Schlagwort-Archiv: Alone Together

Misty Mountains over the Redhorn pass – Lord of the Rings Slam 2025

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I had a mixed relationship with the LOTR Slam 2025 from the very beginning. Not that I was not looking forward to run any of the courses or something like that – but after a really interesting and intense run in January 2025 together with Olav on the first of the three long courses of the slam (The Tale of the Years of the Third Age in Germany) – the life got in between the focus on running and me.

First it was the expected brake due to race season starting and all the hustle and bustle around the Legends Trail. LT was closely followed by the attempt and finish of the JUNUT. Right after JUNUT things related to running got out of hand quite a bit as life did change dramatically. In the best way possible, but still. This change tore down any focus related to long distance running for some weeks and required a lot of attention and energy. Within these weeks the first attempt and DNF on the second long run of the LOTR SLAM in the beautiful Müllerthal in Luxembourg took place. In the retrospective a foolish attempt during these exciting days. Life settled after that into its new beautiful being and the focus returned. But also the next big official race with the PAUL – 250k in June 2025. Yvonne and me decided to take our revenge on the Müllerthal in late July and luckily this worked out. Towards the end of it, it was quite a fight but we endured it til the end of the Shadows of the past track. This brought me back to my original schedule for the LOTR slam runs I made back in December 2024. The only other fitting and long weekend in the second half of 2025 was the one beginning of October. Quite risky as it was way too close to the first race of the new Legends Slam series – the Great Escape 2.0 with nowadays 200 instead of 160k – but I figured back then it was a risk I could take as the race came first and I would not deliberately risk a DNF on that high priory event.

To be fair – Olav, Yvonne and me with the full Great Escape two weeks prior in our bodies – none of us was completely recovered and ready in the meaning of ready to endure yet another run of endless hours and especially hours of darkness. But the date was set…

…and so there we were – October 3rd 1000 – the 4 of us on a rather empty parking lot in Bouillon. Leonie, Olav, Yvonne and me trying to tackle the Misty Mountains over the Redhorn pass course of Marek featuring the beautiful south of the Ardennes surrounding the river Semois. The course consists of two loops – 60k and 100k – so we hoped to finish the 60k loop not too late so that the vast majority of the forecasted rain would not hit us on this first stretch. The landscape differed from stunning views to narrow river valley with a good portion of solid and technical trails – while sun was up a quite enjoyable thing to run. But sun settled and the closer we got to finish the first loop the less runnable it was. In the dark and in the attempt of staying straight on track we ended up in stretches of endless thorns where one kilometer would easily last between 30-60 min. With the light rain an interesting mix.

After almost 12h we were back at the cars and decided for 75 min break to re-dress, have something warm to eat and drink and to sleep a little.

At 2300 Friday evening we started on the second loop of 100k. The rain would not lift for hours but instead intensify slowly but surely. The course started to develop into an Ardennes-like trail. All in all it was a memorable night in which we split into two pairs as the need for breaks differed between the two couples. Finally light came back and with that the certainty that the night did drain a bit more energy and grid than expected. Around 1100 we thankfully met Marek and Wendy who came to support and run some km with us. Unfortunately Yvonne had to call it a day at around 110k into the course so I tried to speed-up and met Olav and Leonie a while later. From there on we sticked together, mostly in silence and bit of the last km of the track. The second night came, a bit of rain returned, the trails were partly completely blocked and destroyed by fallen trees and in parts so steep that it slowed us down to almost 0 at times. Luckily these stretches were not as long as in the first night and finally, at around 0200 in the middle of the night, we finished the Misty Mountains of the Redhorn pass course (170k, 6200 D+) in around 40h. Completely empty yet happy.

Some impressions from out there are included in the following video:

With the completion of Misty Mountains over the Redhorn pass the Lord of the Rings Slam 2025 is almost completed. The final assignment is waiting but as it does not involve a lot of running it’s fair to say: one more slam down. Once more we’ve come a long way. From the entry assignment in Eifel/Hautes Fagnes aka. Dead Marshes in 2024 to the three major LOTR Slam runs in 2025 – featuring the south of the Eifel/Mosel in Germany, the Müllerthal in LUX and the valley of Semois in southern BEL/nothern FRA – it was a blast. 3 new regions to me – 3 remarkable runs with excellent people next to me. Once more exploring in its purest form. Partly with the aid and support of friends. Traveling in its purest form, endless stretches of nature in all varieties – endless stretches of emptiness. It indeed is a risky thing to step out of the known paths as everything can happen. But that is the magic of ultra-traveling through this beautiful world.

2024 – Dead Marshes Entry Assignment


January 2025 – The Tale of the Years of the Third Age (GER)


June 2025 – Shadows of the Past (LUX)


October 2025 – Misty Mountains over the Redhorn pass (BEL/FRA)

While we need to setup a date for the final assignment to officially close the LOTR Slam 2025 there are already ideas of the next round of GPX files for the years 2026/2027. In fact a possible entry course for a potential next slam is already in the making. Stay tuned.

Alone. Together.

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We found the little gap in the fence too late; our first entry to the lost place was quite cumbersome. We had to crawl through some bushes and climb a stone wall to enter the area. Somewhat fitting that it was a cold and dizzy December morning. Our exploration was rather slow, cautious, silent and aware. Phones out for pictures; eyes sharpened for the ever so tiniest detail to capture and memorize it. At the far end of our planned route was the one big hall. Used for heavy and huge train construction work back in the days – a mere outer shell slowly collapsing nowadays. Inside, at the top of the back wall, we finally saw the one graffiti which surprised your eyes the most.

ALONE

TOGETHER

What a perfect description of that place and that moment. In the weeks since this first visit it became ever present in our chats, was printed out as a memory and a reminder of that feeling. Yet the message somehow meant more.

A quick look at the online world shows that the phrase is mostly associated with the good old pandemic times – which makes sense. The feelings and situations back then: the isolation, the rebellion against the „Alone“ to get „Together“ again as well as the slightest feeling of comfort in the new „Alone“. Described in just two words.

ChatGPT sums it up quite well:


Still not exact what it meant to us that very moment and ever since. With long-distance-running in mind Alone Together is so much more. All the moments during countless nights, the moments out there of shear desperateness, of being the loneliest wanderer beneath an endless sky, the moments of weakness, of exhaustion, of being hopelessly lost. Yet: during some of these adventures we were accompanied by fellow runners, sometimes even together with friends, during some of those trips we had our location shared with the world for people to follow us online – in almost all cases there was a form of connection, no matter how thin. A bit of Together in this big Alone. Two words describing the feeling of long-distance-running in a very abstract yet perfect way.

The phrase seems to be less offensive when hold against our loud and overwhelming world. A phrase entering the room silently; standing in the back observing the mess. A phrase moving on slow and cautious feet. In a respectful and delicate way. Respectful towards the people appreciating the Alone yet delicate enough to not hurt the precious Together. Uniting these two contradictory words to a much bigger and meaningful phrase. Creating a positive and safe environment enabling the possibility to be happy with Alone things even when being Together.

In long-distance-running the image and mentality of the lone wolf is glorified nowadays. Alone Together has something of that image yet adds more alone wolves to the picture – striding effortlessly and endlessly through the void. Alone Together.

If I would need to describe the preferred way for me to walk through life and interact with fellow humans – this way comprises a lot of this meaning of Alone Together. Cautious but with real and true interactions, full of respect and gratitude towards fellow humans and their choices and a certain distance to the constant flow of things to gain time for meaningful decisions. I consider myself extremely lucky to be surrounded by a few like-minded friends. I would happily chose them to be Alone Together for good.

The area with this great graffiti is about to be torn down in the next very few weeks. We recently visited the place for one last time. Alone Together was still there. Untouched. Soon the graffiti, the hall and the whole area will be gone for good. Living in memories and stories for the rest of time.