Some marathons fall in a group we could call ‘eccentric races’. The Elbtunnel marathon in Hamburg, Germany is for sure one of them ! It is a race well organized by the German Marathon Club 100 (www.100mc.de) and it takes place in the old Elbtunnel, ie. under water and in the two narrow tubes that the tunnel is made of. The marathon is completed after 48 1/2 round… my gosh ! Please find pictures from the race via my list ‘MY MARATHONS’ and watch the video of one whole round of this crazyness !
Month: January 2008
Do you have the intelligence to appreciate the beauty and complexity of Chess ? Well, if not you are missing out on something that can fill you with both pleasure and frustration during a lifetime.
Today, one of the greatest chess-lifetimes ended… the legendary american and former World Champion Bobby Fischer died at age 64… as per one year per square on the chessboard. Fischer was the first from the West to claim the title during the cold war, defeating Boris Spasskij in the infamous match on Iceland in 1972. Fischer was a child prodigy and his style of play was like cold, cynical logic. Thanks for sharing, Bobby !
Since the best days of Fischer the World has witnessed the best human chessplayer in history, Garry Kasparov. Kasparov’s style of play was more colourful, at times perhaps unsettled, and his strong karisma undoubtfully added to his opponents nerves and lack of well-being ;). Kasparov has now stepped down, and his former favorite challengers Anand, Kramnik, Topalov and Kamsky have in turn ruled the great game.
But these days things are turning ! Actually, perhaps the greatest of all the chess child prodigys are ready to take over the chess world, ie. the young Norwegian boy Magnus Carlsen is unfolding extreme power. Just these days, Carlsen is thrilling the whole chess world by his creative play at the strong Corus Tournament, Carlsen actually leads as these words are written.
So, Science tells us the truth ? Ok. Here comes the short version of ‘Life’.
At some point in time, Carbon, Nitrogen and Hydrogen begins to cluster together in the thermodynamically favored structures called Nucleotides… and due to a subtle twist in the cosmic radiance, L-amino acids are formed primarilly (not D-amino acids). In combination and again by chance, life evolves around these very structures, the Nucelotides and the Proteins. Ok, throw in a few Carbohydrates and other stuff as well… all in all, we have the one-celled life organisms.
Even here, what happens ? WAR ! In order to survive, the organisms begin a chemical warfare first by simple chemical compounds. Later, the cells begin to differentiate (eg. welcome to the mitochondrians) and later again the organisms begin to develop specialized organs (welcome, penis 😉 ). All this to protect the survival of the initial microorganisms. Yes, taken to it’s ultimate argument…. and to cut a few steps in the story of evolution … the scientifical ‘fact’ is that we humans live only to carry futher the content of our microbiologocal flora in our intestines ! Think about that the next time you sit on the toilet. And forget about your career, sport interests and other ‘human interests and feelings’… according to science, they are not of interest or any meaning at all ! At least not in the quest of evolution.
So… do you really want to face and interprete your life according to Science only ?
I don’t !
Take a good look at this picture 😉
So – what is it ?
It is my finisher medals collected at the five World Major Marathons, the five greatest and most prestigeous marathon races in the World, i.e. the London, Berlin, New York, Boston and Chicago marathons.
I have had the pleasure to travel with the Danish ‘Marathon Travel’ to these races and with great expericences and friendships in the bag as well.
I can only recommend you to take on the challenge of collecting these heavy, hard earned pieces of metal ! You will meet the very moments of peak experience and personal fulfillment at these Majors !
You find, as always, pictures from these races in my list ‘MY MARATHONS’ in the menu at right (or use the links in the text above).
Time to account for 2007: 31 completed marathons in the book and one DNF. Two months (Feb and Aug) with just one run.
31 marathons ! That is just insane ! Some of the biggest experiences were collected in the big city marathons like Barcelona, Rome, Boston, Vienna and Chicago… but for sure, many of the small races are close to the heart as well, cf. my previous post on the best marathons of 2007.
Another great goal was also reached, namely the completion of the ‘World Major Marathons’ … for me, done by Boston and Chicago in 2007 (Berlin, London and New York already done).
So…. time to be happy… best wishes for 2008 !
