FirmenLauf (aka The Ultimate Patience Test)

Tonight I took part in the Firmenlauf which is basically the Corporate Challenge in Munich. There were over 30,000 people taking part and everyone of them was there to make me crazy!! Basically I hate crowds in general and this was a crowd of Germans so they drove me extra crazy. They are pushy and completely unaware of themselves on the path. Instead of a 6 km run I am certain that I did at least 9km with all the back and forth I had to do. There were so many times tonight that I was standing in a huge crowd with no one moving and then them just pushing. I got to the point where I would actually retaliate (ok, so really I would just purposefully kick the back of people's feet who were being especially rude. Sounds dumb I know, but made me feel a tiny bit better.)

It took place at the Olympic park with the finish line just inside the stadium. It was cool to run in through the tunnel into the stadium, except for the part where there was a thunderstorm going on and it was pouring down rain at that point! When running and seeing lightening strikes around me I calmed myself with the statistics of me being the one hit and not one of the other 29,999 people. The odds were in my favor. But the worst part was that the rain made the salty sweat on my forehead run into my eyes and it burned!

But in the end it was pretty fun (albeit a bit wet, cold, and frustrating). Oh and I'll never understand the desire to grab a cold beer directly after a run. Give it a few minutes people, but no, I am in Germany so your post-run options are water, some sort of pop, and beer. I think I was the only one who didn't have one, but I don't regret that one bit!