3 Countries Marathon - Germany, Austria, Switzerland in one day!

This is one of the coolest venues and unique race experiences you can hope for! Marathon starts on the little resort island of Lindau, Germany. It is situated on Lake Constance at the south-western part of Germany… beautiful lake with the Swiss Alps towering in the background. Quaint and beautiful town. We stayed in a cool little hotel on the Isle of Lindau, where the marathon start was.

The race was really just for fun, with no significant distance training since early July. The race left Germany into Austria… through the town of Bregenz, where the 10km mark was and the scene was crazy! Thousands of people watching, really cool scenery, then into the forests and country on the way to Switzerland. We were right at the feet of the Alps, but the race director was kind and didn’t run us up and down too much.

Switzerland… home of the true cowbell! There were cattle everywhere cheering us on! Plus people with cowbells too! One old man had a HUGE bell – nearly as big as he was. Using his whole body to swing it slowly back and forth… I’ll always remember that guy! “Hopp Hopp”, “Zuper”, “Schnell” were the cheers I recognized from the crowds… plus many more things said that I simply didn’t understand.

Eventually, back into Austria toward the finish line in the stadium of Bregenz. There were times I honestly didn’t know what country I was in… 3 unmarked border crossings… so you didn’t really know when Austria stopped and Switzerland started, etc. I ran the first 1/3 of the race at a planned 7:30/mi pace and held that till about the halfway mark. Then my lack of endurance training – coupled with a nice little bout of the squirts (2 times before race, once during… ugh) caused me to back off the pace. This race was for fun and the experience… so I didn’t really bring the mental intensity to push hard or through a lot of pain… a nice catered training run of 42.2km (26.2 miles) at 8:05/mi pace. (I have a hilarious but disgusting story for those who want to hear it!! JUST ASK!)

At the finish in Bregenz, Austria… there was a great finish line and after party. Good food and free, cold Erdinger Weissbier! I really appreciated John Holmes coming along on this trip too. He was great company before and after the race… and provided great support during the race! Great pictures, cheered me on, there at the finish, and was good enough to drive both ways. When we returned to his apartment in Stuttgart, Germany, he cooked fillet mignon on the grill, and we watched the Cincy Bengals / Cleve Browns game on skype! What a great way to finish the weekend! I drove another 4 hours from Stuttgart to Swisttal, Germany where my hotel was waiting for me… or so I thought…