| Singing In the Rain By: Irene Olberz After planning to run in the Frankfurt Marathon for over three years, I finally made it to Germany this year! I stayed with my brother, Manfred, and his wife, Ute, in Friedrichsdorf, a 30 minute drive from Frankfurt. Manfred had also planned to run in the race but, unfortunately, an injury prevented him from doing so. Before the race I had the opportunity to train in a cold but beautiful fall setting. Daytime temperature only reached 48 degrees. My chance for winning anything looked slim. There were close to 9,000 runners from 42 nations signed up. It started to rain the night before, so I mentally prepared to run in bad weather. With all my rain gear laid out, I was prepared for the worse. The half hour drive from Friedrichsdorf got us to Frankfurt at 9a.m. the morning of the race. People and cars were pouring in from all directions. I went through my last minute preparations carefully. At 9:45 the loudspeakers blared out instructions on where to go. At 10:30 sharp, we started. It took me over a minute to get through the starting line. It was quite cold, 46 degrees, but at least it wasn't raining. An hour later that wasn't the case. A slight drizzle turned worse, even hailing at times. It seemed the whole town of Frankfurt had turned out to cheer us on. The varied surfaces (cobblestones, sidewalks, soft sandy ground, etc.) made the course very difficult. While Manfred couldn't run, he did manage to capture the race on his video camera. I saw him and Ute at mile 10, 16 and the finish line. After the race, we gathered together, along with the other runners, in the Marathon-Centrum (a huge building) to change, warm up, eat, drink, and await the race results. At 4:30 p.m. the loudspeaker annouced "W55-first" - somebody else's name, darn!-"in 3:25." And then, "Second place winner - Irene Olberz, Foothill Flyers, U.S.A., in a time of 3:30:22." He even repeated it loud and clear. I received a lovely plate with a picture of Frankfurt's oldest historical building on it: Der Romer. Germany's famous poet, Goethe, was born near there. I also received an athletic bag, finishing medal and certificate. We had quite a celebration, interrupted by calls from friends and relatives, as well as Norbert, who were very happy for me. You'll never guess what the weather was like the following day. A clear blue sky with white billowy clouds, the perfect marathon weather! | 
