emotions in september .... Podersdorf

Sleepless in .... Podersdorf :-) & going out for a big ice cream and a piece of melancholy...

I usually cannot sleep the night before a race. And the night after, so that the first night does not get angry of the second one :-) :-( I tried everything. Nothing seems to work out for me. I did not sleep at all on Friday, the 29th of August. On Saturday, the 30th of August, at 7 a.m. I started a crazy cold, wet and windy prolonged Olympic triathlon in Zell am See, Austria. A fairy-tale place in the Austrian Alps. Swimming, biking and running there, fighting against a cold and persistent rain was ”outside the box”, for sure! Then, the second night came. The night before the Ironman 70.3 Zell am See. I could not sleep for a minute, zero!

My start was 10:20 a.m., but it did not help me at all, because I could not sleep at all! So, at 7 I had breakfast.

This is my favorite picture from this crazy race:

Yesterday I started the last race, this time a full ironman distance. The night before: no sleep at all. Awful!!! 

I was not sure I finish the swim route, 2 laps of 2 km seemed to be a killer for me!! It was my best swimming experience, 90% free style. Than, on the bike, I almost fall asleep twice ... so tired I was!!

But I did it .... I DID IT up to the finish line!!! Running 15 km without any light, through the natural protected reservation .... (next time I take the front lamp) .... it almost was a paranormal experience, really! Almost full moon was the light I needed. On the right side, the wide meadows, on the left side, the wide swamps. Then, a few horses in the dark behind the fence ... one of them it was a white one ... a white horse in the darkness .... free horses, happy horses, I suppose ...no stars on the sky ... only the moon and the clouds and my tired feet and my internal fascination .... I had the feeling I am somewhere in Africa .... lost inside of me ....

Describing the finish of my 3rd ironman (the 2nd this year) would take a while. Just now I cannot describe it, as it was much over my expectations. The audience gave me unexpected power to run the last 150 m, hundred of people were there, several photographs .... the first and the last triathlete of this race run together to the finish line! Absolutely amazing and I wait for the pictures.

Today I had to change the accommodation, so could not sleep longer. Then I played the photographer for the Olympic triathlon today and took a lot of picture of the triathletes, as I know everybody enjoy it!

I did not eat, just a little. The first 2-3 days after an ironman are not so easy.

Now, in the evening, I went out for a walk and a big ice cream.

I went to see again the place where I started a day ago, in a cold water, a strange water of a huge lake ... what a place!!! Fascinating - the only word I can find just now.

Amazing place, I have to say it ..... because of the lighthouse which gives such a beautiful flair to the landscape ... old & new together, yesterday and now, like a painting .... I live in a beautiful painting, right? And no moskitos tonight .... yesterday night, on my lonely long run in the darkness, thousands of moskitos around me ... they almost vandalized my body :-( through all my clothes, wet clothes, smelling clothes .... câh!

I would have never dare to touch such an unclear open wide water, I would have never thought about swimming in it .... and here I am, at 6:45 in the morning, waiting to take the start for a long swim of over 4 km ... if life is not crazy!!!

And now, instead of sleeping - I CANNOT SLEEP, I TOLD YOU BEFORE, MAN!!!! -, I walk to the light house to see and to feel and to remember ....

And I cannot leave the place .... here, you see? I swam here, twice, yesterday morning!! Twice!!

4,200 km / 1 hour 41 minutes .... incredible!
See this one too, Podersdorf landscape .... 
And this .... the apple on a table here in the house where I (hope!!) to sleep tonight :-) It just suits to the flair & charm of this place.