Parthemores in Poland

In a moment of over-exuberance and delusion, I signed up for the Poznań Half-Marathon.  After not training as hard as I should have (I blame the excessive snow this winter), today was a painfully fun jaunt around the city. 

To garner as much support as possible, I wore a bright pink shirt with my name on the front.  Since “Ania” is what all my Polish friends call me, I went with that.

My #1 Superfan (Eric) was an awesome mobile photographer and cheering section.  He did the equivalent of a 13 mile cyclo-cross race trying to get to different parts of the course on his bike.  He had to run up and down the stairs under four different roundabouts since all the roads were blocked off.

My shirt proved its worth, because I had about 12 different people I didn’t know cheering for me.  One was even in the heavy metal band that set up under the overpass.  It’s pretty cool to hear the lead singer yell through the microphone, “Ania!  Dawaj!” 

“Bravo” is another popular cheer.  That seems kind of strange to me. 

At the finish line we claimed our reward:  free beer!  Really!  Only in Poland would you get a free beer for running 13.1 miles. 

There were also free massages from the students at the Sports Science Academy.  Pretty sweet. 

Will I do it again next year?  Maybe.  But only if there’s free beer.