Almost time to start another Legends Trail. In 2026 we will get some extra distance – I guess for a good amount of extra fun. 350k with some elevation in the Ardennes.

With regards to the ever present question – „are you/we prepared for the Legends Trail“ – a lot of things have been written already including this blog post before the 2024 LT edition:

Are you ready for Legends Trail?

To summarize in a few words: no – you can’t be fully ready for what is coming.

The best idea is probably to really get to know your gear and to think about some of the possible situations during such a long race with reagards to equipment.

„If this happens – I can do this or that“.

But essentially everyone starts such a long and demanding race empty handed. Equal in front of the upcoming task.

So what to do with the time left (in addition to the task of staying fit and healthy) – to me the last weeks before Legends Trail have always been a time to mentally calm down and to focus. The mind as well feels the challenge coming and starts to bring back memories and flashbacks – a good sign as this means the mind is getting ready as well.

As the Legends Trail is a race in which I have to focus so intense that I completely disconnect with the usual day-to-day life I like to use the weeks before Legends Trail to already start with this process.

This includes the following things:

• (re-)connect to nature
• pay more attention to the unlimited tiny wonders to be seen out there
• remember how the leaves sounds beneath my feet
• remember how the marshes smell and sound
• remember the thousands of different sounds water can make
• remember how warm single rays of sunlight feel on a winter morning
• remember how bone-freezing cold the dense winter mist feels deep down in those river valleys
• remember the glittering of water drops on frozen leaves or walls of moss in the flashes of headlights
• remember how soft the ground feels deep in the forest
• remember how the forest smells after freshly fallen rain
• remember all the unreal beauty during dusk and dawn
• remember the joy, hope and energy the re-emerging sun can offer
• remember how good a plate full of Tortellini tastes after hundreds of kilometers

This may sound stupid but at the end its these thoughts, observations and memories which will help me to survive the rough moments the Legends Trail will bring. Kind of similar to Frederick the mouse who collected memories, songs and colors while his companions were collecting food for the long winter nights. At the end Fredericks stories, memories, songs and colors saved the lives of the mice tribe during the long winter – long after all the food was eaten.

So long after all doable things will have been done I will be mentally stripped down and disconnected from everything – a tiny dot in the midst of the Ardennes with absolutely no energy left. That will be the point I will remember all those tiny memories, thoughts and joyful details out there. They may help to do the unbearable and to go beyond to finally merge with everything around me. To reach the state of pure existence – to start to feel ultra running in its purest form. I don’t really look forward to endure everything on the way towards that state but I can’t want to experience it once again. With all the pain coming with it, it may last til the end of the trail. With all the temporary hopelessness along the way it may enlighten the inner fire.