22. Gossauer Weihnachtslauf: 8.180m – 26:37,1min (12th place)

December 7, 2009

The second (and already final) race of my Switzerland-Austria road trip. After a week with some running training and my first fall on ice that caused some problems on my toes and knee it was time for another evening race.

I finished the race in Gossau in 12th place in 26:37min, which was still enough to earn me some price money – amazing … seems there is too much money in Switzerland. For me the race was another marker, that it’s not a good idea to compete in big races unless I’m really fit. Already at the start I tore my left hamstrings. Together with several other issues, this caused the fact that I could only manage to average 3:15min/km-pace on this flat course. After the race I felt really, really bad. I felt like going to physiotherapy for 2 hours but unfortunately a warm shower was the only thing that relieved the pain a bit.

If I’m going there next time, I should be in better shape and should be able to compete at a higher level. Now it’s time to recover and get totally healthy. After that I will have a proper(!!) build-up.