Happy #MedalMonday everyone! I hope you had a great holiday weekend. Welcome my #MedalMondayMoments video series – where I grab a medal from my box of bling, give you a super quick race review, and then share a story from my experience at the event.
This week I’m going to review the first race I ever did over seas. The Blankeneser Heldenlauf in Hamburg, Germany. Alright, let’s get to the Super-Quick Race Review video (text version below):
The Super-Quick Race Review
If you like hills, this is the race for you. So, Blankenese where this race takes place is a residential district on the east side of Hamburg and it’s home to the Treppenviertel – which translates to stair quarter – a fitting name because it’s so hilly that many places are only accessible by walking lots and lots of stairs. So its a perfect place to hold a super hilly half marathon.
This race offers two course options – the fan and the fanatic. The fan stays on slightly flatter ground than the fanatic, and they join up occasionally throughout the race. But don’t think that that means the Fan is easy. While the Fanatic has 1,600 feet of elevation, the Fan is still challenging with nearly 1,000 feet of climbing.
Container ship on the Elbe River in Blankenese, Hamburg, Germany
These climbs are worth it, though, because they give you some great views of the Elbe river and the huge container ships that travel to and from the Port of Hamburg – Europes second busiest port.
The finish line has an electric atmosphere with energetic MCs perched up in a little tower blasting music and keeping the crowd going.
The Moment
There are a couple moments that stand out to me when I think of this race. The first came at the 5k mark when I ran into my wife on the course and stopped for a sweaty selfie.
The other was in the finish chute after the race. It looked like a pretty standard setup that I am used to here in the states, you grab your finishers medal and then walk by some tables to grab some food. But instead of bananas and cookies like we have here they had beer and pickles. And I have to say, it was all really delicious.
Well that’s it for this Medal Monday Moment – thank you for reading and I will see you next week!
Cheers,
Chris