Munich:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Lindabear78/MunichMarathon
 
 
Story:
We left Turkey Friday afternoon and hopped a flight on Turkish Airlines directly to Munich.  We got in early evening, used the U to get to our hotel where the staff was incredibly friendly.  Dinner was at a little pub called Pils Corner where we downed a couple of beers to help us get a good night’s sleep.  Saturday morning we successfully got lost enough to turn our hour long run into 90 minutes, but it did help us figure out the lay of the land somewhat.  We ran around the Olympic Park and were able to locate where the marathon expo would be thanks to the many signs posted for the marathon start, expo and “nudel party.”  After finishing up, running a couple of errands and cleaning up, we took a tram back to the park.  The expo was comparable to that of the Seattle or Portland Marathons’ expos with plenty of free stuff and things on sale.  Neither Bryce nor I had registered yet, so we found the table with the forms to fill out.  We were both approached by separate people who asked us if we were willing to buy their bib numbers.  They allow people to switch names if whoever registered is unable to run the marathon.  It ended up saving us both at least $20 since we only had to pay the people what they’d paid to register rather than the late registration fee.  Nice.  It was so confusing though because the people who approached us didn’t speak English and we didn’t speak German, so some lady who didn’t know any of us acted as our interpreter.  By the time we were done with the whole fiasco, she asked for our email and offered to let us stay with her and her family any time we wanted.  Again, nice.  Then after making our way through the expo, we headed out to explore the city.

We had no idea what we were looking for or where to go so we wandered fairly aimlessly.  Our only real goal of the day was to eat a pretzel and drink some beer.  We were running a marathon; we had to carbo-load and hydrate German-style.  Our mission brought us along the gorgeous streets of Munich with the beautiful architecture typical of Europe.  We managed to procure some beer from a corner store, then some pretzels from a bakery and so importantly, a bottle opener/magnet/Munich souvenir from a souvenir shop.  We could see a cathedral off in the distance so decided to make our way there where we sat down, popped open the bottles of beer and proceeded to imbibe the brew in public—got to love Germany.  Right as we sat, the bells began to chime for 3:00 and rang out for at least 5 minutes.  After we finished consuming our afternoon snack, we went inside the cathedral for a while and then ventured back out to continue exploring.

The afternoon was long and languorous.  The weather was autumn brisk and we found ourselves a little chilled, so we found a park and sat in the sun to warm up.  By the time the sun went down, we were ready to head back to the hotel and end our day.  However, on the walk back to the tram, we walked through an open-air market that was just starting to close down and Bryce noticed people sitting at long wooden tables drinking from steins.  We had to stop.  We found more bread, bought a couple of foamy beers and capped off the afternoon in the quintessential German way. 
Compared to that the rest of the night was rather unremarkable.  We tend to go for Thai food any night before a race, so we found a place nearby our hotel.  Why break tradition, even in Germany, right? 

The next morning we woke up and got ready for the race.  Public transportation was free to all marathon runners as long as your bib number was visible.  We got to the Olympic Park and followed the masses to try to figure out where to drop our bags and find the start.  Once we did, we decided to sit down within the stadium.  In spite of the cheerful, bright green seats, sitting there knowing all that had occurred there gave the place a very ominous (not omniuous damn it, ominous!) feel.  With a few minutes left, we dropped off our bag and made our way to the start line. 
We had to separate because Bryce is an “unter 3:45” runner and I’m an “uber 3:45.”  They counted down to the gun and at least Bryce’s side was off while it took my side almost 15 minutes to get across the line.  After that it was a slow run given I was queued up with people who were a little slower than I’m used to; however I didn’t really mind given this was my first significant run since last week so I wasn’t sure what I would feel like.  Besides, this was Munich; I wanted to see everything it had to offer.  It was indeed everything you’d imagine a German town would be like in autumn (Smith, if there is a Munich Monthly, you should so subscribe).  The course took us through a lovely park with trees which were turning all the fall colors (Jamie K, I was very careful of branches).  Artwork was displayed through one part for runners to admire and every few miles it seemed there was another Brazilian drum band.  I met a few people from England and one guy who’d been living in Germany for 10 years but was originally from Seattle and is a fellow Seattle U alum.  Small world.  The community came out in force to cheer “op op op” and “bravo” and “super!”  I wore my flower skort and got “super outfit” yelled to me a couple of times.  Aid stations were typical of any marathon, but later stations included warm tea which was fantastic—sugar and caffeine, my favorites!  Two of the later stations had beer!  What would a German marathon be without beer?  But it was non-alcoholic.  Really, what’s the point in that?  The last part of the race was through town and I saw much of what we’d walked through the day before.  The finish was probably the best finish ever.  We ran into the stadium and were greeted by flashing lights and smoke pumped in at our feet.  I felt like a total rock star.  The final bit was a turn around the track.  I finished in 4:10, not my fastest, but my best in Europe so far.  The after party was more beer (again, non-alcoholic, I don’t get it) and pretzels instead of bagels.  Loved it.  Bryce and I located each other.  He “took it easy” and finished in 2:58.

So that was that.  I’m back in Turkey now and will be for another couple of weeks.  The Eurasia Istanbul Marathon is in two weeks and then I’ll head to Athens for a week to run there and spend some time with my mother and niece.  I’ll try to keep everyone posted as things go along.