sports

Tuesday Topics | When the world goes to hell in a handbasket, or why I caved and finally got a Peloton

August 31, 2021 filed under: excitement, fitness, sports, Tuesday Topics

Remember when I said last month that riding my friend’s Peloton was really nice but that I’ve been trying to convince myself that I am absolutely 100% fine with the no-frill bike that I have? Yeah, turns out I wasn’t very good at convincing. Not even a month later, we pulled the trigger.

If you’ve been reading here for a while, you know that I am a runner and sports enthusiast.

I’ve played sports all my life, grew up skiing, playing tennis and softball (and probably tried every other sport out there), went on to get a degree in physical education, and then picked up running a few years ago. I was a gym member for many years and took advantage of their equipment and classes. Two years ago, I also fell in love with spinning after joining my friend Tanja for a spin class in SoCal. Sports are in my blood (my Dad’s a retired P.E. teacher and tennis coach) and if I can’t move, I am not happy. This has never been more apparent than during this pandemic. If one thing has kept me sane these last 18 months, it’s been the option to run and exercise.

Here we are in August (almost September), and I honestly expected a bit more from 2021. A new president and administration and the arrival and distribution of vaccines in the spring yielded a lot of hope. Jon and I, both still so very cautious, felt strongly that things were going to look up this summer. Then the delta variant emerged and (too many) people turned out to be conspiracy theorists that didn’t believe in the science of vaccines. Covid cases are surging again, California’s wildfire season started off with a bang and early, and the news from around the world (esp. Afghanistan and the Middle East) are worsening by the day.

Truth is, the news – locally and globally – has been devastating and horrific lately, I haven’t seen my family in almost two years, the Central Valley is blanketed with smoke again, and I don’t know how to deal.

So, what do you do when the world goes to hell in a handbasket?

You say f***k it, and you finally get a Peloton – and for at least a brief moment – that puts the brightest smile on your face (ok, actually for a little longer as I haven’t stopped smiling since that thing arrived).

You must know, I am a numbers nerd, I thrive on data. If you can measure something, I want it measured. I had ‘piecemealed’ together feedback about my workout stats by using a cadence and speed sensor, a heart monitor, and a second app that could calculate “virtual output” from these sensors (as my Sunny bike didn’t provide resistance or output numbers), and I was convinced that following the classes on my iPhone screen (no, not the Plus) was totally fine! Who needs a big screen?

Turns out, I do — apparently. Or, at least I enjoy it a hell of a lot more than I ever thought I would.

And having all the stats accurately and boldly displayed on the huge screen right in front of my face, and being able to compete with others on the leaderboard (something I also thought wouldn’t interest me that much) is THE ultimate geek-stuff.

You can bet that I’ll be taking advantage of ALL metrics and stats and training programs that Peloton has to offer and that I couldn’t take full advantage of as an app rider.

If I am completely honest with myself, I didn’t have to get a Peloton to motivate myself to work out. I did just fine with my outdoor runs and getting on my Sunny Bike and using the heck out of the Peloton app. But I would be lying if I said that my enthusiasm hasn’t increased a hundredfold since the bike arrived. I feel like not only have I done something to continue to improve my physical health, but my mental health going forward as well.

The decision to buy wasn’t easy for me (I probably thought about this much longer than you’d care to know because I have a hard time spending a lot of money on myself – although I am hoping that Jon will use the bike, too – and the Peloton is not cheap, and admittedly, probably also hyped up), but you can’t argue that it isn’t a beautiful, slick, high-end piece of exercise equipment.

I probably also somehow felt, subconsciously, that I had to prove myself on the Sunny bike first, but I finally got to a point where this investment felt absolutely worth it to me. If I was able to say one thing with certainty, a thing that many people fear when they make a big investment like that, it was that this wasn’t going to become an expensive clothes rack in my house. I knew and know that I am going to use it. And with a little bit (ok, a lot) of nudging from Jon (he’s much better at making decisions than I am), we finally decided to order. Little did we know that the bike would arrive within 72 hours.

When I submitted my annual leave request three weeks ago, I had no clue that I’d be spending a large chunk of my week-long staycation (first leave I’ve taken in 2021) on an actual Peloton bike. I mean, I am not complaining! It’s like it was meant to work out that way.

I truly feel beyond fortunate that we are able to afford it and I don’t take this for granted in the slightest, but I also admit that after everything we’ve all been through, after staying put for 18 months, I felt like I deserved something – anything! (like, the bike that goes nowhere, ha!) – that makes this life a tiny bit more exciting right now.

Moving your body, being able to ride with friends, and feeling connected to a community — isn’t that worth so very much in times like these?

I am linking up with Kookyrunner and Zenaida for Tuesday Topics.

6: Recap | Urban Cow Half Marathon 2018

November 6, 2018 filed under: fitness, linkup, NaBloPoMo, running, sports

This week, I am linking up with Erika, Patty and Marcia for Tuesdays on the Run again. The topic for the day is “racing mistakes” and I thought this was kind of fitting, because I was going to recap my last race for you, even though my “race mistake” (a botched training cycle) turned out not to be a mistake at all.

So, half marathon #3 is in the books and with that I completed (one of) my goals for this year.

The Urban Cow Half Marathon is a local race that I wanted to run for the last two years, but I hadn’t worked out in the past. In 2016, my parents were here for a visit and we were traveling over race weekend, so I couldn’t run it then. Last year, my cousin and his girlfriend were here and again, I was traveling with them over race weekend. This year, I made the pledge to not let anything get in the way… and then I almost was away on travel again over race weekend. But only ALMOST.

As you might recall, I had back to back field trips the last few weeks and so running a half marathon right smack in the middle of it all wasn’t ideal (to say the least), but I wasn’t going to let my registration go to waste because of it either because a) I was signed up already and b) this was probably my only (if not easiest) opportunity to reach my goal to complete three half marathons this year.

My training had been thrown off quite a bit due to my travel and my last long run (11 miles a week beforehand) had felt sluggish and hard. So, I went into the race with zero expectations. I told myself to just treat it as a nice, easy Sunday run and see how I feel. If I go slow, I go slow. If I have to walk, I walk. I’d make it to the finish line eventually.

Well, there is something to be said about setting no expectations. I now call my derailed training cycle the “successful long taper”.

After I picked up my race bib, t-shirt and a commemorative glass (because I was one of the first 5000 registrants!) and a light warm up, I made it to the start line around 7:30 a.m. and looked for the 2:10 pacer. I figured that I could just hang with the pacer to keep a comfortable pace and not even pay attention to my watch. So far, so good.

I ran the first mile or so with the pacer but quickly realized that other people had the same idea and that she had gathered quite a group of runners around herself and I knew: I would not do well running among a tightly packed group of people.

Do you also get irritated by other runner’s heavy breathing and stomping? Maybe it’s just me, but it already bothered me and I knew that I would be much better off if I could find my comfortable pace a little bit away from other people, so I decided to speed up (temporarily) to find a less crowded spot among the runners.

And then I just ran by effort. I really just wanted to finish this race (and have fun doing it).

The course was very familiar; it went through the Land Park neighborhood, then we headed towards Downtown. We ran through a small part of Old Town. Then we caught a nice glimpse of the famous Tower Bridge, before turning left onto the Sacramento River Bike trail.

Here’s a race photo near the halfway mark of the race on the Sacramento River Bike Trail, which was also the relay exchange station for those doing the relay.

It was fun running on the trail with the railroad tracks on our left and the Sacramento River to our right. We ran a loop through Miller Park and then continued on the Sacramento Bike trail before heading back to William Land Park and to the finish line.

Astonishingly enough, I felt really good throughout the race and while I tried not to look at my Garmin at all (ha, I wish!), I was positively surprised to see that I was keeping a fairly fast pace (for my standards). I was even more surprised when I realized that I would be able to squeeze across the finish line with a new personal record. I could hardly believe it because as mentioned above, I had honestly not set any expectations for this race. I just wanted to have fun and finish.

I guess sometimes it pays off to set yourself mentally free and just let your legs do their thing.

Still no sub-2 for me. I mean, I wasn’t even trying (but maybe I should have?). Either way, I am so over-the-moon happy with my new PR:

I was also very impressed by how closely my Garmin recorded my race time and distance.

Here are some overall thoughts on the race organization:

Registration and Packet Pick Up

I was able to register online (with a discount) and I think you could also do a last minute signup on race day morning. I picked up my race packet in the morning on race day, which was very convenient for me (as I was traveling the days before).

Race-course

The race course is mostly flat and you it’s a very nice running route through an old established neighborhood, through downtown, and along the river. There were enough aid/water station and they were adequately staffed with volunteers that offered both Gatorade and water.

Finish line and Post Race Amenities

Right behind the finish line, you were able to pick up your medal. There were also free bottled water, half burritos, and strawberries with a chocolate chip cookie at the finish line for all finishers.

Results

The results were up instantly and there was a little tent with computers set up, where you could check your time.

Photography

The race photographers did a great job getting pictures at multiple locations. The photos were available to look at online within 3-4 days and they were available for FREE! Big bonus points here!

This was a really fun, local race that I’d run again in a heartbeat. I basically just had to roll out of bed and walk over to the start line. It can’t get much better than that. The registration fee was appropriate ($65) for all the perks (great t-shirt, medal, souvenir glass, food and water, and free race photos) and the course was just fun to run – flat and (somewhat) scenic. There were lots of spectators along the way and motivational signs on the second half of the course to help us finish strong.

Do you run local races? Which one is your favorite?

My Red Sox ♥ won the World Series

October 30, 2018 filed under: love, sports, yes!

I don’t think it’s a mystery to anyone who has been reading my blog for a while that I am a huge Red Sox fan and on Sunday night, my team won the World Series!

It was such a fun season (with the best record in franchise history), but the post-season beat all my expectations. The Red Sox allowed only one game against the Yankees (in one of the ALDS series), one game against the Astros (in the ALCS series), and one game against the LA Dodgers in the World Series. This team has been so much fun to watch.

David Price was outstanding Sunday night, Steve Pearce was on fire, but so were all of the other players really throughout this season! JBJ (Jackie Bradley Jr.) had some really amazing hits. Andrew Benintendi is the king of the left field, and Mookie Betts can’t do anything wrong if he tried. I love how Craig Kimbrel (the closer) owns his pre-pitch pose (check out his Twitter pic!), which numerous people (grown adults, mind you!) in the stands have mocked him for, but he had an absolutely stellar performance this season and he is the youngest pitcher in MLB history to record 300 saves. So hey, whatever works for you, right?

In all honesty, I should list all the players by name here, because I am so freakin’ proud of all of them. Every single player in this team did their part to turn this season into what it was. There was a different guy at every game coming through for everybody else. This is what team sport is all about and the Red Sox are a real team. They never gave up. They always stayed calm and focused until the very end and this is how they were able to make magic happen again this year.

Congratulations, Red Sox!

Six weeks into half marathon training again

May 12, 2017 filed under: fitness, running, sports

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I started half marathon training again. I’ve been consistently running the last few months, but without any real purpose. I mean, I wanted to keep up mileage and – as I said at the beginning of the year somewhere – incorporate more cross-training, but this was it. This is what I did for the last few months and I was itching for a little more purpose. I just do much better if I know what I am training for, don’t you?!

I ran (and/or am signed up for) a couple of 5k and 10k (some of them virtual) races and a ‘progressive half marathon in May’ (ever done one of those?) and I haven’t really ‘trained’ for those distances specifically. BUT I have also officially signed up for my next half marathon and that’s a good excuse to structure my training a bit more again.

I’ll be running the 1st half marathon at the SF Marathon in July, which will be my 2nd half-marathon overall. Wait, what? I know, it’s confusing.

In case you don’t know, the SF Marathon event offers two half-marathons which – run back to back – make up the full marathon. Last year, I ran the 2nd half from Golden Gate Park to the Embarcadero (the race profile is a little less intimidating and the start time was at a more reasonable hour around 8 a.m.), but this summer I will run the 1st half from the Embarcadero to Golden Gate Park. I am so excited, because the 1st half goes over the Golden Gate Bridge! The race profile is a little bit more challenging and race start is earlier (around 6 a.m.), but think I am up for it. Who else will I see at the start line?

Here’s a course map:

There is the full marathon (DARK BLUE) and the two half marathons. The 1st half marathon in YELLOW and the 2nd half marathon in LIGHT BLUE.

I try to chose my races wisely and I don’t know if I’ll get the chance to run another HM this year (hopefully though), but I am looking forward to going back to SF and collecting the extra Half it all challenge medal for running both halfs in consecutive years.

When I trained for my first half marathon last year, I was terrified. I mean, when my friend Susi suggested we sign up, I was totally up for the challenge, but I also had an immense respect for what we had just done. I knew deep down inside that I could finish the distance… somehow. But I didn’t just want to finish. My goal was to ‘run’ the whole damn thing without stopping. I know this is silly, but my goal was to be able to run for 2+ hours. No walking.

What I really liked about the training plan (I used a Runtastic training plan put together my former olympian Dieter Baumann) is that it chopped up the training into manageable pieces and varied the training throughout the weeks with easy runs, intervals, speed training and long runs. It completely took the guessing out of it, as you simply do what’s on the training schedule without thinking about it twice. I like that (there is less of a chance of) skipping or talking yourself out of a particular training session when you can stick to a plan (although I do want to mention that life does get in a the way sometimes and it’s not the end of the world if you skip or switch around a couple of sessions here and there, as long as you are persistant).

Last year, I didn’t know for sure if I was ready for the race when race day came around (pre-race jitters are normal, right?), but I had heard it from a lot of people again and again: trust your training. If you put in the work, you can do the race. And that was the truth.

This time around, I already feel a lot more confident about the training and what awaits me at the start line. I am following another training plan through my Runtastic app and so far, it’s been going great and I’ve hit all my training marks, even when I thought of them to be challenging. This should be a good sign, am I right? I also love discussing my training efforts with my Dad (who is a retired P.E. teacher, in case you don’t remember) and it’s awesome to have him support and cheer me on (and also hold me accountable) throughout the process.

What are you training for right now? What’s your favorite training plan to follow?

ToTR | 2016 San Francisco Halfmarathon Recap

August 10, 2016 filed under: fitness, linkup, running, sports

You guys, I did it. I finished the 2nd half marathon course in the 2016 San Francisco marathon event on July, 31. What an amazing experience!

Since this was my first half marathon ever, I didn’t have any specific time goals, although my training plan had aimed to prepare me for a 2:15:00 finish. But since I had only run 12.5 miles tops in training and the race would be my first full 13.1 miles, it was going to be an automatic PR either way. So, really my only goal was “to finish and not require immediate medical attention”(as so eloquently quoted from Jen Miller’s book “Running – A love story“).

And fortunately, I did finish and did not require medical attention! I win!

But let me start from the beginning.

I had planned to drive to the Bay area on Saturday morning and then go to the Race Expo in San Francisco with Susi (and her husband, who also ran the race) to pick up our race packets (they didn’t offer to mail them). Well, turns out, Bay area traffic is becoming increasingly unpredictable (even on the weekends) and it took me 3,5 hours to cover the 75 miles from my house to hers. Luckily, she was able to take my bib confirmation and pick up my race packet for me (because I doubt we would have otherwise made it in time).

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We did some carb-loading in the evening and then relaxed and chatted for a while before heading to bed at a reasonable hour. I didn’t sleep too well (first couldn’t fall asleep, then couldn’t stay asleep) and was up before 5:30 a.m., which was almost the time we had get up and get ready for the race anyway.

We drove the car into the city, parked close to the finish line and then caught a shuttle bus that would take us all the way to the other side of the city. As you can see on the map (above), our point-to-point course started in Golden Gate Park by the ocean and ended at the Embarcadero, the eastern waterfront along San Francisco Bay.

There was the full marathon (DARK BLUE) and the two half marathons. The 1st half marathon (YELLOW) was the first half of the full marathon (from Embarcadero to Fisherman’s Wharf, over the Golden Gate Bridge and back to Golden Gate Park) and the 2nd half marathon (LIGHT BLUE) from Golden Gate Park through Haight Ashbury, Mission District back to the Embarcadero) was the second half. We picked the 2nd half marathon, because a) it started a little later and b) the elevation profile looked a little less intimidating.

We used the port-a-potties, dropped off our sweat bags (that UPS drove over to the finish line! Excellent organization!), warmed up and thanked the law enforcement officials that were strategically placed around the start line for their service. We got into the corral with plenty of time to spare. It was overcast and almost a bit chilly around 60°F, but that’s pretty much perfect running weather, am I right? I hadn’t really done any hill training (because Sacramento is pretty flat), but I was hoping that my training in the heat would balance out the lack of elevation training.

Luckily, both Susi and I were assigned to the same wave (5), which meant we could at least start this race together (hand in hand, as we did our first 10k). I was excited and a bit nervous, but also surprisingly calm somehow. The first wave (with the elite runners) started at 7:30, our official start was not until 8:15.

Here we are waiting around, taking silly selfies.

Still lacking a proper running watch, I was using my trusted Runtastic app for pace feedback, but I wanted to really focus on not starting out too fast and running at a comfortable pace that I felt like I could keep up. My goal was to keep my average pace below 10 minutes/mile and not walk (except for taking water/electrolytes at the waterstations).

Mile 1-4: The start was great. I felt awake and strong and ready to take on this race. The first few miles of the course were a gradual, but steady incline, but I kept focused on a comfortable pace. We had to run a little loop around Strawberry Hill/Stow Lake and I saw later (in my Whatsapp family group) that my sister thought I had gotten lost and was running in circles. Haha.

Mile 5-6: We passed the Observatory of Flowers (beautiful) and then made it into the Haight Ashbury district. I felt good, my breathing was calm. I can do this!

Mile 6-9: Hello there Mission district. People were cheering for us and the occasional car honked encouragingly. People also held up some quite funny signs which kept me entertained (and distracted) for a while. “You look so skinny today!” “You’re kicking as(phalt)!” “Go random stranger go!” “I am sure it seemed like a good idea 4 month ago.” Haha!

Mile 10-12: We were getting close to the Bay, so it felt like we were almost there, but there were still 4 more miles to go. My legs were starting to get a bit tired, but I pressed on, only taking very brief walking breaks at the water stations. I had vowed to get water/electrolytes at every single aid station and I did. I didn’t bother trying to get out my ProBar energy chews that I had tried occasionally (and liked)during training. I just didn’t have the peace of mind for it. I was keeping a good pace (as far as I could tell) and I didn’t want to drop down now!

Mile 13: We passed AT&T Park (Home of the SF Giants) which was exciting and gave me an extra push. I knew that I was closing in on the last mile of the race. Spectators became more abundant there too and helped me keep the momentum to the finish line (although I was getting tired and thirsty and I was getting to the point where I just wanted to be done). And then the finish line came in sight…

One of the absolutely FREE (!) race photos by Saucony. I wish I knew where on the course this was taken… I am assuming it was toward the end because of all the flags and balloons in the background. I don’t look like I am completely falling apart, so maybe I was actually holding up quite well or they used a very flattering filter. Ha! (BTW, that is the second bigger race with free race photos – is it really so uncommon?)

Here I am crossing the finish line (all by myself and not in a crowd of people)!! The print on my t-shirt turned out to be “nomen est omen”.

My legs were tired, but I felt amazing and giddy. I couldn’t quite believe I had just finished this race. I got some water and then moved to the side of the finish area to call my Dad. My whole family (overseas!) had been able to follow me race via the RTRT.me app and my Whatsapp had been buzzing with encouraging messages throughout the race (which I only read after the fact!), but I think my Dad was almost more excited than everybody else. You must know that he was my long-distance coach, my cheerleader, and go-to training resource during my half marathon training (he’s an athlete and former soccer player and physical education teacher and has a wealth of knowledge) and it felt amazing how excited and proud he was about my race finish.

I hung around the finish area to wait for Susi. And then there she was making it across the finish line! I am so, so proud of her – of our! – huge accomplishment!

We got our medals, grabbed some water, a banana and protein bar, and then made our way over to the Expo. We were so happy to have finished, that we completely spaced out on taking a photo in front of the official backdrop. So this post-race selfie with our medals and the Bay Bridge in the background will have to do.

Because we had run both in the Berkeley Halfmarathon (2015) and the San Francisco Marathon Event (2016) consecutively with official finish times in both events, we qualified for an extra challenge medal that we could pick up at the Race Expo after the race. AWESOMESAUCE :)

I also really loved the long sleeve tech shirt! Definitely one that I will wear out again!

We walked around the Expo for a bit, picked up our sweat bags and got some (non-alcoholic) beer, free greek yogurt, and Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream before we headed home.

My official finish time was 2:09:30.

According to my Runtastic app, I was even a bit faster (of course, I didn’t run the perfect race line and ended up with an extra half mile according to my app) and it had me consistently under 10 minutes per mile, which I am super-stoked about. I wasn’t sure if I could keep this pace over the whole 13.1 miles.

I finished 5:30 minutes under my training plan goal of 2:15:00. I came in 77th in my age group (of 249), 815th female (out of 2460) and 1932nd overall (out of 4489).

Running my first half marathon in San Francisco was a huge success all-around. The race – which is going into it’s 40th year – was organized to the T. From shuttle services, to baggage check, to after-race entertainment and free swag, not to forget FREE race photos. The medal and tech tee are awesome and the challenge medal was an extra perk!

The weather was perfect and the ‘rolling hills’ of this (2nd half marathon) course were absolutely manageable. Running through Golden Gate Park and the San Francisco neighborhoods was simply amazing, although I am thinking that the 1st half marathon course – over the Golden Gate Bridge! – is even more stunning! So, maybe next year?!

For now, I am going to relish in the fact that I DID THIS. Big, happy smile and all.

A 2016 San Francisco Half Marathon Recap #tuesdaysontherun #totr Click To Tweet

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This week, I am linking up with Erika, Patty and Marcia for Tuesdays on the Run again.

22: The Causeway Classic

November 22, 2014 filed under: California, NaBloPoMo, nostalgia, sports

Today it was time for J and I to attend our obligatory annual football game – the Causeway Classic – again. It’s the annual Football Game between UC Davis (Aggies) and Sacramento State University (Hornets) and it’s named after the Yolo Causeway, which is a 3.2-mile long elevated highway over the Yolo Bypass floodplain that connects Davis and Sacramento.

Go Ags!

In case you don’t remember, J and I met at UC Davis and attending this local rivalry football game has become somewhat of a tradition for us. J took me to my first college football game during my exchange semester and since then, it has become a “must-go-to”-event of the year. We’re usually both not very much into football (baseball fans all the way over here!), but we make an exception for the Causeway Classic.

As most years, it was supposed to rain today, but we got really lucky. It rained last night and a little bit this morning, but when we headed out to the stadium around noon, the rain had stopped and over the course of the afternoon, the sun even came out for a little bit. It was actually quite nice.

My favorite part? The Marching bands! I find them fascinating and entertaining…. The UC Davis Marching Band is always fun, because they incorporate a lot of modern pop songs into their repertoire. Just listen! My favorites are the guys with the sousaphones.

The game was fun and exciting, because the score was close throughout most of the game. I was able to follow along and maybe finally am getting the hang of the rules a little bit (after all these years, ha!). Even though I work at Sac State campus, we always cheer for UCD, because it’s J’s alma mater (and a little bit mine, too). Davis has a pretty good record overall with 42 wins out of 61 games. However, today they were not so lucky and had to acknowledge defeat to the Sacramento State Hornets with a score of 30-41. Bummer!

But, we didn’t let this disappointing end to the game spoil the end of our day. It has also become a tradition for us to go and get Thai food after the game – and so we did and it was just what we needed after being outside for a few hours. Great end to a (n overall) great day!

How was your Saturday?

SCHLAAAAAND! Wir sind Weltmeister!

July 18, 2014 filed under: Germany, sports

I wrote about it more than once, but I have to bring up the topic one more time (and then I promise, I will shut up about the World Cup again until 2018).

On Sunday, Germany finally won the World Cup again after 24 years. As I mentioned before, I am usually not a huge football fan, but the World Cup (and European Cup) brings out some patriotism for my country that I hardly ever experience. Yes, I love my home country, yes, I am happy that I was born there. But this feeling of real patriotism is still something very foreign for (most) Germans.

It’s been a crazy World Cup. So many games went to overtime and shoot outs, so many teams that were considered contenders for the title didn’t even make it to the knockout rounds. I am not saying that Germany had a completely worry-free run, but I think after they beat a strong France and completely swept away Brazil with a 7-1 win, it was pretty obvious that they were on the path to winning the Cup this year!

I am sure you’ve seen the picture (on the left) that was going around on the Internet. There definitely is something to be said for team spirit and playing a selfless game. Even though every team has their star strikers, Germany’s strikers are never selfish or want to be the ones that actually score the goal. Have you seen the amount of passes before they finally scored?

I think our team deserved to win. Really deserved it.

There was this lovely article in The New York Times yesterday that I’d like to recommend to you, because it’s a great reflection on my home country from the perspective of a foreigner, Roger Cohen. Even though he touches on topics of Germany’s history – which more often than not has been done in a very shameful, down-putting way during this World Cup and I keep wondering when the world (and Germany, too!) will finally get over it! – he was able to spin it into something positive and was able to identify that winning the title this year was not a matter of luck or simple sports tactics, but that the success lies much deeper in the German subconscious and that it was the fruit of intense labor not over the past couple of years, but the last decade or two. I shared the article on Facebook and my friend Kat commented:

I generally feel the same way. Why is everything in Germany, even a sports event, seen in historical context? Why can’t it be just that, a sports event? But Roger Cohen was able to establish this context and see something beautiful in it. If you want to read more on this topic, “And the winner is… Schland” is another great piece that was able to use historical context in a positive way and explains how the four Germany World Cup wins (1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014) coincide with different turning points in German history (I apologize that the website asks to create a free account when you open it on a computer. It doesn’t do that on my iPhone, but it’s well worth it, IMHO.)

It is, in fact, a nice tribute to a great country.

All this to say: I am proud of my country and what our national team has achieved. And I think we deserve to be able to celebrate those achievements. Nobody should – or will – ever forget our history, but I think it is time to move on and look forward and not pull the “Nazi”-card every time Germany gets a little bit too excited about themselves. Germany has learned a lot from its past, Germany in many ways has moved on, when will the rest of the world follow suit? Like Roger Cohen said in his article, ” Perhaps [today’s] German success is the result of the immensity of past German failure.”

Maybe he’s on to something.

GOSCHLAAAND!

FIFA World Cup 2014

June 13, 2014 filed under: Germany, sports

I can’t believe it’s been four years since the last world championship, but here we are again! I said this before and I will say this again. I’ve never been much of a soccer fan (back in Germany), I have never watched the Bundesliga games and I don’t pay attention to any standings (however, if I have to choose a team, I’d obviously cheer for 1. FC Köln).

When the World (and European) Championships come around though, that is a whole different story. It’s like a switch is turned on and I am surprised every single time how much I care about our national sport! This time is no different! I am a little sad that I won’t be in Germany at this time, because I know Germany is going a little crazy again for this competition!

Over the last decade, Germany has wriggled itself out from underneath a blanket of national shame and has learned to display some patriotism in the context of sports competitions. (And where else would we feel safer to show national pride than in regards to our national sport = soccer!).

The next month is going to be so much fun! It’s a bummer that most of the games will take place during the day (local time) and I’ll be at work for the majority of the games, but there is always the DVR (which J will have full responsibility for this month) and maybe I’ll be able to sneak away for one or the other game during my lunch breaks!

I’ll obviously cheer for Germany (first), but I will also root for the US team (unless they are playing Germany!), because a) they are my ‘other’ home team and b) they’re coached by Jürgen Klinsmann! Since the two teams are in the same group this time, the likelihood of seeing them both through the very end are slim. I keep wondering how Jürgen Klinsmann feels about his team playing against his home country! Oh, and in case you didn’t know: our own Michael Ballack will be the studio commentator on ESPN. It always gives me a little chuckle to see them on American TV.

Are you into the World Cup? Will you be watching the next few weeks?

GOGERMANY!