I Run For Fun Now?

Well, maybe not quite for fun yet but I honestly enjoy it more than I ever thought I would.

For the most part, I have never been a fan of running. I could barely muster the enthusiasm to run for endurance sports, which was reflected in my choice to mostly play volleyball and softball growing up. And although I am under 30, the thought of it always brought to mind this relationship: Running = Joint Pain.

However, Germany is making me do craaazy things. Remember the post regarding my purchase of leggings and fashion scarves?

In November, my friend Erin mentioned that she was going to start a Couch to 5k program. She is in a situation similar to mine - an American living in Nuremberg, a lot of extra time during the day, and zero running experience. I decided to join her in this running adventure and since we don't work it wasn't too difficult to stick to our 10am mid-week training schedule. In January, we finished the program and yesterday I ran in my first race ever!

Yes, that is a grapevine covered hill crowned by a castle fortress behind us.

Starting out. You can see the side of my head and my pink shoulder and the
 top of Erin's blond head and her purple-striped  leg.

I ran (or jogged, whatever)  the entire 5k and that was the goal - however, I hope to decrease my time significantly in the future. Yesterday was all about Erin and I doing this together and seeing it through. Next time, I will set out on my own to see what I can do.

There was one letdown with the experience though. Now I know enough about races to know that there should be beer waiting for me after I cross that finish line. Not only did I expect it, I counted on it. I mean, Germans do claim to have the best beer culture. And to their credit, you can purchase and consume beer nearly everywhere. So you can imagine my utter confusion and crushing disappointment when I realized what was really waiting for us at the end:

Hot.Tea.

Tubs and tubs of hot tea. It wasn't even good tea. It definitely wasn't herbal tea. It was as if they heated up artificially sweetened, citrus flavored, premade ice tea and ladled it out of plastic busing tubs. Oh wait, that's exactly what they did! I saw the evidence in the trash can where I promptly deposited my "tea" after the first horrendous sip. Not only were the other runners greedily chugging this down, as Erin pointed out, they were going back for thirds. And no beer in sight. Goddammit, Germany!

This picture was taken at the finish line, but before discovering the lack of beer
and abundance of  tea. You can tell by the smiles.

Not to fret, I did find some delicious beer in front of me later in the day and then proceeded to sleep 13 hours last night. I needed it though. Life has been busy, but in a great way. My parents' visit was so much fun and the week-long road trip we took was amazing, if exhausting. I already miss them so much. I'll starting posting pictures and stories of their time in Europe next week, because in a few days we're taking off for a long weekend in Belgium!