The duel of the giants - part 3

finally i get to put the third part online. Harry and Bernd are telling me more of their past stories every day that I absolutely have to write about 😉

Incidentally, the two get along very well and they have a good friendship. Somehow understandable, who else can you fight such bets and duels with, if not with a good buddy?

By the way, here's the first part again:
http://michael-krell.blogspot.com/2010/01/das-duell-der-giganten.html
and second:
http://michael-krell.blogspot.com/2010/01/das-duell-der-giganten-teil-2.html

The hunt
Sometimes, however, both of them practiced questionable tactics to confuse the opponent. One of the two would scan the entry lists of all local races almost every morning. If he wasn't careful it could happen that the other one was “in secret” somewhere at the start and didn't tell him beforehand. You can imagine what a "tremendous cheek" not to report to everyone in advance where you start !!!
Often it was Harry who signed up for a race at the last minute because he saw Bernd on the start lists. After a while, Bernd also changed his tactics and only registered shortly before the registration deadline in order not to appear on the start lists. If Harry hadn't had his "spies" in Bernd's sporting environment, he would never have found out where Bernd started from then on 😉 
 
A long time ago there were Ironman races that weren't fully booked. If you don't believe me, just do some research on the net 😉
Bernd was registered at the Ironman Zurich and was there a few days earlier. Usually such a race is a bigger event for which you should plan a few days of preparation time. For this reason, Bernd was amazed when he suddenly saw Harry running towards him on the running track. "Wasn't he sick for the entire last week?" So Harry had actually registered for the Ironman on the last day and thundered early in the dark by car to Zurich in a "night and fog event"! 🙂
 
 

 
Running competitions of all kinds against each other are popular with both. In principle, Harry always starts too fast to shock his competitor! A tactic that has cost him his neck many times. Incidentally, I can confirm from my own experience that running too fast, even if it is "only" a 10km run, almost never leads to the desired result 🙂
 
10km run - Röthenbach
A fast 10 km run in 3 laps over asphalt, officially measured and "Brettles-even", except for a few tight bends, where you get slowed down a bit.
Bernd explains: As the end of the season and the preparatory run for the final autumn marathon, Harry and I often stood at the start line in Röthenbach, this time again: We were bursting with strength and were in excellent training condition when it came to running.

Everyone speculated on the 10 km on his best time, well the 40 minute mark had to finally fall, also for me.

So I ran away from Harry right at the beginning, after 5 km I was on 37:45 course. I was just flying over the runway! At km 7 I slowed down a little, just to be on the safe side I kept turning around to see if Harry was catching up with me, but I didn't see him. I felt safe and thought that I had so much advantage over the first 5 km, that's enough. In addition, I was sure that with this supposed lead he would not see me at some point (just like at the 100 km run in Biel). So I ran the 8 km a little slower (but inevitably here because it couldn't be faster), but knew that I could definitely undercut the 40 minutes this time! At km 8.5, on the long straight, my pace felt faster again, the 39: xx time was within reach and I was sure, due to the supposed increase in pace, that Harry would no longer catch up with me.

Suddenly at 9 km, a panting in my left ear that got louder and louder !! I turn a little to the left and there he was, my eyes petrified, I was paralyzed and I slowed my pace out of shock. Without a word (he looked about to collapse) Harry pulled past me. I caught myself again quickly, followed him, but was now about 20 to 30 meters behind him. I even used the sidewalk instead of the street on the final straight to save a few meters. That didn't help either, his pace was so hard that he was able to keep his lead of just 7 seconds over the finish line.

What a drama that was! And the moral of this run: You shouldn't turn around, it only costs your heartbeat, which can be decisive in the end. The good thing, however, was that these final duels brought us both new personal bests (at least in the 10 km run), and that's nice, isn't it?

Nuremberg marathon
But sometimes there were days when Bernd's tactic of "fast forwarding" worked, at least in one way or another 😉

Harry says: We both started at the Nuremberg Marathon (it was a few years ago, now it's "only" halfway), Bernd starts faster than me, as always, but I've been used to that over the years. Most of the time I get it between km 20-30. This time I can still see him well at km 6. I run in a large group and Bernd doesn't see me. Suddenly I can't believe my eyes. At a speed of 4 per kilometer, he suddenly takes off his top and throws it - that was probably agreed - to a passerby! He was wearing a completely different colored shirt underneath, so that I wouldn't recognize him later on my chase to catch up.

At some point he was really gone and at 30 km I was pretty flat. Maybe today shouldn't be my day. Suddenly a friend calls me "Bernd is not far away and looks bad!" That ignites an inner explosion in me and I made everyone who was walking along look like tired pedestrians! It took only 5km until I could put Bernd at the "insurance tower". I want to rest first and stay 5m behind him in his "visual shadow", but he literally smells me and turns around. "Pleased definitely looks different;)"
Unmasked, I immediately accelerate and now want to decide the matter! I get back into running mode where the world could end to my left and right, and I wouldn't notice. After a kilometer, I would be interested in the distance that I have worked for myself. "Has he given up yet?" A quick sideways glance is enough to see something astonishing: He is right next to me and looks as if he would eat me alive at any moment !! Why doesn't the dog finally give up and torment me like that ?? !! So we both walk - at the extreme limit - along the Nordwestring and turn into Regensburger Str. When I fatally drink a cup of water. From one second to the other this cost me 10m distance to a suddenly flying Bernd! Ahhh ... I can't catch up with them, we both run in 3:13, only Bernd unfortunately a few seconds faster than me!

When you have friends like that…. 🙂

skin in!
krelli