My First Race

On Wednesday, July 8, just 3 days after I returned from Belgrade, I ran my first race ever! The race I ran was called the “Lousberglauf”, which directly translates to “Lousberg Run”. As I mentioned in my previous posts, the Lousberg is a big hill in Aachen that is actually located right by where I live. The Lousberglauf is a 5.555 kilometer (approximately 3.5 miles) run up and down the Lousberg. The run is actually a pretty big deal in Aachen and there were probably around 2000 runners (possibly more?).

Running is an activity that I love and hate. I have always admired the idea of running, but I never really seemed to find the tolerance for the seemingly monotonous activity. However, I started forcing myself to go on regular distance runs during my freshman year of college and have continued it ever since then (minus the 6 month break from physical activity due to my knee injury).

The UROP International office has sent the interns emails about signing up for the Lousberglauf since May (before the program even started). The UROP office really wanted to create a “UROP International” team/group that would run together at the Lousberglauf. I finally got the courage to actually signup for the race in the beginning of June.

And so there ended up being 13 of us on the UROP International team for the Lousberglauf – three Germans and the rest Americans. The UROP officie even got us all spiffy athletic shirts that had the UROP International logo on the back:

Here’s what we looked like from the front:

All of our race numbers actually had a chip on them called the “Bib Chip”. There were sensors at the start and finish of the race that would be able to scan these chips (as the runner passed the sensor) in order to help time how long it took you to complete the race. The results were available shortly after the race and online. I’m not going to broadcast my time on here because I am a bit embarrassed by it.

The Lousberglauf was quite a fun experience despite the fact that it was pouring very badly the entire time (I got soaked). The whole area at the foot of the Lousberg (which is right where the four dorm towers are, including mine) was full of beer vendors, food vendors, stages, and more. What I thought was quite comical was that right after several Germans crossed the finish line, they would immediately go grab a beer from one of the beer vendors. That doesn’t sound too healthy to me.

The run itself for me was definitely a bit hard going uphill, but such a relief when I got to the downhill part. The entire time I felt very hungry (though I am known to have a very good appetite and am frequently hungry) and kept complaining about my hunger to my running partner, Stephen (he’s a UROP intern from Georgia Tech). My knee was rather sore after the run and my head felt even worse since I was recovering from a mild concussion (that I got in Serbia) and actually wasn’t supposed to be doing any heavy physical activity. Despite all this, I still thought it was a good race.

After the race, I cleaned up (and dried up from the rain) and then conveniently just headed to the bottom of my dorm where all the party action was happening. Apparently, after the Lousberglauf there’s a big party afterwards. Again, there’s lots of food and beer vendors and a stage for a cover band to play. I ended up hanging out the rest of the night with Stephen and my German buddy, Levent.