Konig Ludwig Half Marathon!!

The drive through the Alps on the way to Munich-
a beautiful day!!

I am now caught up with my blogs!! A week and a half ago Josh and I drove up to Munich for the half marathon! I was so nervous because in the two weeks leading up to the race I didn't run as much as I would have liked. The longest run I did was about 8 miles before the race (I planned on doing at least one 10 mile run). It was a fun race, but it was strange because the race was in the evening, it started at 6:30 PM. It started in Fussen and looped around the town three times. It was hillier than I was used to, but not too bad! The minor hills and interval training that I did really helped! My goal of finishing in two hours went out the window because I decided to run with my friend Laura instead of pushing it. Since my training leading up to the race was not ideal, I figured it would be better to run a little slower and not injure myself. Laura was sick and her foot was injured, so the fact that she kept up for the first two laps was impressive!

Lap one was fairly easy, although the first look at the hills was a little rough. The second lap I wanted to pick up the pace, but kept telling myself "hold back so you have energy on the last lap". Since my longest run was only 8 miles, I was nervous that I would be dead on the third and final lap. Well, on the final lap I still had a lot of energy and the adrenaline was definitely kicking in! I picked up the pace a bit (or at least I thought I did), but still finished a lot slower than my original goal.

We had cheese in our bags at check in

Getting our game faces on (and trying to stay warm!)

My final time was 2:09:41. They clocked each lap and my times were:

Lap 1	00:43:52
Lap 2	00:42:53
Lap 3	00:43:31

The day was chilly so I wore longer pants (about capri length) with my running shirt, but it was freezing by the end of the race!! It was so cold I couldn't feel my arms from my elbows to my hands. When we went back to the car to change, the car said it was 9 degrees celcius outside!!! Thats 48 degrees farenheit. For a girl that has been used to upper 80's, low 90's, that was brutal!! Thanks to Josh for cheering us on and taking pictures! Even he was inspired by the race atmosphere. He isn't a runner, but said that he may be willing to run a 10K with me this fall in Italy :)

The view of the mountains

The medals we received at the finish line

Josh enjoyed a Konig Ludwig beer in between laps
(thats part of the course in the background)

We finished!

In addition to the race in Fussen, we also spent some time with Laura in Munich and I FINALLY saw the Godfather! Everyone talks about it, but I never knew what they were talking about. Now I get it! We also visited the Hofbrahaus and a few other locations in Munich before heading back to Milan on Monday morning. All in all, it was a good weekend and I'm happy I finished the race! I'm also proud of Laura for finishing her first half marathon in spite of her sickness and injury.

Sunday, enjoying some hard earned beer :)