They gave us wings

As a premiere this year we were pampered on Saturday by Heidi’s neighbour Barbara with a huge plate full of delicious crispy Styrian deep-fried-chicken and endive/potatoe salad with pumpkinseed-oil. 4 large chickens were sacrificed for a total of 44 pieces of Backhendl and we did relatively well given that it was the 4th day running with lots of dishes. Hence after 1 hour 12 people had to capitulate and 7 pieces were left. We are still in negotiations with Barbara whether this early dinner (we started at 1500) will become a tradition (a prerequisite was actually that all 44 pieces will be eaten).

Not exactly what a nutritionist would recommend .

For Sandra, Flo and Markus this was not the perfect pre-race dinner, but they did not care much and were rather happy about some additional insulation for the Altacher Silvesterlauf on Sunday. As warm-up and relaxation after the dinner Sandra, Kerstin and Markus walked to Bregenz alongside the lake to take a look at Sandra & Flo’s Christmas tree – a truly beautiful and nicely decorated example!

Sunday morning Vorarlberg presented itself from its nicest but also coldest side since we came here. Blue-sky, no wind but -6 degrees in the morning when we got on our way to Altach, 27km away from Hoerbranz. Sandra started her race at 1100 and targeted a time of 40 minutes for the 6,3km which she beat clearly with a finishing time of 34min 28 seconds. As every athlete she would have wanted to be faster in the end, but was happy with the result.

At 1200 the boys got on their way for the 12,6km (four rounds - 3,15km each) through the streets of Altach. The atmosphere on course was great as many inhabitants have turned the race into an event with loudspeakers and music out on the streets, mulled wine and tea for the spectators and lots of noise and cheering for the racers. Flo unfortunately had to capitulate on the third round as he had problems with his knee and so he finished the race after ¾ with a time of 53 minutes 53 seconds. Markus not only surprised the cheerleaders Kerstin, Heidi and Sandra but also himself with a finishing time of 59 minutes 5 seconds and beating the magic 1 hour mark. Given the lack of training runs during November & December and the loads of food during December, he was quite happy with that result and a reconciliatory rounding off for his sports year 2008.

The next few days we are going to make our mind up what exactly we will do on December 31st in the evening. It will for sure be with family – Heidi, the Meierei (Renate & Werner) and Heidi’s brother Manfred with his wife Lissi and their two girls Barbara & Monika).

Enjoy the last days of this year and have a good start into 2009 in which Carla Bruni will continue to be present, even though France hands over the EU-presidency to the Czech Republic!

Kerstin & Markus