Christine Waitz's Blog

I’ve been here at our team training camp in Krabi for almost four weeks now and it’s fantastic!

I really enjoy the fact that I have nothing else to concentrate on other than my training. In the time between the training sessions I can do things I never have time for at home. Things like just sitting around and thinking, reading books, or watching movies.

So yesterday after biking I cleaned up my stuff, sat down and recognized that one of my favorite movies has just started… it’s a german-american movie made in 1984. The Never Ending Story.

Why do I like this film?

Well, actually, I like the book Die unendliche Geschichte“ written by Michael Ende even more than the movie.

It’s one of the books I stayed up a whole night to finish reading. And it was one of those times I was supposed to be in bed early. In those days, I was allowed to read half an hour before going to sleep. So after half an hour Mom came up to turn off the lights.

Hahaha, no problem for me. Because of course I was prepared! I pulled the blanket over my head and turned on my little secret pocket lamp. Every now and then lifting up the blanket to let in some fresh air.

At one point, I was so engrossed in the book that I didn’t hear Mom coming up to check and see if I was asleep. Ohhhh. Of course she was angry now, taking my light and telling me to go to sleep.

But I had to know how the book ends!!!

So I pulled out my secret pocket lamp no2 (don’t worry there’ve been even more:) and read my book until the end… great… well, not so great for school the next day of course…

And there’s another reason why I like the movie. When I was even younger my parents took my brother and me on a trip to the studio where parts of the film were shot and I was allowed to ride on Fuchur- the nice hairy white flying dragon.
My parents are still searching the photo. But here you can see Fuchur, the luck dragon, in the film:

Yes, I’m one of the early birds. I’m used to getting up early because at home I do my first training session before going to university.

So I could sleep in on the weekends, one might think. Hmmm, I’m sorry for my poor family but they have to deal with my early morning noise even on the weekends. Because I just loooooove my early morning training.

I love going out when it’s still dark. Sometimes when the weather is bad I have to take my little light. But when the sky is clear you don’t need a light as the light of the moon is enough.

Have you ever gone out that early? There are a few things you can only experience then!

Almost nobody is up, so it’s really quiet. Only you and the sound of your bike or your steps.

Before sunrise the birds start to sing and often it’s also the coldest time of the night. But the air is so fresh and clean then! You can smell the grass and the herbs on the side of the road and the soil.

And if you are lucky and the weather is good, you can see a beautiful sunrise while everybody else is still asleep!

It’s like your own little training world!

So of course I didn’t miss out on that experience here in Thailand. And for all the late risers I took some pictures… but let me tell you… it’s only a little part of a fantastic experience… for the rest you have to go out yourself:)

I wouldn’t say I was a sporty kid. To tell the truth, I was completely unathletic.

While the kids in my neighborhood were playing tag or ball I preferred to read my books or to draw. I think that’s the reason why you should never expect me to catch something no matter if it’s a ball or a key or whatever – I’ve never learned to catch and it will definitely fall out of my hands.

BUT I’ve always loved bikes! All kinds of bikes. Because going by bike anywhere was of course much easier than walking:)

And as I’ve promised some pics, I’ll show you some very special ones of my preferred bicycles…

That’s what I heard when I arrived for the second time at training camp in Leysin last summer.

Well, I should give you some more information about me because there are a lot of german triathletes…

My name is Christine Waitz.
You don’t remember names? Hmm, then you could ask for a small woman with reddish braids. If you asked anybody from Roth they could probably help you. Because Roth is my hometown.

I don’t think I need to tell you how I got into triathlon. At least once a year our little town is upside down! That’s where I got infected by the triathlon virus.

I’m really looking forward to the first camp. To meet again the people I met in Leysin where I had a great time and met some new team mates. To have great training, new experiences and hopefully a lot of improvement!

So that’s the short story of “the German”. Maybe in my next blog I should give you some pics?