It somehow still worked out in the end, we were 11 plus my husband our only true fan, LOL, and the only problem left to take care of was how we would ever get to DUB with all flights completely overbooked on that day. Through numerous tricks which only FRA ppl know how to pull, such as a letter in the purserette's mailbox and the sweettalking of the captain while dominating the boarding personal completely, all 7 of us made it out of FRA while 4 HAMers got just as lucky against all odds. Friderike and I as cabin and ops were accepted on jumps while Sandra, Paul, Michael, Yasmin and Martina flew business but after we robbed them of their chocolate reserves we didnt complain really. Even Domi made the night flight.
After fastly checking in to the Clarion most of us took a bus to downtown, we only had to miss the team captains who took care of business. Scouted out a nice Irish pub in the Temple district and drained the stress of the day in Guiness and Ciders, respectively. I left to catch D early so i only heard it thru the grapewine that some people drained it pretty thoroughly but thats doping for you, its Germans we are speaking of :)
10:30 the next morning, we are stumbling through the endless muddy rugby fields of the ALSAA with no people and or track in sight, just planes landing low above us and we are wondering if we came to the right place. The organizer team themselves have not much of an idea where the start should take place and it feels a little surreal but we are cool, no sweat. Shoes feel like sinking boats, filled with water. Eventually people turn up out of nowhere and we are just in time for the start. We are all rather relieved when Orla of the host team takes the lead immediately, this way we hopefully wont get lost. But she is difficult to follow and beats 2.5 minutes on us by the end of the second round. Two steps forward slide one back is the order of the day, it is kind of like you are running on a wheel and not getting anywhere. Sandra Friderike and I build a unit and push the tempo but soon more Lingus staff passes us by, sporting fancy spikes.
But we pull it thru, Sandra even touches ground once, but it takes more than a little pain to do away with her Friderike gives it a push on the last couple hundred meters and finishes as first Lufthanseatin in 18:36 , i follow in 18:42 and Sandra a minute later. To the outsider it all looks like slow-motion tho, and in the finish i feel like i did not 4 but at least 14 km. Yasmin and Martina arrive soon enough too and there is no doubt to our second position. We are a little annoyed over not having brought spikes but to be honest, they would have beaten us one way or the other. Perhaps not so easily tho. We still manage to put SAS and Iberia behind us and we are only slightly upset over a 13 year old baby girl beating us all in 16:sth Then we watch the guys do their 4 rounds and are all very proud of them, just doing the 8 k seems like a huge challenge under the circumstances, let alone the times some of them post. Too bad it doesnt suffice for a medal this time.
Hot showers, hot soup, sandwiches and ciders soon wash away the exhaustion, and we then divide until dinner. D and i go sightseeing and do a considerable load:
and then its time to dress up all fancy and recieve a 5 course meal which unfortunately starts at 21pm so its more like 2 courses for me. But you dont need to worry about the guys, they eat thru the whole evening heroically and after we finally pick up our medals at midnight, i am relieved to go home to my nice soft hotel bed and snoring bedwarmer Not the others tho, they still have a dance or 10 in them, admirable endurance :)
A very nice event all in all, looking forward to a revival! Maybe next spring in VIE?
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