Sunday, January 18, 2009

Fred didn't win the cow

Drove out to Gudensberg yesterday where Fred ran a 9K cross country race.


Gudensberg's a dorf, a little village about 20 K outside of Kassel. Parts of it date back to the 11th century, like this church from 1025.


But this being Germany, the old is always mixed with the new when it comes to architecture. On the exterior walls of some of the modern houses, decorative painting is popular. "As beautiful as the roots on the wall is our Hessenland" was painted on the side of this one.


The dorf is surrounded by hills, one of which I climbed while waiting for the race to start.


At the top, panoramic views....




ruins of an old castle, and total quiet. Ahhh....


Back down on the course, Timm had placed second in the 4 K Kurzlauf race and Fred had just started his.


Timm, his girlfriend Julia and I tromped through the field, taking pictures of the runners and cheering them on. "Prima!" "Nicht aufgeben!" "Schneller!"


There were cows off to the side of the course, and we could hear them moo-ing occasionally. Timm joked that the winner of the race got to take one home.



From where we stood, I could see the hill I'd just climbed behind Fred as he ran.




The hills were brutal - up and down 3 times each loop, with 6 loops to finish the 9 K.


And then, quickly, it was all over. After slipping back halfway through with bad cramps, Fred picked it back up, fought back, and finished strong. But he didn't win. I think he was 10th.


Which saved us a lot of trouble having to strap that cow to the roof of Timm's parents' car.

1 comment:

lisa said...

and where would you keep this cow in your apartment?