Amsterdam Man IV

TL;DR: 3:58; a bit rubbish.

Friday 17th: with E, drive to Harwich and onto ferry. To the cafe and have a drink each and read for a while before we head for bed.

Saturday 18th: off ferry and misc trains to Amsterdam. Points to watch: make sure you get off at Schiedam for Schipol for Amsterdam Zuid, otherwise you have to get trams through town from Centraal. Not that's particularly terrible anyway. Lunch at Bakers + Roasters as last year; and again it was pretty good. Meet B-J and J and their infants; B-J is also running tomorrow. After, Si and I to the expo to pick up my number, whilst Becky takes E shopping, as befits a girly. Then back to theirs for some much needed relaxation. Remember, this year, to make sure my watch is charged up.

Oh, slight oddity: this year, Paul and Sarah C-H, and Juliet, and Bailee, are also doing Amsterdam. But because they flew over as a group we haven't managed to meet it. Perhaps we'll meet on the start line?

Sunday 19th: up at 7:30; chat in kitchen with B who is kindly making me porridge again. E is still asleep - or at least, not up - in the dining room. Si takes me to the start and I hand him my coat and go in. It becomes obvious that not having arranged to meet the others means its going to be luck, cos its crowded. I knew it would be. Spend most of my pre-race time in the loo queue, of course, but do manage to find the others as I'm heading towards the start pen. So cross the start with Paul and Bailee; and for the first few km we pass and re-pass. Because I'm slow, Bailee ends up passing me at 28 km and Paul at 35.

Of the race: not satisfactory. Not just my time, but I wasn't somehow together for it. The start was too crowded, and the pace wasn't comfortable, and I couldn't settle. Later on the pace was OK but I just wasn't strong enough. And I can't even show you the GPS trace because my silly watch lost it :-(. Well, you can see the official results every 5 km, which is good enough really. Which shows no catastrophic fall-off: just not fast enough.

How do I interpret this? As a useful wake-up call I think. Throughout the summer - indeed, the year - I made too many excuses about being too busy at work to run.

Note: at about 10 km the race passes the end of Parnassusweg, about 100 m from their place. Next time ensure that E is watching.

Walk very slowly back to Parnassusweg, and collapse for a bit. Well, for quite a lot in fact. Evening: to Zuid for train, comedy of the platform being long and the trains short - watch out for that - but we get to the ferry on time. And so home, comfortably.

* Amsterdam Man (2011)
* Amsterdam Man (2012)
* Amsterdam Man (2013)

Stubai: Sunday 7th: Sulzenau: rest day

Previous: Stubai: Saturday 6th: Aperer Feuerstein in fog from Nurnberger; Nurnberger to Sulzenau. 
Next: Wilder Freiger by the Lubeckerweg

A quiet day. We ignore my alarm, which goes off at 7, and lie in until 7:45. Std.fruhstuck and watch the others heading off in their various busy directions. The weather isn't quite warm enough yet to sit on the terasse so we wander off towards the Grunausee, without really intending to get there. We sit at the viewpoint and play games with our shadows:
 

and admire the view upvalley:
 

(the path to the Dresdener is over a little col, the one just R of the center on the skyline) and the ziggy path up:



We lie in the sun in the heather and read. We go on to where the path crosses the river and rest / read there; I'm reading "Dracula" on the Kindle. Lunch back at the hut: the terasse is crowded so we eat in: kasebrot, and (cheese, spinach) noodles with kraut. After its quieter and we sit on the terasse: decide that tomorrow we'll off to the Dresdener in the afternoon, and in the morning I'll look at the Lubecker Weg. The Guardienne agrees that the 3h to the Mullerhutte that the sign gives only makes sense if you're going via the now-deprecated and de-cabled col. She also asserts that the Lubecker Weg is "real climbing" and I quietly ignore that.

Later to the Blaue Lacke which is still and quiet. We walk slowly as befits old folk; sit and watch the lake which, whilst very blue, isn't very photogenic. Back through the weird field of weird cairns, to dinner.

Mr Leaf and Bark Man

Mr Leaf and Bark Man has been gracing our kitchen for many years, since Daniel brought him back from school. I can't even remember which year... lets say, when he was about 10. I like his jaunty stepping out style. He's survived fairly well, though a few bits have fallen off. But now its time for renewal so here is his memorial.