Back to business
After one week holiday in good old Germany I am now back in Jyväskylä.
A doctor's appointment on the second day of my holiday brought certainty that I need to go operation at my left foot because there is a bone growing on the lateral side between talus and calcaneus. However right now it doesn't hurt and I hope I can run some fast races in autumn and go to operation after that.
Then on Friday, Kimmo (finnish running mate, now working for his PhD in Germany) came to visit my hometown Zwickau over the weekend and celebrate the 60th birthday of my father. It was nice for me because I also learnt something about my origin by guiding him through the region (e.g. we visited the August-Horch-Museum and the Göltzschtalbrücke). The birthday-party was as funny as expected and it was great to see all the family members in one place and get an update what everyone is doing.
The negative aspect of my home leave was that I did nothing for my studies and the training also suffered (less than 100km for that week). On the other hand being with the family compensates those aspects - and holiday is the time for relaxing.

On my flight back I had some moment of shock when the plane took off with one hour delay. There were some problems with the luggage and 1 hour after the planned departure the captain announced that the plan had to start although, there were still some 30 pieces of luggage missing. The point was that I had the keys for my apartment in my checked-in luggage. I was indeed relieved when I saw my luggage on the luggage belt. I learnt: always take the keys in the hand luggage with you :)

Home, sweet home...
I'm back in Germany for 1 week now. Main reason is the 60th birtday of my father - lot of family members are gathering together and after waiting for 6 months (christmas was the last time I spent in Germany) it's really nice to see the family again.
The last weekend in Finnland was nice, with perfect weather and a visit at Jaakko's summer cottage on Sunday. Typical finnish: Möki (summer cottage), Sauna, swimming in the lake, makkara (sausages) and mosquitos.

me, Jaakko and Miika relaxing from training at the summer cottage

The first day in Germany was exciting too: +30 degrees and sweeting without doing anything- one reason why I choose Finland as my favorite country. However I also had a track work-out with 2x5x400m immediately after my arrival. The times of 72 seconds might not scare most of the competitive runners but for me it's quite good (especially in this weather conditions) and I am on the right way to improve the running shape now. I am planning to participate in some races when I am back Finland, but the main focus is on running a fast half-marathon in autumn.

May is over
and so is the busiest time of the first half of the year. So here is the update of my running competitions in Finland so far:

28.04.: 10 K road (Pentin pinkaisu in Vaajakoski): 34:08 min, 5th place
-ran with the leading pack for 4K but afterwards the 15km-bicycle "warm-up" (no car) and the barbeaucue the night before (junk food and few hours sleep) took it's toll and I had to let them go. Anyway the time was ok for the circumstances

06.05.: halfmarathon road (Katujuoksu / City run in Jyväskylä): 1:14:32 h, 2nd place
-probably would have won the race if it would have been 2 km longer or if I would have known that I was not in the leading position (only realised after 12km that I was in 3rd/4th place), a massive negative split again (1st half: 38mins, 2nd half 36 1/2mins) after last weeks exception and last 5km feeling really good

12.05.: 6K cross-country (pm-maastot in Keuruu): 20:44 min, 6th place
-well I never was a cross-country runner and after last weeks HM I could not stride fast. However good training after the half marathon, which was some kind of "peak comopetition" for the spring

Besides running there were a lot of other things, e.g.:
I made a 100 hour internship at Firstbeat-Technologies which was really interesting especially because it was related to running and the working atmosphere was very natural and productive.
I was selected as the chairman of the Subcommittee for International Affairs of the Student Union at the University of Jyväskylä.
I finished all my PRE-measurements for my Master thesis and now the training period started for my subjects. Since the courses at the University are also finished there is more time now and I can enjoy the Finnish summer. Running in a recovered state feels so easy!