Sun, Jun 5, 2016 - 21K - 02:23:58
Potsdam Half Marathon (02:23:58)
I had heard of the Potsdamer Schlösserlauf (Castle Run) for many years and always wanted to do it, since it allows you to run past most of the important castles in the Potsdam area. For me, it was also like a kind of home town run since Potsdam was the city I lived and worked in during my first two years in Germany when I taught at the University of Potsdam back in the early 90s. The race was very organized, the start and finish at the Leichtathletikhalle im Luftschiffhafen, which is historical in that in 1912 this was the largest airship factory in Germany. The factory was, however, forced to be torn down through stipulation of the Versailles Conference after WWI, and in 1924 it was converted to an area for water sports, and through the decades since then has developed into a sports area with swimming pool, track and field area, and more. The race itself was hot and sunny. Anytime we were not running in shade, the sun was beating down on our heads and sapping our energy, or at least my energy. But I really enjoyed the sights, and part of the route out to Babelsberg was the route I used to ride on my bike out to a class I taught behind Babelsberg Palace. There was also quite a bit of a hill from 15K to 16K up to Sanssouci palace. The heat, the sun, and the less-than-flat course shattered my fantasies of getting a sub-two-hour time for this half marathon. But I enjoyed the race quite a bit. It was a wonderful, sunny day and gute Stimmung among all the runners. I can recommend this race to anyone.