Hier mein Facebook-Bericht vom Sonntag aus Sicht eines Cabanauten-Novizen. In englisch, da ein großer Teil meiner Freunde kein deutsch spricht. I ran an official marathon world record today: Guinness world record for largest chain gang finishing a marathon. Here's the story: After yesterday's 4 hour Taekwon-Do seminar in Ochsenfurt, my plan was to run an easy half marathon at today's Würzburg Marathon. At the start line, some guys asked me to join their effort to set a new Guinness world record for largest marathon chain gang. The old record was 62 runners and they were still some participants short of that. How could I say no? Since it was just 20 minutes to the start, I ran to the marathon office and had my registration changed to full marathon. A short sprint back, and I was tied into the chain. Spirits were high for the first 21 km, but the heat was brutal. I learned that there were some gang members who had never run a marathon before and weren't really prepared. The rule for the record was that everyone of the 74 runners who started, had to finish with the group. So we went on with short breaks for runners with cramps. Going to the bathroom was another story. Nobody was allowed cut loose from the chain, so the whole group went together in the bushes. At km 31, Carsten, the runner next to me, collapsed. When we stopped, the guy behind me also fainted. Race security and EMTs came and we poured cold water over their heads and gave them Coca Cola and salt tablets. After 10 minutes, we resumed running, but even slower than before the incident. Carsten kept complaining about having severe problems and I kept feeding him water and more Coca Cola. Sometimes I had to pull him. We became slower and slower and race security wanted to take us off the course. So we kept running on the sidewalks - not funny when you're chained to 73 people. I was concerned about Karsten's health, but he refused to quit. More and more runners were having problems, but I felt strong and in great spirits. After a long long day, everybody made it to the finish line together and alive, and the new world record was officially accredited. Many thanks to the team for a great effort and for making me participate in a world record on such a short notice! And great respect to Carsten, who had the worst day in his whole life.
