Hi guys,

On the 11th October 2009 I finally turned into a Marathon runner (London was more like a walk/run for the last hour): I finished Munich in 3:48:40 – 24 (in English twenty four) minutes faster than London.  If that is not impressive enough, look at my split times: 1:55:50 for the first half, 1:52:50 for the second. That’s what I would call a perfect negative split. … and I never walked at all!  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/15885235

Man was I cautious. I started really slow just to realize, that my heart rate monitor was showing 190 bpm after 1 km!  Further I lost two power gels on the first kms.  But all that didn’t worry me. I felt confident and the measured heart rate changed to realistic values after 3 km – maybe some technical problems with interfering.

I was running with Markus, a friend of mine in his first full marathon (PB for a half 1:32). Our plan was to start together, stay together and in the end finish under 4 hours. After 10 km Markus was impatient and took off but I kept controlling my heart rate and was running at my pace. It looks like I learned a huge lesson in London when I accelerated after Tower Bridge and paid the price one hour later. I passed the half way point without any problems. Same story at 30 km but I was expecting to hit the wall soon, like in London. But nothing happened. At 31 and 32 km I received an enormous boost by running past Anita and my Mum and the pace for the next miles was at low 8 min/mi. Still no problems and I started to realize that the wall was not coming. I was enjoying running through the beautiful centre of Munich and I was so glad, that the announced wind and rain arrived not until Monday. The last 5 km I felt pain in my legs for the first time and I had to fight, but the pace stayed at ca. 8:30 mi/mi. 2 km before the end I calculated a finishing time close to 3:50. I took on the race to beat the fifty and was flying home.

Arriving in the Olympic park and later in the stadium was overwhelming. When I finished in 3:48:40 I was so happy I can’t tell you. I even had tears in my eyes. And Markus: I don’t know where I passed him, but he had problems with almost everything (knees, groin,…) and finished in 3:58:48. He wasn’t enjoying it directly after the race, but after a few days he is proud. Same with me. I still can’t believe it. Not bad for a guy who started running seriously 2 ½ years ago!

I know that without the LDH I would never have achieved it. A big thank you to all the Harriers!

I’m already searching for the next marathon but so far I don’t have a favourite. Frankfurt would be in two weeks time, but although I’m already preferring walking the stairs over using the lift, that would be too early. ;-)

Hope everything in England is fine. Since Monday the winter has arrived in Germany and the first snow created some trouble. Of course not as much as last winter in England.

See you all.     Uli

…Well done Uli from everyone at the club, In the short time you ran with us we all benefited from your friendship, good humour, outgoing personality and 100% commitment to the club and of course your training. A fully deserved and impressive PB time.

We all look forward to seeing you back soon. Not that it matters too much but below is the updated  club marathon table… Barry

Littledown Harriers Marathon Times 2009				Championship Points               15.10.09
Pos.	Last Name	First Name	Marathon Time/Race	Male
17	Kneifel	Uli	3:48:40 PB   Munich    4:12:16         London	37