Traveling to Germany Rd 1 Pt.2

Success in Germany

This is part 2 of my Germany adventure. Previously I explained my journey up to my trip. Now I will touch on how the long planned trip went.

This trip for me was very important for a number of reasons. The first reason being my long time goal. I have talked about this idea for so many years, and I’m sure many of my friends were tired of hearing of this pipe dream. I would always explain to the few people who knew I had two passports that I have an opportunity to run for two different countries and if things went well I would like to make an effort towards one or the other team. As a struggling University athlete, being injured along with dealing with hurdle skill issues being how tall I am, this goal was just a goal which was supposed to disappear after graduation. I did not let this goal disappear because I have an "addiction to goal setting" and I can’t let myself fail.

The second reason this trip was important was because, after all of the work putting this together, training hard for a year, finding a coach, finding a club, and setting up the race, I would now have an opportunity to run in the country where I was born- for the team in the city where I was born, Sindelfingen.

A third reason this trip was important would be the news I was given when I was contacting the club. The contact informed me the qualification time for the Deutsche Leichtathletic Hallenmeisterschaften (National Championship for Indoor Track in Germany) was 8.3. When I heard about this I realized that running in Germany's National Championship was not out of reach. Up to the race I had consistently run 8.3, but had yet to really break that mark, so the trip was my chance to hit the time in Germany in order to qualify. Excitement, Stress, and Nervousness ran through my body during my flight to Stuttgart.

When me and my dad arrived in Stuttgart we headed to my birth home and visited our old neighbor, where we would be staying just 10 minutes from my clubs track. This neighbor had not seen me since I left Germany in 1990 as a 3 month old baby. I ate a bit once we got there, then took a much needed 2 hour nap. After the nap I headed to the track, the GlasPalast, to do a quick shake out. Being tired and tight from the trip I was not happy with this workout but I kept positive thoughts because I have begun to understand the stresses of traveling.

That night was full of listening to my neighbor and her son/family speak German mixed with the occasional English. By the time I went to bed my head hurt from trying to keep up with the language I can understand more than I can speak. I went to bed with the plan of 12 hours of sleep. Anticipating not sleeping this long I expected to roll around all night, but when my alarm went off I woke up feeling fairly rested.

We went to the track, met the contact I had been emailing with, got my new Singlet and Shorts which I would be racing in to represent the club, VfL Sindelfingen. Once I had an understanding of the basic rules and procedures I went about my normal race prep. I was very nervous being in an environment new to me, filled with people I could barely understand. By the time I needed to warm up I calmed myself a bit, and told my dad "my biggest fear is that people will try to make words with me".

Warmup was different for me at this facility. We were given a very small space to stretch, we ran around the top of the seating area which was a bricked path around the facility to warm up jog, and when it came to hurdle warmup I was not given space or hurdles to work with. I made due with what I had, prepared my sprint speed, and once we were allowed on the 8 lane straight at the center of the GlasPalast I went over a hurdle or two. After that I was called over to check in for the race. Lauf 1 lane 3 bib #308 VfL Sindelfingen.

Although I had prepared for the language difference at the start, I had not thought about the word difference when I went to my mark.

The commands were Auf die Plätze (on your mark), fertig (Set), Gun.

I knew this was coming, yet in race mode my mind was in great focus at what I had to do to qualify. When I heard the second command, fertig I found my mind confused and I almost stood up until I realized everyone was in set position. I got up then the gun was quick to follow. I started bad but still ran 8.34, .04 from the needed time.

Evaluating the start commands what I came up with is that in the US I don’t respond to words, but rather the syllables of the commands. The first was 3 syllables same as English, the second was 2 syllables which was not similar to the 1 syllable SET. My mind must have thought that the 2 syllables sound was what in English is STAND UP. This is a very small thing to consider when racing in different language places; you really don’t realize how much your mind is doing until you try to focus on a new series of commands.

Luckily I was able to get my mind to work better in the finals, although my start is still my weak point. My finals race started with a false start from the guy to my right. The second start was decent but without someone to directly compete with to my right I was just racing my own race knowing I needed to go fast.

I finished the race with the feeling that I had run the time necessary, running to the wall with a smile turning around to hear that I had also won the Finals.

When I found out what my time was I was ecstatic, I had flown to Germany, raced twice and hit the time necessary to qualify for a club I found out doesn’t have any male hurdlers. Because of this lack of hurdlers many of the club coaches were caught by surprise when Sindelfingen won the Men’s Hurdles race. Everyone was excited. Myself, my dad, my neighbor, her son and even his family who came to be my fan section. This was mainly a group of fans who had never been to a track meet, so it was cool to see them be so excited for me.

The next day, I woke up at 3am to fly back home to Michigan. When we got back home we found out that I am currently sitting tied for 11th place in Germany.

My goal going into the Championship would be to get my time down to an 8 flat or under, which gives me a good chance to hit my ultimate goal of being in the finals of this year’s championship.

I have 4 weeks to train and prepare, I will race 3 more times in preparation, and I will hopefully see some improvement and consistency.

Plans for the trip back to Germany are still in the works, but I would like to spend a week in Sindelfingen at the GlasPalast to prepare for the race, which is in Karlsrue, about 90km down the road.