Franconian Switzerland Marathon

What is “Fränkische Schweiz” in English? It is an area by Nuremberg, Germany, close to where I spent a big part of my youth. Now it was time to do the marathon there and wanting to write in English about it made me check the dictionary. So, here you go: It is “Franconian Switzerland” – and no, it has nothing to do with the Swiss. Now the technicalities are out-of-the-way, I want to add that it is the first marathon where my parents came with me, which made it really special (I had to run 43 marathons to see my parents at the finish line). The race itself was quite spectacular, too. They closed off an entire A-road (or B-road in Germany, B for Bundesstraße), which goes along the amazing Franconian Switzerland’s scenery. The marathon route was quite simple, running up and down this road (B 470) for 42 kilometres, but the backdrop was stunning. Unfortunately I did not take pictures, having been rather busy chasing my personal best. It was great running weather, much cooler than the hot August summer days earlier this week, so I thought I might have a chance here. The official times are not published yet, but I must have missed it by a few seconds. At kilometre 38 I desperately had to pee, something that had never happened before that late in a race. (When you think you’ve experienced it all.) Anyway, it was a great small event and a lot of fun to share my marathon passion with my folks. And if you ever consider doing this one, don’t forget that the right airport for Franconian Switzerland is Nuremberg, not Basel or Geneva.