Vienna City Tour in 2:59:20

Finally, I could stay sub3 after 2 years of several unsuccessful trials... I am very happy and my only goal today was 2:xx, xx being anything below 60 :-)

The course is pretty flat, just a few ups and downs, nothing to worry. What I was worried about was the weather. The forecast finally settled for a cloudless sky with up to 21 C. The spectators came in T shirts only to the start. I saw none of them freezing. But, as you know, i ran Vienna in 2003 with temp up to 29 C. So, i only concentrated on not overheating and kept the engine as cool as possible. Water at every aid station on the head, neck, arms, not on the legs, though. This contributed to the cramp in Frankfurt, I am sure. Got the first 10k out of the way, then speeded up a tiny little. At 20k a young Spanish runner came in view and we stayed together for the second half. He paced me to the 30k mark and I took over from there. At 41k he passed me and finished a couple of secs ahead of me. Was pretty dehydrated but very satisfied. The strategy payed out :-)
Ah, well, one more thing: Christiane lost her chip. Unofficial time for the half is 1:53.