today and tomorrow

Tehran, Vancouver and Berlin. Those are the destinations of these 3 flights leaving from Heathrow. It’s part of the ‘Spoors‘ photos by Robert Davies. My track picture isn’t as cool.
again found @ VVORK

Yesterday we went to see the concert of The Whitest Boy Alive. Not only do they know how to have great music videos, but they also know how to party. It was a 2 hours blast! Damn, they even played “Pump Up The Jam” from Technotronic, a true classic straight from Belgium!

Here is a documentary about being a DJ in German Democratic Republic (a.k.a. as East Germany or the DDR). Back then you needed to take a class and pass a test to get your permit as a “Staatlich geprüfter Schallplattenunterhalter der DDR” (an official DJ of GDR). There was a 60/40 rule, they were only allowed to play 40% western music, 60% had to be East German.
You’ll need some basic German to understand all of it.

Nike is releasing tons of Air Force 1’s this year, I guess you have noticed that by now …
So here is the AF1 Berlin pack! Sneaker Freaker did an interview with Hikmet (Solebox) about Berlin, the 80ies and these AF1’s of course. Unfortunately there are no details on the price and release date yet.
Read the interview at Sneaker Freaker.

Realfakewatches is a project by Linda Kostowsk, she and other designers designed wristwatches that work only 1 minute a day. They are laser cut from genuine leather and come with both a unique time and a thinglink engraved on the back.

It has been 3 days now since the Berlin Half Marathon and I’m looking for a new goal. Should I try a full marathon right away or should I try to gain more speed and endurance first? Questions about questions …
Yesterday, a strange kind of muscle ache kicked in, one like I have never experienced before. I knew I should have done some cool down and stretching afterwards but I was too high … runner’s high. I’ll try to get rid of it tonight with a slow run, it’s really strange not having a training schedule anymore. Speaking of runner’s high, there are some parts of the half marathon where I only have vague memories, it’s really strange.
If Apple and Nike wouldn’t have teamed up together to create this whole Nikeplus system, I would still not be able to run a few kilometers. Actually my uncle, who is an experienced marathon runner, laughed at me when I told him I started running because of a gadget. Who cares, I enjoy it and will continue doing so.

Here are 2 more graphics from the Nikeplus website which show the work I did during the last weeks and months. Damn, I ran over 170 km in March!

I made it! I finished the Berlin Half Marathon in 1 hour, 41 minutes and 35 seconds! Hell yeah!
So unfortunately my motivation soundtrack got a little messed up ;-)

The weather was nice, a lot of people were cheering along to road, maybe that gave me that speed bump. Although I lost some time the first kilometers because I had to overtake a lot of people.

Here’s the little graphic that nikeplus spit out afterwards.

Maybe you notice that the time and distance aren’t right. Well I didn’t push the start and stop button exactly when I passed the start and finish line. And apparently I need to recalibrate my Nike+ set to match the right distance again. So my actual average pace was around 4′48”/km.

10 days to D-Day a.k.a. the Berlin Half Marathon. Time to boot up the motivation machinery. The most important thing at that day will be the playlist on my iPod. So here is my current selection, maybe I’ll adjust it a little towards D-Day.

00:00:00 - Jürgen Paape - So weit wie noch nie

“As far as never before”, true dat true dat, I never ran that far before.

00:05:59 - Ellen Allien - Alles sehen (Miss Kittin remix)

It will probably be a little too late to check out the Pariser Platz and the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate), but hey I passed here many times before so no big deal.

00:09:57 - Sascha Funke - Strassentanz

I think the title of this track is perfect for the area around the Siegessäule (Berlin Victory Column). In honour of the Love Parade.

00:14:39 - Tocotronic - Pure Vernunft Darf Niemals Siegen (Superpitcher/Wassermann Single Mix)

“Reason my never win”, I guess that’s why I’m here.

00:18:35 - Superpitcher - People

I hope there will be some cheering people along the road …

00:24:24 - Minilogue - Hitchhikers Choice

An excellent track with an excellent video! I don’t think I’ll need to hitchhike to finish this one.

00:33:20 - Paul Kalkbrenner - Steinbeisser

“Stone biter”, as soon as I saw the title of this track I knew I had to add it. By now I should be around Schloss Charlottenburg and running steady at 5.10 minutes a kilometer (wishful thinking).

00:40:22 - Ada - … And more

That’s right, halfway is still a few kilometers away.

00:46:30 - Peter Grummich - A roboter

Halfway point, I’ll love it when I hear that on my Ipod. Nike+ just rocks.

00:50:45 - Ada - Believer

Yeah I can do this. I should reach Kurfürstendamm by now.

00:58:09 - The Hacker - Fading away

Runner’s High may kick in NOW. Please!

01:02:53 - Ellen Allien - The brain is lost

You bet! So I probably won’t notice the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche and the KaDeWe.

01:08:11 - Tomas Andersson - Numb

No comment.

01:11:52 - Gui Boratto - Beautiful life

Stay positive!

01:20:22 - Oliver Hacke - 8:20

Another long track to pass time.

01:28:48 - Sascha Funke - Forms & shapes

I’m curious if I will still be able to recognize something.

01:32:44 - Lawrence - Untitled 07

One of my favorite tracks! I can smell the victory and Checkpoint Charlie.

01:38:32 - Jeff Mills & Montpellier Philarmonic Orchestra - The bells

Leipziger Strasse, here I come.

01:44:15 - Tomas Andersson - Happy happy

I hope to cross the finish line during this track. Happy Happy!

01:48:15 - Closer Musik - Maria

Shit, something went wrong … my knee, my hip? Damn.

01:53:24 - Lawrence - Spark

This is embarrassing. I hope no one sees me half dead on the Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse.

02:00:07 - Mayer/Aguayo - Slow

My cool-down track. Sieg!

The only thing that I’m afraid of … will the battery of my iPod last?

The Nintendo is having a promotion here in Germany for it’s new game console Wii. They opened 3 cribs, in Hamburg, Munich and Berlin, where people can try out the Wii. Ofcourse it’s an invitation only thing, but Sirstick has the right connections so we went together this afternoon. We tried out tennis, bowling, golf, baseball and boxing. It was fun! Especially tennis and boxing. Forget about obese gaming teenagers, this thing is like a workout machine. I’m not a gamer at all but I want to try out again.