Ex-footballer Schürrle aims for fast Berlin half marathon
Former German international footballer André Schürrle wants to run Sunday's Berlin half marathon in one and a half hours and is also setting his sights on ultra running in the future.
Former Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea player Schürrle, who provided the assist for Mario Götze's World Cup winning goal in the 2014 final, took up running after ending his football career in 2020 at age 29.
He told Fitbook magazine that he recently ran marathons in Barcelona and Tuskany as he named 2024 a year of challenges, including the Berlin half marathon where some 35,000 people are set to compete.
"Based on my training and for motivation I've set myself a time of 1 hour 30 minutes. That would be very, very fast, but I'll aim for 1:30 hours and then see what comes out in the end," he said.
"Running 10, 20 or even 30 kilometres is not something you usually do as a footballer. That's why it's something completely new, and that's also why I do it. I see it as a challenge to be more or less an amateur again and to work on it.
He said he signed up for many races "so that I might fail sometimes. It's about doing such hard things that I might reach my limits.
"I would like to run 100 kilometres one day, in other words an ultra marathon. Then there are a few high and difficult mountains I want to climb this year. Those are the next challenges I'd like to take on. But above all, running 100 kilometres would be really something."
