Jogging sucks. You know it, and I know it. Even professional athletes and marathon runners know it; they just won’t admit it.
Every stride is a test. Every thundering heartbeat, every burning lungful of air, every aching muscle and swollen joint is a lesson in willpower. Your mind whispers conspiratorially, “You know, we could make this end right now. We could stop this pain if we wanted to. We can run for real tomorrow; let’s just walk today. Walking is good enough, right?” And then some ancient German granny in spandex totally dusts you, and you think, “Not today, Raisin Wrinkles. I’m not losing this race to the old witch from Hansel and Gretel.”
And if you’re me, you pull out your iPhone and start filming things while you jog. Here is a video of me jogging around the Maschsee in Hannover, Germany. The circumference of the Maschsee is 6.3 km, or 3.9 miles. Pretty hard, for a terrible jogger like me. It’s even harder when I’m holding my iPhone out in front of me and talking at the same time. I got a lot of funny looks from the Germans I passed, but I ignored them all because I was too busy trying not to hurl.
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Oh God, My Wife Is German. 
Wow. That was fantastic! I have a cultural question: for the five months out of the year when there isn’t snow on the ground in Minnesota, I like to jog. Other joggers I pass, I give either the slight head nod of acknowledgment or the half-wave of fellow-runner-camaraderie for which always receive a mimicked reply. I, for obvious historical reasons, go with the slight head nod instead of the half-wave when visiting my lady and running a bit of the Rhein in Mainz, Deutschland. The thing is, I have only gotten one or two fellow head nodding responses in Germany. Am I doing it right? Any expat wisdom you can grant?
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Hello! And thank you for the great comment!
In general, I’ve found the average German to be pretty private. They don’t seem too forthcoming with strangers. Certainly not like in the States, and DEFINITELY not in a state like Minnesota. I would probably just give up on waving to fellow joggers while in Germany… or gleefully wave at them while skipping and smiling. That oughta freak ’em right out.
My wife explained the whole “Americans are like peaches, Germans are like coconuts” social metaphor to me once, and I wrote a post on it:
https://ohgodmywifeisgerman.com/2011/08/31/coconuts-and-peaches-social-differences-between-germans-and-americans/
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Thanks for the link! It was perfect… says the Peach.
And, yeah, in MN we tend to have a small town mentality even in our capital cities.
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Haw haw! “Says the Peach.”
Glad you liked it and didn’t think it was too far off base.
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You must be a newbie to Germany. You certainly don’t smile and nod at people while walking down the street here. Why would you ever do that while jogging? Must.maintain.intense.concentration.at.all.times.
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I think I stopped trying to smile at people here in Germany on the 2nd or 3rd day after my arrival. :)
Have a wonderful day and please come visit our blog again soon!
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Actually I didn’t get sick watching this, but my baby totally puked on me round-about the 1:30 mark when you were singing. You really are a lousy runner, aren’t you? You probably didn’t even run the whole way or why were you only filming bits and pieces? Oh, wait, I know: iPhone batteries don’t last 6 hours filming bahaha ;)
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Hey Sandra!
Thanks for the comment! Bright and encouraging as ever! :)
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Oh, it was entirely my pleasure. Since I don’t seem to be able to write much myself thse days I hsve to resort to leaving mean comments on other cool blogs to buoy me up a little ;)
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I understand entirely. And you’re always welcome here. :)
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