Cologne Marathon, 14th October 2012.

Neil MacNeil Mac ✭✭✭

Hi everyone, I've had a good look round the forums, but couldn't see a thread on Colgne marathon. I've signed up, and wondered if anyone else is doing it, or has done it in the past and has any experiences of what it's like and what I/We can expect when we get there? I've already spoken to one person via PM that's done it before and going back again so says it's great.

Looks a good race with a very large, and vocal support, plus it's a flat and fast track with real PB potential, and I'm really looking forward to it. Wanted to to do Amsterdam for the 4th year in a row, but due to my other halfs hols we can't make it this year, hope Cologne is a good substitute, I think it will be.image

Cheers!

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Comments

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    Hi Neil,

    Good plan on making a thread! I'll be doing the half marathon again. I'm a serial offender at this race and really enjoy it!

  • Neil MacNeil Mac ✭✭✭

    Hi (again) Emmy! So far it looks like just me and you haha! Did you get my PM, we are staying at hotel Cristall http://www.hotelcristall.de/en do you know it all, looks OK. Really looking forward to the race and 1st visit to Cologne.

    Cheers!

  • Neil MacNeil Mac ✭✭✭

    Looks like just the 2 of us then haha! Any one got any good drinking estabs they could reccomend in Cologne? Would imagine it'll be chock full of them... hopefully. image

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    Lol - That is something that I can answer! What's your poison? Beer or cocktails?

    Beer: Altstadt has some good bars for beer

    Cocktails:
    - Best cosmo: Scheinbar  - Brüsseler Straße 10. This place only really picks up around 1/2am
    - Bars: Zuelpicher Strasse. The bars down this road change quite often so you'll have to pick and choose - some great little cocktails.
    - Die Wohngemeinschaft - Richard WagnerStrasse (Rudolfplatz u-bahn)
    - Last bar of the night (and normally the worstimage): Six pack: Aachener Straße 33

     

  • PG3PG3 ✭✭✭

    I used to work near Cologne and the local beer - Kolsch - is sold everywhere and is lovely. The area near the cathedrale has good bars etc

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    Hiya Pip - where did you work? I used to live in Cologne and worked in Leverkusen.

  • PG3PG3 ✭✭✭

    I used to work in Burscheid near (Leverkusen) Opladen for Johnson Controls back in 2004.  I worked there for a year and found the English cinema in Cologne just before I left - gutted!!

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    I used to spend a lot of time at the English Cinema (every James Bond night!). I remember queuing for the opening night tickets on many occasions. Cologne Marathon is my favourite race to do in Germany - it's just so friendly and a great race!

  • Neil MacNeil Mac ✭✭✭

    Beer, cocktails, anything!! Cheers for the info dudes! See we get a nice Kolsch glass in the goodiebag, should come in handy post race. image

     

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    @Neil - I've collected all of mine and they're definitely good quality! As I said - post race - you'll get a beer for free to enjoy (non and full alcoholic) image

  • JoolskaJoolska ✭✭✭

    Did Cologne a couple of years ago.  Lovely race, well organised and one of the best selections of post race food and beer I've ever seen.  The locals seem to get behind the race and having your name printed on your number means plenty of support all the way round.  Only snag was that the race started at 11/11.30-ish and was then further delayed, so that the race was run in very hot conditions. Were it not for the start time, I'd be back like a shot!

  • Still undecided on whether to do an autumn marathon or not.

    Amsterdam possible but could do Cologne as an alt.



    Post race food & beer sounding good !



    Neil I think you ran Edinburgh same as me also



    So fast course?
  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    Hi Fit Running Cat image

    Yes, I think it's a PB course but one thing that i've said to Neil is that with it being October - you're not sure of the weather. I could be very hot or cold - you can't really predict it.

  • I'm in, along with some guys from our running club. Looking forward to it, a few of us did Berlin last year as well.
  • Thanks Emmy.



    Well I did a 20 miler in South Cheshire same day as Manchester in pouring freezing rain, and Edinburgh was fairly hot / strong humidity or sun and coped with that...



    So.... Possible. Got to be able to cope with some hurdles.



    I did do a marathon workshop and girl innocently asked, "what do we do at the start if it rains?"

    "I've never run in the rain during any training run".



    We did giggle.
  • Neil MacNeil Mac ✭✭✭

    Hi all! Great to see more people have signed up, for a while I thought it was just emmy & Me!

    FRC, yes, I was on the Edi mara thread, was a pretty hot right enough.

    This late start malarkey at Cologne, gotta say, this suits me down to the ground, I'm not a morning person (to put it mildly), so getting up at a decent hour is music to my lugs.image Also, looks like a flat course, so it's got PB potential. I'll be (very) happy to get under 3 hours for the 2nd time.

    Back on the road again after Edinburgh, 6 miles on Mon&Tues, just keeping it ticking over and will be doing Dunfermline 10K next Wed night.

    Hope you're all good.

    Neil. 

  • yes, all good. Mersey Tunnel 10k for me this Sunday.

    managed to get in a couple of runs and 2 tough gym circuits so not too bad.

    Is the german hospitality after an event a common thing?

    was talking to club triathletes doing Regensberg (?) in 10 days and they were talking about something similar, or on the ferry after, tons of food, beers etc?

  • Neil MacNeil Mac ✭✭✭

    How'd you get on at the MT 10k then FRC? Heard it was a good race, hope you had a good one!

  • Hi Neil , Ta for asking image



    Big PB, knocked 2m30 off my previous 10k time which is only end of Nov, so 6 months ago . Report if you click here in Gazelle v Shaggy 3:30 thread if you want more detail.



    Hard though, thought I was going to throw up at finish line. But got under 42 mins, 41:57 so very happy.



    Lot of hard work, 30-35 miles a week, 3 days, 2 gym sessions, 2 rest days for sub 3:30 marathon. 3:20 ish for autumn?



    Good luck for Wednesday..
  • Neil MacNeil Mac ✭✭✭

    Brilliant effort so soon after Edi mara FRC!!! Haha, I sometimes think a 10k is harder than the mara just with the pace you have to run at, it fair takes the breath away!

    You could easily take 10mins off your time at either Dammers or Cologne, in fact it'd be a cert at Dam, though Cologne is menat to be a similar flat, fast, course. You may want to bump your miles up a bit though, and drop off a trip to the gym.

    Cheers re Dunfy 10k, it's tonight, bit gutted as now means I'll miss the Olympic torch going through Edinburgh later on. image

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    Hi everyone and good luck on the cracking races that you're doing!

  • Neil MacNeil Mac ✭✭✭

    Hi folks!

    Did the Carnergie Harriers Dunfermline 'Auld Toon' 10k last night, got round in 39.16, very happy with that as so soon after Edi mara and legs not full recovered, and it was a pretty undulating course with some pretty steep uphill parts to it. I kind of just used the race as a good tempo run. I was 18th.

    Glad to be back racing again, ye cannae whack it!

    Hope everyone else is doing well, cheers!

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    Hi all, for some reason i've been signed up to a 10k race next saturday... not too bad you say? It's only 10k? It's the day after I get back from California and I have the feeling that i'll be jetlagged to hell!

    Where are people staying in Cologne? i've seen some great rates at the Hilton and Ibis.

  • Hi all! Well, it's been a very long hiatus from this thread, but as race day gets closer, I thought I'd bring it back into play. Reasons I stopped posting were both bad (awful in fact), and good. 1st the bad.

    On 19th June I got a text from a friends mobile, but it was his wife using it, saying he'd had a massive brain hemorrhage, and wasn't going to make it. It was my mate Alan, the very man who, back in 2004, had got me into running. I couldn't believe it. Apparently, he's been playing 5 a-side footie wi his mates and just collapsed. As I say, it was him that got me into this mad sport, and he was fit as a fiddle, only a year older than me (he was 46) and had only run Edinburgh Marathon (for the 10th time) less than 3weeks previously. Anyway, as you'll understand, the shock and sadness of this totally devastated everyone that knew him. I'll never forget having to go see him in hospital, hooked up to every machine you could imagine, knowing that was the last time I'd see the guy, still get tears in my eyes now thinking of it. Well, that was that, I just forgot about the thread really.

    Also, not long after, went on hols to Majorca with my girlfriend and was meaning to get back on here after that, but never did. Just been busy training since then as well so not much time to get posting.

    Talking of training, hope everyone is going well, mine has been mixed to say the least, had a terrible 10k race back in late July where I ended up with a time of about 41mins, poor form by my standards, but I put this down to post holiday wastage as hadn't done much over 8miles in the heat of Majorca. Since then have had some injuries i.e.ITB etc, and pace was awful, but have picked up a bit in last 2 week, 1.25.30 at the Glasgow ½ mara on 2nd Sept, not bad, but better than i would've posted if race had been 2 weeks earlier, and did a good 18mile marathon pace run on Sunday, 4m progressive warm up then 14miles at target pace, 6.48min miles, was stoked with that! So that's where I am just now. Intervals tonight and slow stuff the rest of week, got the Stirling 10k on Sunday.

    Hope you are all well.

    Neil, Edinburgh.

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    Hi Neil, It's good to hear from you! I'm sorry to hear that it's been a rough time for you.

    My preparation for Cologne has been going really well. I'm planning to go for it at Cologne for a Half marathon PB... I'm very tempted to move up to the full marathon but I don think changes are possible anymore.

    That's still a great time for a half (it's a time I can only dream of!).

  • Hi Emmy! Also great to hear back from you as well. Not long til race day huh, bring it on!! Thank you, yes, it's pretty terrible, none of us could/can believe it, he was a smashing bloke as well, who I owe a great deal of gratitude to for introducing me to running. Made me think, I won't EVER moan about injuries or anything again. You never know what's round the corner.

    Good to hear your trainings going well! Not sure you could bump up to the full 26.2miles, but why not just call them and ask, no harm, or if you're on facebook, drop a line there, I've 'liked' the race on there and spoke to someone earlier on it.

    One thing I'm having probs with is the souvenir Odlo tech running top, they emailed saying if I got back to them I could order one, I did that, but they said since I'd paid to enter on a credit card they couldn't debit the cash, so sent me their bank details, I tried to pay by bank transfer last night, but my bank also need the name and address of their actual bank which they hadn't given me (2 of the fields needed to complete online). Bit frustrating.

    Do you know if they just sell these at the Expo? thing is, even if they do, I don't get to Koln till Sat PM, so by time I get to the Expo they could all be gone. Or just have XL size left haha!

    Really looking forward to getting over thereimage, (less than 2 weeks hard training, then 3 wek taper for me), bound to have a smashing time, over Sat, leave Wed ealy am, then train to Munich and having a few days there as well.

    F.A.B to hear back, and keep in touch. All best with your training. image

    Neil.

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    Hi Neil, You can buy the shirts at the expo and there's normally a good variety left on saturday afternoon. As for the IBAN transfer - you can find it on the website I think. Do you want me to check?

    It's going to be a great event. I'm really excited. We're staying at the NH Hotel in Mediapark the night before and then heading over to Deutz early on sunday morning.

    I have friends in Cologne and they've already tried to switch between them and its been unsuccessful image Instead - i'll finish and come and cheer you on! image

  • Hi, cheers, that's great news! I might just wait and buy 1 at the Expo as it costs me an extra tenner to pay via bank transfer. Yep, Koln mara people sent me their IBAN & Swift-Bic numbers, but I need the name and address of the bank as well. Dunno why you just can't buy they online to be honest, but hey ho. I only want the actual Odlo proper running tech top. It's not a biggie, I'd rather have another Sub 3 marathon than a t-shirt lol!!

    I'm in the hotel Cristal, near the station, do you know it, looks OK, and breakie's meant to good. image gagging to get over and do this race, just know it's gonna be brilliant.

    That's a shame, maybe a bit last in the day though huh? Cheers, always great to have support at the end when your body's packed up and it's only the mind keeping you going haha. image

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    No problem. I normally have a nice wander around the expo and look at the other mara's on offer *blush*. They sometimes offer their sales stock on facebook but rarely the t-shirts. If it's anything like the previous years it'll be good quality. My tshirt from 2007 is still going strong!

    I've not heard of Hotel Cristal. I have friends living on Rudolfplatz so i normally stay around there and we're planning a big meal on saturday night!

    We found out a few months ago that it was not possible to change from half mara to mara.

  • Yeah, always have a decent gander round the Expo at races, just to get in the mood for the next day. Sure I'll sort this t-shirt palaver somehow. Look forward to still be wearing it in 2017 lol!

    Next to the station apparently, so very central. Handy to have mates there though. Can you recommend any decent Italians in town so I can feed my face with pasta on sat night?

    Gotcha, to be honest, 13 miles or 26? Think you got the better of the deal haha!

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