Last weekend Maiki and I took a little trip to Frankfurt to watch Ironman Germany and support our friends who were racing. Maiki was also supposed to be racing in Frankfurt, but had to change his plans shortly before the race because he spent what was supposed to be his last big 10 days of training being sick. Sooooo he will be joining me in Lake Placid, and I cannot wait to see him annihilate that bike course! But back to Frankfurt: I have to say Ironman Germany is perhaps the biggest spectacle I have ever seen on the ironman circuit. I had heard a lot about this event, but couldn’t fully comprehend the amount of hype surrounding it until I was there in the midst this race that had totally engulfed the center of this big city. Just watching was an incredible experience, and the race is now definitely on my to-do list.
The pro swim start–with a couple hundred of the fast age groupers just behind.
Fifteen minutes later, a couple thousand more age groupers started . . .
Watching the swim start with my friend Nicole, the better half of Mathias Hecht (8th at Ironman Hawaii last year), who is one of Maiki’s teammates and was our sentimental favorite of the day. 
A special bit of the bike course–uphill on cobbles. Yes I nearly killed myself trying to take this picture while Nicole and I were riding the course on Saturday.
Mathias giving it to himself on the run.
He held strong in fifth all afternoon, and finished in 8:11. It was a great race.
The run was four laps along the Main River, which was awesome for spectating because we could run back and forth across the bridge to see the guys twice each lap. And standing on the side of the path, our view was really close-up. It truly gave me a new appreciation for these top guys, as the men’s race amongst the top three (Timo Bracht, Eneko Llanos, and Chris McCormack) was very tight, and seeing the pain and suffering on their faces during the battle was incredibly impressive. It was a great reminder of how I should be feeling during the last bit of that ironman marathon–next time I am out there I will remember Macca’s face on Sunday and ask myself if I could be pushing harder!
The finish in the middle of the square in Frankfurt was insane. You will have to settle for before and after photos because on race day, the square was so packed that I could hardly even get a glimpse of the jumbotron that played the video of the guys running down the finish chute. We had to settle for seeing a quick glimpse of the guys’ heads through the crowds as they ran past us, and then seeing a fraction of their video on the big screen. The noise as the guys ran in was deafening. I was bummed not to have a better view, but to see this much hype surrounding an ironman finish was worth it!
After the race, my cousin Greg flew into Frankfurt for a business trip, so I even got to have a little family reunion while I was there. It was a treat! Here we are in the square, so you can see a bit of the finish setting.
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I never thought I’d read the words “jumbotron” and “triathlon” in the same sentence. That sounds like the SuperBowl (or World Cup) of triathlon!
Looks like an amazing course! Huge congrats to Mathias on his stellar performance! And here is yet another race to add to your never-ending list! Rock on Hillary!