Frankfurt Marathon - 26th October 2014

Trampas

Thinking this or Amsterdam

plumber77

This..you won't be disappointed

Alicano

I have to chip in here and give Frankfurt my vote. Best Marathon I've ran so far. Superb organisation, huge atmosphere, course, support is crazy, finish even crazier. Throw in good choice of accommodation and trains etc. Have I sold it enough??:D

Krusty_Clown

average_runner

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Is that the finish line ?

likestosmile

Yes this picture is taken standing on the finishing line looking back at the last 10-15meters which is inside.

average_runner

likestosmile wrote: »

Yes this picture is taken standing on the finishing line looking back at the last 10-15meters which is inside.

Why would you bother finishing it, i would just collapse at the feet of one those cheerleaders:D

Itziger

Well, blow me, if I haven't gone and registered for this!

Was thinking about Metz again but when I looked at the 18 week plan, I saw it started on June 1st and I have a Half the night before which I hope to race - as in go for pb. Frankfurt, which is only about 2.5 hours drive from here, means I can start the programme properly on Sunday 15th.

Has anyone looked at possibility of apartment rental for weekend over hotel option?? (I will in a few moments)

Krusty_Clown

Itziger wrote: »

Has anyone looked at possibility of apartment rental for weekend over hotel option?? (I will in a few moments)

I stayed in the Adina Aparthotels in Berlin before, and it was a superb option. huge rooms with own cooking facilities, hotel pool, and a restaurant for breakfast. 4* Hotel still seems to be working out significantly cheaper though.

Itziger

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

I stayed in the Adina Aparthotels in Berlin before, and it was a superb option. huge rooms with own cooking facilities, hotel pool, and a restaurant for breakfast. 4* Hotel still seems to be working out significantly cheaper though.

Will check this out. I like the 'own food' idea and there could be up to 6 of us if whole family travels, meaning 2 hotel rooms.

A P

I entered Frankfurt 2 years ago but picked up an injury in advance and couldn't run it. I went over to watch it anyway since I had booked the flights and accommodation before the injury struck. I stayed in the Adina. Nice spot, pricey, but with the kitchen you can cook your own meals in advance of the race which was a major selling point for me. I watched the race on the big screen in the stadium - the atmosphere was class and the noise was deafening when Makau and co. finished. Best of luck to all taking part this year.

(Another cheaper apartment option that I nearly went for was Apartments Duval http://www.booking.com/hotel/de/duval.html which is also fairly close to the start).

opus

Here's a 20% off code for ebookers.de that might prove useful - EBK20HOTEL

I just used it for the Adina Apartment hotel as mentioned earlier by KC. Booked in for Fri->Mon, just need to figure out flights now and I'm sorted

skittles8710

Seriously considering this one aswell!! Itching to book the next after Cork. Was also looking at the Adina - anyone know if a studio would be small for two people? Location seems ideal. Thanks opus for the code!

Krusty_Clown

opus wrote: »

Booked in for Fri->Mon, just need to figure out flights now and I'm sorted

Lufthansa is still €120 return, including checked luggage.

Itziger

Decided to book a basic Novotel yoke just in case they sell out. It's fairly close to start as far as I can see. I'll have to finish in a decent time to get a couple of hours in the pub cos we're probably leaving that afternoon/evening. Booo!

opus

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Lufthansa is still €120 return, including checked luggage.

Cheers already booked Farranfore -> Hahn with Ryanair as there's a handy bus from Cork that will drop me at the airport. Amazingly I'll have to walk over a mile (not much fun if it's lashing rain) to get the same bus back as it doesn't collect at the airport :rolleyes:

Plan is to stay in Frankfurt 'til Monday & then head east for a week.

viperlogic

Booked Amsterdam ages back, kinda want to do this one now after some more reading up on it. Darn

EDIT: only 50% charge for cancelling Amsterdam, which is ~32 euro. hmmmmm will sleep on it

opus

Presume people are kicking off training for this shortly (if not already). My 12 week plan starts in Aug, think it would be fine if I started now but have a 3-week holiday in the US first where doubt much running will be done although I am going to bring the shoes. Hopefully I can at least avoid doubling my body weight

It's been a while since (VLM '12) since I actually trained specifically for a marathon so could be a challenging campaign ahead!

Itziger

Said I'd bump this as I have just booked a flight and instead of potentially leaving the post race quaffing workout mid afternoon and getting a series of trains back to Lux, I have booked a 21.00 hour flight meaning I get to make a right arse of myself being a relative lightweight in the beer drinking dept.

ThePiedPiper

So, where are we going on the beer after the race? Presumably, the indoor arena it finishes in will have some recovery beer, but after that? Knacker drinking for a while, or straight to the beer halls?

Krusty_Clown

RunForestRun wrote: »

So, where are we going on the beer after the race? Presumably, the indoor arena it finishes in will have some recovery beer, but after that? Knacker drinking for a while, or straight to the beer halls?

Both! I haven't really considered the beer-drinking phase of the plan yet, which is a little uncharacteristic, particularly as we are down to the last 10 weeks of the endeavour. Hopefully it's a little like the Berlin setup, where they have beer vendors inside/outside the arena selling beer, pretzels and Über German sausages. Anyone done it before and know if this is the case?

For the evening time, here's a restaurant/beer garden that seems to be well rated: Klosterhof. But I've only ever passed through Frankfurt once, so any local/experienced knowledge /suggestions would be preferable!

opus

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

For the evening time, here's a restaurant/beer garden that seems to be well rated: Klosterhof. But I've only ever passed through Frankfurt once, so any local/experienced knowledge /suggestions would be preferable!

A friend of mines office is in Frankfurt although he works from home around 300k to the east so I'll check to see if he's any recommendations.

dukeraoul

Ok lads. I need help here. Am training for either Frankfurt (which I entered a while ago) or DCM. I was gonna target DCM for club reasons but thats no longer a concern... My training has been solid, didm;t get a great result @ Frank Duffy and think I'll be seriously tight for sub 2:40. I have run the first 15 miles of the new DCM course and tbh its pretty damn slow.

Anyone have any idea how much faster Frankfurt is? I mean is it Berlin level flat and quick? Am I looking at a couple of mins in the difference? I'm leaning towards Frankfurt at this stage but could anyone give me a good idea of how much I stand to gain? Thanks lads

DQ

SeanPuddin

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Both! I haven't really considered the beer-drinking phase of the plan yet, which is a little uncharacteristic, particularly as we are down to the last 10 weeks of the endeavour. Hopefully it's a little like the Berlin setup, where they have beer vendors inside/outside the arena selling beer, pretzels and Über German sausages. Anyone done it before and know if this is the case?

For the evening time, here's a restaurant/beer garden that seems to be well rated: Klosterhof. But I've only ever passed through Frankfurt once, so any local/experienced knowledge /suggestions would be preferable!

Frankfurt isn't great for drinking in general I found. Henninger the local brew is bland enough. Applewoi is a flat cider special to Frankfurt which will leave you with a hangover similar to Buckfast's.

O'Reilly's is the best "pub" in town beside the train station, good post run food too. Plenty of nice local places though if you're looking for something quiet. For a gig / mental night check out Batschkapp in the suburbs, easily accessible by tram. Saw Overkill and House of Pain there, great place.

Krusty_Clown

dukeraoul wrote: »

Ok lads. I need help here. Am training for either Frankfurt (which I entered a while ago) or DCM. I was gonna target DCM for club reasons but thats no longer a concern... My training has been solid, didm;t get a great result @ Frank Duffy and think I'll be seriously tight for sub 2:40. I have run the first 15 miles of the new DCM course and tbh its pretty damn slow.

Anyone have any idea how much faster Frankfurt is? I mean is it Berlin level flat and quick? Am I looking at a couple of mins in the difference? I'm leaning towards Frankfurt at this stage but could anyone give me a good idea of how much I stand to gain? Thanks lads

DQ

Hi DQ, obviously I haven't done Frankfurt before, so take my response in that context, but the reasons I'm doing Frankfurt instead of Dublin this year are numerous:
1) In DCM running at 2:38 pace, I was quite literally on my own from the 15 mile mark onwards. This was pretty much true of anyone who finished in that 2:30 - 2:40 bracket. There were 44 finishers in that 10 minute segment. While the total number of runners is approximately the same (12-13k), Frankfurt had more than twice that number of finishers in the 2:30 - 2:40 bracket. Doesn't mean I wont spend time on my own, but I'm hoping there will be twice as many targets over those final miles.

2) Flat/quick course - Kipsang ran 2:03:42 on the Frankfurt course in 2012, missing out on the world record by just four seconds (recorded a couple of weeks earlier in Berlin). In my mind that puts it as a likely contender for second fastest marathon course in the world. Kipsang went on to beat that time by 19 seconds in Berlin the following year. Thing is, Frankfurt takes place in October (versus Berlin's September) so you have a better likelihood of avoiding hot conditions. Short of one of those downhill US marathons, this has got to be one of the fastest marathons on the planet. Hard to equate that to a time for someone with our targets, but IMO, the difference between Dublin and London in terms of difficulty is probably around 1-2 minutes, and Frankfurt is flatter and faster than London.

3) You get one of the best marathon finishes around.

4) Finally, it's a bank holiday weekend, which means we get to fly back on Monday and wait for all those losers in the pub, while they battle the wind and rain.

Only disadvantage I can see are: local support, and water in bottles instead of cups.

Krusty_Clown

SeanPuddin wrote: »

Frankfurt isn't great for drinking in general I found. Henninger the local brew is bland enough. Applewoi is a flat cider special to Frankfurt which will leave you with a hangover similar to Buckfast's.

O'Reilly's is the best "pub" in town beside the train station, good post run food too. Plenty of nice local places though if you're looking for something quiet. For a gig / mental night check out Batschkapp in the suburbs, easily accessible by tram. Saw Overkill and House of Pain there, great place.

Doesn't matter what bars/restaurants get suggested - we'll invariably end-up in the Irish Bar anyway. :rolleyes: At least it's close to the finish line (and my hotel). Would love to visit one of the beach bars along the river in the afternoon though, and just lounge, recuperate and drink beer.

dukeraoul

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Hi DQ, obviously I haven't done Frankfurt before, so take my response in that context, but the reasons I'm doing Frankfurt instead of Dublin this year are numerous:
1) In DCM running at 2:38 pace, I was quite literally on my own from the 15 mile mark onwards. This was pretty much true of anyone who finished in that 2:30 - 2:40 bracket. There were 44 finishers in that 10 minute segment. While the total number of runners is approximately the same (12-13k), Frankfurt had more than twice that number of finishers in the 2:30 - 2:40 bracket. Doesn't mean I wont spend time on my own, but I'm hoping there will be twice as many targets over those final miles.

2) Flat/quick course - Kipsang ran 2:03:42 on the Frankfurt course in 2012, missing out on the world record by just four seconds (recorded a couple of weeks earlier in Berlin). In my mind that puts it as a likely contender for second fastest marathon course in the world. Kipsang went on to beat that time by 19 seconds in Berlin the following year. Thing is, Frankfurt takes place in October (versus Berlin's September) so you have a better likelihood of avoiding hot conditions. Short of one of those downhill US marathons, this has got to be one of the fastest marathons on the planet. Hard to equate that to a time for someone with our targets, but IMO, the difference between Dublin and London in terms of difficulty is probably around 1-2 minutes, and Frankfurt is flatter and faster than London.

3) You get one of the best marathon finishes around.

4) Finally, it's a bank holiday weekend, which means we get to fly back on Monday and wait for all those losers in the pub, while they battle the wind and rain.

Only disadvantage I can see are: local support, and water in bottles instead of cups.

Thanks for that KC. Mind made up- Frankfurt it is. Now for flights and hotel and to break the news to the Sisters....

ThebitterLemon

Hey Q,

One thing I used to find that there was benefit in not disrupting your routine with flights, hotels and eating different food (or in a McD's in a different country), especially when trying to focus on a PB effort. However, all ye North Americans are intrepid international travellers so it should be no problem to a Canadian like you

Best of luck with it.

TbL

opus

Bit of feedback on the Klosterhof from a local...

A typical german one is the Klosterhof, I got there my stag night 6 years ago. You need to book, if you not arrive before 6pm. But its worth, good food and much more better beer.

belcarra

Sounds like he's still drunk from his night out there...:)