Mind, Motion & Matter

Nine whirlwind days in Germany and whoosh, we are safely home. Short trips make the world seem like a very small place. Just yesterday, running along the Main river and today, well, no time for a run as we had a 10 a.m. flight to catch.

View from Karstadt department store cafeteria

We spent our last day browsing the city and attended an English mass at St. Leonard’s church.

Department store lunch

Given our long day of travel and the 6 hour time difference. I think I will call it a day for the blog.

Cheers,

Lynn
p.s. In past blogs I was incorrectly referring to a 7 hour time difference. Apologies for the inaccuracy.

Farmer's market florals

The day started with a run along the Main river.  Rivers are a bonus for runners because it is easy to get keep your bearings.  With many sights to see, it is hard to feel motivated to do longer runs especially since my husband is no longer able to run as far as he used to.

Courtesy of Blackberry, brother and sister in Frankfurt

Venice Biennale, here we come!

Then we headed off to the heart of the Frankfurt tourist district.  While enjoying a basic but excellent German lunch we got a text message from one of my brothers saying that he and a 4 workmates had a longer than expected stopover in Frankfurt and were enroute to the centre of town from the airport.  With 3 Blackberries in play, emails, text messages and a couple of trolley rides we zeroed in on the group at perhaps the most touristic spot in town.

The group was exhausted, having traveled from Whitehorse and spending several hours at the airport haggling over a missed connection to Venice.  My brother the architect is the fearless leader of  his band of hardy employees, headed to the Venice Architecture Biennale.  In spite of 24 hours with no sleep they plotted their course over the next few hours of unplanned for time in Germany.  We left them as they considered their options and headed to Goethehaus.

Goethehaus was brought to life by an excellent audio tour which was made easy to navigate with state-0f-the-art hand held visual prompter.  After this we headed to the nearest coffee house to recharge and wondered aloud about what time “The Marriage of Figaro” started as we contemplated doing some shopping for a stylish shirt for my husband to wear to the opera.  The time 6 :00 p.m.  The afternoon had passed quickly and we decided that since the Opera house was close by we check to see what time the show started.

We began to worry as we saw crowds of well dressed patrons entering the place.  At this point I realized that I had lost the printout of our on-line ticket order.  We dashed into the opera house and found out the opera was due to start in 30 minutes.  After discussion with various staff we were able to have our tickets printed and with our hotel 5 minutes away decided to jog to our hotel to change.  Needing more time to change than my husband I sprinted ahead and by the time he arrived, was half-changed.  We made it to our seats with 9 minutes to spare.

Post-opera meal at Chicago Meat Packers Restaurant

Having missed dinner, we snacked at the intermission on open-faced sandwiches.  The opera was delightful but long, although the finale was grand.  We decided to eat at a restaurant we had noticed close to our hotel and were shocked to find ourselves in front of a photo of a CP rail car at the Chicago Meat Packers Restaurant.  Where am I?  Did we flash back to our holiday a couple of years back in the windy city!

All’s well that ends well and we strolled happily back to our hotel.  What a day!

Circuit training in Olympic park

Back in Frankfurt, after a couple of days in Munich.  Munich during Octoberfest is extremely expensive.  We stayed out by the Olympic Park at a Four Points Sheraton which is like a giant Village-by-the-Grange. The plus side was the we were right in the Olympic park and the running was superb.  Although, lack of familiarity with pit stops seems to be having an impact on how far from home base I want to run. My longest run so far has been 30 minutes.

I did run to the Olympic stadium and did a stair workout and yesterday did push-ups.  I am up to 4 full-body push-ups with 21 knee push-ups.

Stairs in Olympic stadium

Later in the day I made it to the official Oktoberfest site which was like a giant amusement park with large beer halls. Very strange, especially for someone who has lived in Toronto for more than half her life and never gone to the EX. I am not fond of wandering in crowded areas.

Team Bavaria

In the beer hall I spot a group of young men around the same age as my son, dressed team-style in Bavarian gear. I try to imagine my part-German son in this costume.

I used to be vegan (long story)

Beer and Pretzel

Apple Strudel

I missed lunch due to getting lost many times.  The spoke like, city-plan turns any small wrong turn into a much larger trajectory of going in the wrong direction. So, I partake of the traditional sauerkraut, sausage, apple strudel and giant pretzel all of which are quite tasty.

The afternoon ended with a long nap. I can count on one hand the times I have had a drink before 5 p.m. One of those times was with Ed Whitlock, two days before one of his record setting marathons. Ed loves a good bottle of wine. There’s a story for another day.

Ein prosit!

Pretzel sales

I missed my first post in 30 days!  That was yesterday.  Here are my excuses; Husband’s 60th birthday;  Frankfurt in the morning, then Cologne in the afternoon.  I ran about 20 minutes in the morning, yesterday and today, to and from the train station in order to confirm details of my train trips.  Today, p.m. I am in Munich.

Cologne Cathedral, UNESCO World Heritage Site

Breakfast in Frankfurt

The past two days run together as one very long day.   Starting with the long run and then post-long run meal a famous California veal sandwich.

Then onto blogging in the departure lounge and arrival in Frankfurt at noon.

The flight was uneventful and the early hours of the weeks seem to have paid off because it is 11 p.m. here and it feels like 11 p.m. We lunched on cheeses, bread and fruit from a vendor at an Alsatian fair in the market near our hotel.

Time for bed . . . Gute Nacht!

Dear friends,

I wasn’t sure whether I’d be able to post tonight.  Thanks to the wonder of no-bag-to-check I made it to the boarding area for my flight in record time.  No line-up at the flight counter, just straight to security.  So here I am, in a plum spot by an electrical outlet blogging.  I hear there will be parties happening at our house while we are away.  Our son has been returning on the weekends, and while he has flown the coup, we have as a roommate one of his inner circle.

I left my camera behind this morning, thinking to myself, that I’d come upon the usual sights, and leave the photography for another day.  Who knew, that while running through Mt. Pleasant cemetery we would see a deer!  YES, a young buck with antlers about 10-12 inches long.  As it turns out this was not a one-in-a-lifetime moment as research revealed that there have been regular deer sightings in the Don Valley and the Moore park ravine.  A cyclist took this PHOTO of what looks like the very same deer we saw.  Amazing!

After completing our loop through the cemetery, we approached a group of 12-15 very fit looking young women.  After passing by, someone called my name, and the leader of this impressive group was Nicole Stevenson, one of Canada’s top marathon runners.  Again, a great photo opportunity missed.

As one run company slogan says, “the more ground you cover, the more you see”.  I’ll be thinking twice about leaving the camera behind on my next long run.

From the airport!

Since we are on the topic of shoes, and since it is past my bedtime and I almost forgot to post. Here is a preview of a blog I intend to do on one of my peak racing experiences. The race was the Canadian masters cross-country championships in Guelph. The conditions were challenging with packed snow and ice and a rolling golf course in -8C temperatures. In case you were wondering what kind of shoes you wear for this type of race . . . viola!

You can see the full photo on the EXERTION tab of my blog.  If you click on the the caption you’ll hear the song that really was playing when I got to the finish, which was atop an extended hill.  WooHoo!

New Balance Cross-country spikes

New Balance Cross-country spikes

I’ll be taking 3 pairs of shoes on my trip, all of which are comfortable because of the rubber in their soles.

1. One of my current New Balance running shoes, the 758 model, a lighter weight training shoe which weighs 10 ounces and is currently on sale, $40 off
2. My work shoes, which are comfortable enough for a few hours of sustained walking and which I’ll wear to the opera.
3. My trusty Blundstones which are great for running up sand dunes.  There’s a photo of the dune-running on the EXERTION tab of my blog. I also ran a few miles in them earlier this year when I had forgotten my running shoes on a trip to ‘Tofino.  Those boots are a story in themselves which I’ll save for another time.

 
How fortuitous that within seconds of seeking the right spot in my living room to photograph my shoes, I came upon the perfect prop, my husband’s framed Rubber Soul record album.  I wonder what the story is behind that name.

Be good to your feet!

Rubber Soles for foot health

I was awake before my alarm, set for 4:45 a.m. went off. The plan to ease the upcoming 7 hour time difference is taking hold. I love the mornings, the more of it, the better. I will try to get to bed at 9:15 p.m. although I do confess that this is much easier to accomplish with my husband away on a business trip.

This morning I ran with my neighbour. She is my hero in that she has four kids age 2-12 years, works full-time and for the sake of her mental and physical health has taken to running every day. You can see her in the 2nd photo enjoying the view of the lake at my 5 mile turnaround point.

Strachan & Wellington - Wednesday, September 15, 6:50 a.m.

I wonder if readers are tiring of the sunrise shots. With that in mind, I checked out the day that the clocks with change and it is Sunday, November 7, 2010 at 1:59:57 a.m. So that will seriously impact the morning photos.

The one-carry-on-bag initiative is going well. I visited Mountain Equipment Co-op and Europe Bound and purchased some multi-tasking athletic gear. I also bought a universal sink plug and a portable clothesline. I can’t find my lightweight Teva sandals with cork soles but I think I can do without sandals. I’m taking 4 pairs of merino wool Smart socks which will double as running and walking socks. I may take a 5th pair of heavier hiking socks which are good to have in lieu of slippers.

I’ve decided to do my speedwork tomorrow morning as the evening workout at U of T will not jive with my time acclimatization plan. All these details . . . I feel like I’m about the run a marathon . . . I suppose 4 cities in 9 days, with two days for travel is a marathon of another kind.

The audio books I’ve purchased will ease the book problem. In the past, I usually take 3-4 books and return with 7-8. I’m going to take 2 books at the very most. Time to think on that.

Good night.

My neighbour enjoys the sunrise on the lake

Early in my running career, I became familiar with the running culture of the Tarahumara. This knowledge stretched my conception of what the human body is capable of.

The first video offers a small snippet of Tarahumara women doing their long-distance running. The second video narrated in the exclamatory, constantly amazed tone often used used by history or science narrators takes a kinesiology approach to the phenomena. Although it doesn’t touch upon the spiritual, transcendental elements of the Tarahumara running experience.