin back to the hotel boots and all...mine were heavy,but pretty comfy.I can't speak for the others ha....day 2 we go sledding!!!Time of my life...the views,the thrills,the laughs,the teamwork ha!So we say farewell to Allimon(think about it...)and head back to Germany..spent the next day at the local Christmas market shopping and gazing and then returned home to pack and prepare for the voyage back west :( that guy knows what I'm sayin...my bro and sis were incredible hosts and Brenda's amazing navigational skills got us through it all even though we got pulled over for being American and some customs guy was threatening to not let us in Praha because Chubs decided she was too cool for a passport and did what she wanted...but I speak for Katie and myself when I say we had a spectacular time and it will never be forgotten and many thanks to all involved

Thanksgiving in Deutschland

There's nothing like a Thanksgiving in Waxhaw, but we tried our best to host (even though someone else brought the Turkey... is that even ALLOWED??)...

After some last minute scrambling, and some phone calls to Chefs Extraordinaire Moira and Mary... we had our recipes and an international event consisting of 4 Americans, 1 Canadian and 1 German...



Typically Germans will sit around the table for hours after finishing a meal, conversing with each other... but we took a different path. The young, punk-rock path.... ROCK BAND!!! Here is a video of Simon getting down on the guitar (with his wife, Allison, just shaking her head)...