The tree down by the lake

Lets meet at the tree down by the lake
Where the reflections are superior
Many passed this place – very few recognized
The beauty of this spot

Best time to be there is when the sun is about to set
A cold breeze from the water
Cools down the heat of the day
Welcomes the night with all her despair

Best time to be there is when the night is at height
When the pale moon is reflected
In the black and smelly surface
Tricking the fools to believe it is solid ground

Best time to be there is when the sun is about to rise
When the tree stands as a statue
In front of the appearing marshes
While vague blue endlessness reveals behind the lake

Best time to be there is when the sun is at height
When the gleaming sunbeams
Are reflected by a light breeze of wind
Turning the lake into millions of diamonds

Lets meet at the tree down by the lake
With those who treasure the marshes
With those who value the void
With those fascinated by the beyond

Dead Marshes Loop 1 // June 2024

Things sometimes don´t go according to plan. We did not manage to finish the 208k of Dead Marshes; somewhat around 80k most of the group decided to stop after loop 1 // 120k. The rest of the group took a while with accepting this fact but was happy with the decision after a while. All in all a really nice experience out there with the those two. It really is different to attempt do ultras with the experts and even better to sustain through surprisingly dark moments on this shorter run. Everyone stayed calm when things went sideways in an unexpected way. We have seen the all shades of that darkness – although we expected it 100k later.

I have to admit – to see Dead Marshes in the summer was a blast – quite different to my first attempt in March 2024.

Pictures by Maarten, Marek and me.

Maarten did his usual genius on the collected video impressions and formed another masterpiece:

Climb Score view from Runalyze

If you want to find out more about it – refer to the LOTR Slam pages here and here.

210k Westweg

Already a month ago (9th of May 2024) we had a go on the Westweg in Southern Germany. The Westweg is a premium hiking trail crossing the whole Schwarzwald from North (Pforzheim) to South (Basel). Westweg has two variations West and Ost – we used the West variant. Strategy was to place two cars along the way (km 140/km 210) and we were lucky to get some company from fellow runners – which gave us another car opportunity to refill at km 50.

All in all a very nice experience in good company. We decided to call it a day after 210 km in Hinterzarten and not go for the last stretch to Basel. Strategy worked out fine but we did not had the urge to really push all out and finish it. Sometimes to not go ultra is also a legit thing. We had a good supply plan – everything worked out as expected and we had spectacular views (including a night full of polar lights), great company and lots of fun.

Some pictures and video expressions below:

With regards to statistics – this was number 39 100 mile plus run and continued the 200k plus streak to 4 months in a row.