Basler Halbmarathon

My first triathlon season this summer/fall in Switzerland turned out nothing of the sort. Although I had trained for and planned to participate in a few short- to medium-distance events, none came to fruition. The first event had filled up by the time I tried to register, the second was preempted by our weekend trip to Paris (oops) and the third--in French-Switzerland with a killer hilly bike leg that I was really looking forward to--was obliterated by heavy rain and 40-degree temps on race day. So to keep some sort of athletic goal ahead of us, Steph, our Australian friend Kim and I signed up for the Basel Half Marathon (13.1 miles) in late October.

Unfortunately for Steph and Kim, too much international work travel (Russia+Turkey and Beijing, respectively) disrupted their training schedules requiring both to bow out, leaving me as the lone competitor. Kim agreed to join Steph in my cheering section, however, so the three of us met too early on a chilly Saturday morning at the Hauptbahnhof for a 7:00am train. Basel sits in the country's northwest "corner" where Switzerland meets both France and Germany, about an hour train ride from Zürich.

At 900 participants, the event seemed miniscule compared to our old Chicago races, where at least 5,000 people turned out for every 5k run. Conditions were perfect, cold but clear and sunny. Logistics were adequate, the main beef being a stated requirement to arrive 90 minutes before the start, when 30 minutes would have been more than adequate (every moment of sleep is precious to me). Somewhat bizarre for Switzerland, the course was mostly flat and 2/3 on concrete instead of trails, a welcome change from the Winterthur half marathon Steph and I ran in May. I rose to the occasion and smashed my previous best time, finishing in a quite respectable 1 hour 47 minutes (damn but the Swiss are fast, I didn't finish in the top 50% of men).

Soon after, I received congratulatory phone calls from from both our Dutch and Mexican friends; I only mention it because the support of three friends on the day was another hugely welcome change from our May race, in which Steph and I mainly supported each other. Developing a friend network is so important to settling into a new environment that I can't overstate it. Steph, Kim and I spent the early afternoon briefly wandering Basel's downtown shops after a satisfying lunch of pizza, beer, salad and fantastic French fries. The town is smaller and quainter than Zürich with more French influence. Steph and I will return in December for her company Christmas party, so we'll take another look around then.

Just to keep the day jam-packed, we had also planned to host dinner for our German/Manhattan friends (the same couple I'd seen that Thursday night). Steph did most of the work with last-minute shopping and pulling everything together by 8:00pm, and we enjoyed a nice evening hanging out, eating and drinking wine until nearly 1:00am, when both Steph and I crashed head-first into the pillows and slept like stones. To stretch out some leg soreness, we took Hobbes on a long, wonderful autumn walk up our Zürich hillside late Sunday morning, discovering a new French bakery & café (a huge addition to the neighborhood!) and wandering through vineyards with still-unharvested winegrapes and excellent lake views. After later meeting our Dutch friend to catch up over drinks (non-alcoholic) and a light lunch, Steph cruised off to Milan on Sunday evening for another work photo shoot, this one thankfully only lasting one day. All-in-all, a successful October weekend.

Race pics: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2hd8fyj.bqj0op8z&x=0&y=-oagt1g&localeid=en_US


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