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As a woman in the German military, Janine Mälzer had to be tough in the beginning. She found that sport was the best way to get fit and strong. “Back when I was stationed near Wilmershaven, I recall not being able to jog the 500 metres to the gym.” So the woman from Berlin knew she had to change something. “I was so-to-say forced into running. That was part of our sports regimen.” Janine got together with her comrades and every day ran a little bit further. Soon she was able to join her unit running the 8 kilometres around the airfield. “The sore muscles I had after that were the worst I have ever had in my life. I could hardly walk for the next three days.” But Janine kept with it. She ran more often, and soon she was able to break the 10-kilometre mark. From then on, she worked on speed.

This start into her athletic life began five years ago. Since then, she has moved back to Berlin, is now studying biotechnology, and living here with her husband. “He is my constant motivator, and we often go running together.” She has also made the Tuesday SCC running group in Volkspark Friedrichshain part of her weekly routine. “If you have to manage time for your studies, friends, husband and sports, you quickly start setting concrete dates to run, otherwise you don’t get to it.” She completely enjoys her regular running times and they are helping her to reach her goals more quickly. Janine participates regularly in the SCC running events. “My favourite distance is the 10K.”

At the CRAFT Women’s Run she even got a group of sporty women together to join her at the start, and promptly they were honoured on the stage as the largest group participating.  “Doing sports in a group simply is more fun than alone.”  She also thought she should take advantage of the combi-deal offered by SCC EVENTS and signed up for the inline half marathon in March and for the marathon in September. “I had only skated once before. But it seemed like too much to run the course. So the only option was skating. When I sent in the registration, I thought to myself: ‘What am I getting myself into?’” After only training one time, on March 30, she rolled across the finish of the 21.0975 kilometres in one hour and four minutes. She has set her goal for the BMW BERLIN MARATHON at 2 hours.

“Even though I am a runner, it is an amazing feeling to skate at such events. I get a speed on skates that I don’t have when I run.” This year she will be skating the long distances, but Janine has set a new goal already for next year: “Then I am going to run the Vattenfall BERLIN HALF MARATHON. I am already looking forward to it.”