As June 21 is drawing near, I am sure the news have spread. For those few who have not heard it yet, here’s the scoop: Sylvia and I are getting married on Midsummer’s Night.
We met for the first time in October 2004 and again in December 2004. Since January 4, 2005 we are a couple and got engaged on (more…)
What a climber! Christian Kleineberg, a fellow runner and friend, took on the challenge of the Welschlauf 2008, a mountain roller coaster that goes under the name of marathon, and climbed not only almost 1.400 meters in altitude but also the podium.
In tandem with Erich Grailer, I escorted Christian through the beautiful countryside of the South Styrian Weinstraße on his way to an astonishing 3rd place and a remarkable time of 3:05:22 hrs.
A few years back I bought a mountain bike in order to be able to go with Erwin and ride the Großglockner Hochalpenstraße. In order to prepare for the challenge, I went on sorties to the Weinstraße for a good exercise. The Weinstraße can get breath-takingly steep at times, and you have to work hard on your bike to reach the next ridge.
Back then, running on these streets seemed, (more…)
1. You accidentally enter your PIN on the microwave.
2. You haven’t played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three.
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you
What a perfect day for runners this Sunday happened to be. Cool temperatures at around 16 °C and wonderful sunshine set a perfect scene for about 6.000 participants at the Graz Marathon 2007.
Training more than 143 hours and 1.580 ks, I was well prepared for my second marathon. The conditions were just perfect for me and I had a good first few kilometers. I chose my speed according to my heart rate at about 158 – 163 beats per minute, clocking in the kilometers at about 04.10. After 12 ks I joined two guys running exactly at my speed, also trying to challenge the 3 hrs mark. With joint effort we made good progress towards the end of the first round.
When I finished the first half marathon at 1:28:13 still feeling (more…)
Schoeckl is considered the landmark mountain of the city of Graz. With an altitude of 1.435 m, its vicinity to Graz and a ski lift at its top, it is a popular resort for families to give their kids a first skiing experience – of course, only if the winters are cold enough for snow. In summer it is a popular escape from the hot city streets and from St. Radegund 
offers a steady, sometimes steep path up to its top. The hike takes between one to two hours depending on your fitness and speed. For the well trained, there is the Schöckl trail which leads straight up the mountain right beneath the cable car.
Susi, Jean-Pierre and their kids, Julian and Stefan, come to Austria every summer for their holidays. They live in Auburn, a city close to Boston 
in Massachusetts. Susi is from Leibnitz and Susi and Christoph, as kids, have spent a few summers in Grabovac on the island of Hvar in Croatia and a lot of winter holidays in their long-time skiing resort in Bad Gastein. Susi and Jean-Pierre met in France as students and married in 1998.