First day after London Marathon 09

The sun has set on London Marathon Day 09. A new day arose thereafter with all is splendour. My legs are bit stiff still but otherwise in great shape I used the day to relax. Starting the working week tomorrow.

I am working for BVLGARI and you should definately check ut our website at www.bulgari.com . It is the companies 125th anniversary this year having launched in co-operation with the charity 'Save the Children' two silver rings that are only available this year. With every purchase a set amount of £40 goes to 'Save the Children'. Bulgari intends to raise 10 million Euros.

Hope you are able to support 'Save the Children'.

As you can see I am very much for supporting charities as I always raise money with my runs throughout the year.

Another supported charity of mine is 'Room to Read', please check out their website at www.roomtoread.org .

Marathon Day Pictures 26 April 2009

Starting race day at my home going to Greenwich park finishing the Marathon in St. James's park in pictures

Greenwich station 8.45am

Walk to Start

Fancy costume chicken dress

Fancy dress runners

After the race getting bag going home

Going home

Walking to Charing Cross

Finisher T-shirt

Finisher T back side

Running vest, number and medal

A few hours to go

a few more pix i took the day before the London Marathon 2009

yellow rose

clouds over Kilburn

Been this afternoon at the Addidas Store on Oxford Street to see that the London Marathon is just a few hours away. Have to say am quite excited at the moment to run, to feel the buzz. It will be a very memorable experience indeed. Even taking my camera with to take some shots along the way - will be loads of fun.

Do not know whether i will have a good sleep but hey its a fun run and not a world record breaking event.......well actually we never know what might be round the corner.

Marathon pick-up

Today I collected my race number at the Excel centre in east London. Big London Marathon Expo, loads of stalls, people and fun. Finally I bought some Marathon 2009 clothing, tight running shorts and running tshirt. we have to have something to remember. Also bought a new camera, a cheap one, Olympus C25, hope she is doing the trick to shoot some great pix of the marathon. my previous camera Nikon S550 which i only bought August last year got stolen the other day.
Just have to see whats on the market to buy a decent digital camera again. always so many choices and so little time.

it felt extremely good to get the first taste of the marathon, always such an energy loaded event which makes you wanna start running there and then.

well the d-day is approaching fast, getting excited and feeling great at the moment.

Thursday Morning

Good morning, a sunny one again, got up at 5.30am already to be painting until now at 7.30am; getting ready for the gym in a minute to have a small easy workout. Marathon Sunday is coming close and closer. Tomorrow is race pack day for me, going to the big Marathon Expo at the Excel Center to pick up my race pack for Sunday. The weather forecast looks quite good, a bit cooler than the previous days and possibly some rain showers too.
Do not mind the rain at all as long as it is not becoming to cold. Last year I ran the first BUPA 10,000m race in absolutely pooring rain. It felt really good going against the elements.

Let me have some oats with joghurt now, my daily breakfast before going to the gym. Have a fun day....

Not long to go

After a few days of absence due to having my laptop stolen out of my apartment I am finally back on track. The last few long runs during last week were quite painful I have to admit. Well the saying goes 'No pain no gain' ............

Marathon day is approaching fast with lots of excitement coming along. First, this week all of us runners have to register at the great London Marathon Expo at the Excel Center, then there will be a huge Pasta Party on Saturday to load ourselves with energy for Race Day Sunday 26 April.

Do not forget to visit my website www.stephanscharmacher.com in order to donate for my chosen charity Children with Leukaemia.
Thank you for all your donations.

Have to run now and get ready for the day. Have a fun day............speak later again.

p.s. major launch of website today

Paintings and Book

Please donate as much money as you can

www.bmycharity.com/stephansmarathon

trying to secure a painting and definately download

my free ebook 'Truth or what we choose to know'

at my website

www.stephanscharmacher.com

Thank you for all your support.

More Paintings

'Open Skies' detail
acrylic on canvas, 50 x 40cm




'Open Skies' entire painting
acrylic on canvas, 50 x 40 cm







'Morning Glory'
acrylic on canvas, 51 x 77 cm

'Love', acrylic on canvas, 50 x 40 cm





'Love' detail, glitter

'Life' detail, plaster ornament gilded with 21kt gold leaf

'Life', acrylic on canvas, 50 x 40 cm

Easter monday

a fabulous start to the day. 15km in the morning to start the day, always fantastic and very refreshing. just had to notice that i indeed need some new running shoes urgently, had some foot pain during my run and my stomach was almost running on empty, i totally forgot to have some oats in the morning. my favourite breakfast meal i forgot, maybe these are the early signs of alzheimers. luckily i had taken one sachet of my favourite powerbar gel to give me some extra boost during the run. running on an empty stomach is not very pleasant at all.

ran through Regents Park and totally forgot how beautiful the flowers are over there. so will be back this week eith my camera to take some beautiful pictures which i am going to share here on my blog.

now its time for some more paintings to post............just have a look at donate loads of money....... www.bmycharity.com/stephansmarathon

Charity support

All paintings are acrylic on canvass. you can set the price you like to pay for the painting and donate the money through my fundraiser website www.bmycharity.com/stephansmarathon . Email me or write a comment here at the blog to tell that you have bid on a painting quoting the name of the painting. Should more people be interested in a painting , the person with the highest bid is going to be the new owner.
'Group Gathering' (detail)

'Group Gathering' (detail)

'Group Gathering', acrylic on canvass, 50 x 40 cm

' Coloured Block', acrlic on canvass, 46 x 60 cm

'Stripped Garden' detail

'Stripped Garden', acrylic on canvass, 50 x 40 cm

'Amazon Forest' detail

'Amazon Forest', acrylic on canvas, 50 x 100 cm

This object of art consist of two pieces; first the painting itself and then the upper right plaster ornament (acrylic on plaster)

Happy Easter

Happy Easter. What a great day in London, the sun was not shining , well at least we did not have a blue sky instead we enjoyed a rather grey overcast day. The marathon is just around the corner so to speak and I am off tomorrow morning to finish the last really long run of about 20 miles.

This should get me around Regents Park towards Hyde Park and back, after 3 hours all should be done and dusted.

Today i spent just an hour at the gym having just a small workout. The other time i spent painting and taking photographs of my already existing paintings. You are going to see them in the next post.

I'll invite you to buy those paintings with the proceedsd going entirely to my supported charity 'Children with Leukaemia'. you can set the price for the painting, I'll explain further in the next post.

Final stages

the last few days before the actual M-Day on 26th April are more mental than physical days. some mid-sized runs and just another long run on Sunday that should be it.

its your mind that is playing trick on you or at least trying to tell you that you have to have doubts of being absolute fit on race day achieving the goal that you had set in the beginning. but hey thats just how it goes, you just need to be prepared that as soon as such a thought is coming along to reming yourself of all the beautiful and positive things in life.

the most important aspect of the run is to have fun fun fun.........not just for us amateur runners but also for the elite performers.

fun and enjoying the the scenery of the beautifully laid out London Marathon Route from Greenwich along the river through the city towards Buckingham palace receiving a hot cup of tea served by the Queen herself.......:))

am going to buy some running tights and a running jacket from the adidas store which sells the London Marathon 2009 merchandise to celebrate this extraordinary event.

tomorrow will be a rest day to do shopping and then on Easter sunday the last long distance run of about 20 miles, a great Easter gift to myself.

First day

Today it has been the first day at work after my holiday. quite tired and getting used to work late hours again I finally find time now to add to my blog.

Got up this morning fairly early to run my 10k run on the treadmill at the gym. Felt very good after having almost not run for an entire week while in Germany visiting family. Even got to use my power gel to keep nourished throughout my run and drinking lots of Lucozade Rehydration to get my digestive system used to the drink provided throughout the marathon.

Still have to buy some tight running short and a new pair of my favourite running shoes Nike Structure Triax11. I have been running in these shoes for some years now and never have nor had any problems running; last year I purchased a new pair just one day before a 10k race - thats how comfortable they fit my delicate feet......:)))

First day at work and little Stephan buys the new James Bond movie on dvd, now writing and watching at the same time.

During the Easter weekend I am going to finally upload some pictures of my paintings which you will be able to buy through my fundraiser website; further instructions with the pictures later.

Tired now and off to bed in a bit, 11.40pm.

Loads of love
Stephan

Michelle's confirmation

my mom, my sister Anika and my niece Michelle

Michelle and her mom

My mom, Michelle and my aunt Anni

The entire group with priest

Michelle and priest van der Laan

The reason I went to Germany was my niece's confirmation ceremony on 05 April 2009. Now Michelle is officially a full member of the Christian Protestant Church.

A church service on Sunday morning including the confirmation ritual concluded Michelle's approval. 21 young teens have now become full members of the Jemgum Christian Church. Jemgum is the little village Michelle, her mom and dad, and also my parents live. Jemgum lies along a river called Ems in the northwestern part of Germany close to the dutch border.

The church service was followed by a family lunch, coffee and cake in the afternoon and finally a barbeque to complete the entire day.

Michelle got loads of presents and money which is the usual to be given on confirmation day.

ALIVE

Finally back in London after a fantastic time with my family in Germany. almost did not make it back on Monday to London.
I left with the plane (carrier Ryanair) from the Germany airport Bremen with destination Stansted. Suddenly midair an announcement by the captain telling us, all passengers, that one engine is not working normally. An emergency landing is being scheduled, the closest airport is Schiphol, Amsterdam. Immediately the plane descends harshly , long story short, we make it to amsterdam and land safely. Some passengers need medical assistance to calm them down. Everybody else is pretty happy jumping onto the mobile phones again to reach their family and friends comforting about the safe landing at Amsterdam airport.

The captain and the crew are thanking everyone for their calm co-operation.

After a few hours in amsterdam waiting for another plane taking us to our original destination Stansted, I finally arrive at home at 2.30am Tuesday morning.

Well this is a situation you always think that it only happens to others and not yourself. But this time it definately hit home extremely closely. Time to ponder about life in general. Who knows what might come out of such a situation.

Quite funny that just a few days ago I registered for a course called 'Basic Theta Healing' at Thetahealing UK. Have a look at their website www.thetahealinguk.co.uk .

First Of April

Just got back from the gym. What a glorious day, the sun is shining, Barack Obama is in touch, G20 protest on its way; the 1. april definately not a fools day this time. Quite interesting to see the outcome of such an energy loaded day.
Also listening and watching BBC-Online to be updated on what politically has been decided to face and to tackle the global situation.
Like I would suggest is to eliminate all debt and start fresh again. How wonderful a world this would be. Everybody keeps their savings but gets rid of their debt. Just a thought that might not be considered as serious.

On another note: well I am leaving today for Germany to celebrate my niece's confirmation on sunday. I will be back on Monday nite (6 April). Have a great time until I am back. Enjoy every step of your journey.

Monday morning

The sun is shining again - hurray. Today its a run free day. so no exercise at all which feels a bit crappy and unsettling not doing anything running wise. Well I think it can become quite an addiction too when you get locked up in a certain thought pattern. I love to be free and independant therefore definately does not want to be locked up.

01.April I am off to my family in Germany again for a week. Its my niece's confirmation on 5.April.

Somehow the writing is not flowing this morning; my thoughts are all over the place. Going to stop for know and hopefully come back a bit later to write some more.

a few more clouds above Kilburn

cloudy afternoon

sun behind clouds in Kilburn on 27. March 2009

cloudy sky above Kilburn 27. March 2009

Just got back from a shopping trip, nothing special , just a bit powerbar gel and lucozade for my long run tomorrow morning. Its cold and cloudy out there, so Stephan took his camera out to take a few pictures of clouds going by. I love clouds, they are just there and in a blick of an eye they are gone again - feels like magic is at work. Sometimes I feel like being a cloud, here today and gone tomorrow.

At the moment I am reading a book by Lynne McTaggart called 'The Intention Experiment' - it is basically about how intention changes and forms our world, that even we thoughts we are able to influence our world. It all comes down at how you look at the world and this image bounces back to you in every thing you do.

So enough writing for today and let our intention always be PEACE so that we can create a peaceful world around us.


The cloud pictures were taken this afternoon from my backyard; basically Kilburn on a cloudy but sunny day.


Have fun and enjoy every step of your journey - don't forget to visit my fundraiser website at www.bmycharity.com/stephansmarathon





ENJOY.

Please visit my fundraiser website www.bmycharity.com/stephansmarathon as often as you can to donate. Thank you so much. xxxxxx

Back on track

Good morning at 7.04am, woken up an hour ago and now getting ready for my morning run and work out. A liitle bit of breakfast including two cups of coffee and my famous soy protein drink before and after run/workout.
Just listened to the weather report, not too promising which means the might be rain on the way, so better get going in order not to get wet although sometimes it feels good going against the elements and getting wet.

Just got back from a lovely trip to Cornwall, such a great area of Great Britain.

Below find my favourite running shoes and my Children with Leukaemia running vest.

back from germany now and finally back on the road running. Tuesday marks the beginning of longer runs to get my body and legs accustomed to a long run in the near future. but before as i promised i would bring some pictures from germany; so here we are:

here we have geese flying over the land next to my parents house. every year they are passing our area to siberia. hundreds of geese in huge swarms, it is absolutelt spectacular.