The middle section of the race continued to be a bit slower than planned, but I made steady progress.
The aid stations and the volunteers were great. A lot of stuff to eat & drink, and always a clearly-labeled, big “menu”. I was eating salami bread, different types of sausages (with mustard!) and tried the “Schleim”. Literally translated it means “slime”, and it’s like grits but made from wheat with different fruits added. It tasted okay, but my stomach didn’t like it too much, so I switched back to more “middle-of-the-road” stuff like apples and bananas. I was also drinking some coke (at least the “East-German” brand VitaCola) and was constantly sipping from my Camelbak. At least I wasn’t getting hungry or thirsty …
A lot of sights I had read about in other people’s reports - like the trumpet player in the “middle of nowhere” - actually near the halfway-mark:
I enjoyed some short phone calls – but with reception not being too good, I couldn’t talk with too many people. I probably passed the marathon mark walking up another long & steep hill. Then I saw the first sign with a number larger than 42:
I was getting a bit tired, but I totally enjoyed the beautiful green, hilly scenery:
The next time I met with my parents and my wife was near the ski jumps in Oberhof. This was at the 55k aid station at “Grenzadler”. I had hoped to be here in under 6 hours, but when I got there 6:40h had passed. I still felt okay, and was very confident that I would finish. “Only” 18k to the finish – probably a bit over two hours, so 9 hours was still possible …
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