SV Olewig’s two-day escapade to Hannover began with the embarkment of four runners and one of their sons on a five hour drive to the north of Germany. Apart from the inconvenient breaking down of the car about 50km from Hannover, the journey was a breeze. After several phone calls and the arrival of a tow truck, we made it to our hostel in time for a late dinner. Despite these far from optimal pre-marathon conditions, our spirits weren’t dampened.

Like the Paris marathon last year, Sunday was a toasty 25 degrees and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Whilst there were 55,000 runners in Paris, there were only 2,500 in this year’s Hannover Marathon so the atmosphere was no way near as stress inducing. Unlike Paris, picking up our numbers, dropping off our bags and queuing for the toilets was all thoroughly easy and the course itself…