Another race...

Yesterday, we participated in the 8. Zwei Seen Lauf Tannheimer Tal.
They offer two distances: 12,5 km which Christiane ran and 25,5km which I did.
The race features a very scenic course around the Vilsalpsee and the Haldensee.
The race starts at 3:30 pm and so we could drive there from home after a healthy breakfast. 
I started out conservatively @ 4:05 min/km since I just returned from a week in Hong Kong/China and still could feel some jet lag. Weather was perfect: 14 C and almost no wind. The course is not flat, undulating for most of the time and has some nasty gravel stretches. I passed the 10 km mark in 40:30 and was prepared for a long second half when suddenly I heard some tapping shoes behind me. It turned out that a woman was following me. Earlier she was announced by the race organizers being in W55 and a strong runner. Err, I felt like I was in trouble right away. We chatted a little and suddenly I felt a LOT of pressure... It turned out that she was not willing to let me go on my own. Instead, I got some pressure and the speed increased. From km 15 on we stayed sub 4 min/km. Problem for me was that everybody was cheering at her! I thought: "this can't be, I don't want to be beaten by a W55 runner!" So, I gave all I had and shortly after the km 24 mark I made my move and surged as much as was in my tired body. Finally, slowly I could gain a few meters. Finished 4 seconds ahead of Heidrun (that's her name). Heidrun was so happy that she could run with me that she hugged me after the finish line and thanked me. I told her that I was scared to death that she would overtake me ;-) I finished 27 / 394 runner and seventh in my age group. Would have been third in the M50 age group :-) Petra from our club won the women competition in the 12,5 km event (Congratulations!), Christiane finished 4th in her age group. We had a few drinks after the race and I won a head and an air mattress in the lucky draw. Today, we watched the movie "I want to run" which covers the 2009 4500km Trans Europe run from Bari, Italy to the Nordkapp, Norway. Most of the runners sleep on air mattress. Is this a sign...? Stay on tuned!