Schlagwort-Archive: Running

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.

Great Escape 200 2025

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If all our couple weekend are going to be like this I really have to start training.

The Great Escape was my first ever Legends Trail run in 2019. At the beginning I was shocked and impressed by the difficulty of the course on the one side and the helpful, relaxed and family-like atmosphere throughout the whole event on the other side. It kind of felt home from the very start. A good environment to extend what seemed possible. The rest is history. From the first full slam 2019/2020, all Legends Trails editions today – endless hours out there and yet never alone in spirit; always surrounded by like-minded folks. Right after the first slam the decision to leave it with that very slam was made – so it was the LTs alone which connected me year after year with this wonderful community. But as time passed by the organization decided to add a bit of extra to the existing runs. So I decided that it may be time to return to try to prove what I learned the last 6 years and to go for the new and longer slam.

The new course used the familiar hiking trail Escapardenne Eislek Trail as basis but the whole idea was quite different from the classic one-way direction 100 mile editions the previous years. The start was near the former end of the race following the trail backwards to roughly the middle of the trail in Clervaux in LUX. This sections was followed by a new designed loop to nearly the south end of the hiking trail and from there backwards on the trail itself. That meant that the start of the Great Escape 2025 was the end of the former editions backwards – with a larger section down at our beloved Ourthe – and the last km of the Great Escape 2025 were the ones at the beginning of the former editions. Quite interesting to me and probably all the former participants to get all those flashbacks of known course details in a completely strange order.

Race registration and kit check took place at the finish location with a lot of „Hallos“, „Jeetjes“ and „Saluts“ – good to be back at the LT family. Lots of friends both on the organization/supporter as well as on the runner end of things. After a 1.5 hour bus drive to the start we were finally allowed to set foot into an interesting race. My idea was to stay in the front half of the pack for the first kilometers as I was aiming for some room to run in the heart of the Ardennes on the most finest trails there are @#noourthenoparty. As Yvonne and I decided to stay together at the beginning of the race (Michael joined our group as well for a while) to understand if running together would do any good we tackled that part and the first night together somewhere in the middle of the pack. Several smaller inconsistencies slowed us down til the beginning of a rather warm Saturday – we ended up running the last third of the pack. Michael left us for good around dusk as he was faster at that time and decided to use this speed to buy himself more time for later in the race. The first big goal was to reach the first dropback at kilometer 85. We got there together and left after a 30 min break with around 2h spare on cutoff. My hope was a bigger gain on cutoff at that early stage in the race but it turned out that we were quite good in keeping that gain roughly until the very last part of the race.

The next big task was to survive the warm day without further damage and enjoy the new part of the course. It was less technical compared to the Escapardenne hiking trail (especially compared to the Ourthe stretch) but nevertheless there were quite some meters of D+ involved. Yet this part of the race (the 20k to the first dropback and the following 30k of new track) was the easiest of the whole race. Time to gain some time or at least don’t lose anything on the collected time before cutoff. That worked quite well. The legendary CPs every 20k certainly helped a lot to never run out of water or other essentials. Overall quite ok til the evening. We were eying the weather forecast throughout that first day as the sunshine was forecasted to end quite dramatically in a huge stretch of rain and potentially thunderstorm. This weather change combined with the dawning night two and the return of the rougher terrain made one thing quite clear: the real race was about to start at around 130/140 kilometers. With two hours on cutoff a somewhat optimistic setup.

And as expected – the race did start at the point of dusk. The second night brought the well-known ultra feeling back. A mix of a remote hopelessness, of silent, tired and endless motion – on one point we even decided to split as it seemed that we somehow limited ourselves with sticking together. In these hours everyone needs to be totally free in whatever pace/rhythm seems right and keeps a decent speed up. We were not able to find this sweet spot together so we tried to do so apart. All in all a decision we should have made a few hours earlier as it immediately payed off. We both sped-up quite significantly, I finally was able to listen to some music and to fully sink-in into the night two vibes. The well-known Legends Trail feeling was fully back and I braced myself to whatever may come across me and that finish line.

And then. Ultimately. The weather change came. Temperature dropped by some degree, wind started to do wind things and hours of cold rain would follow. On top of the above described night two vibes the conditions changed from that quite warm and sunny Saturday stroll to a rainy, windy and cold trail ultra night. I caught sight of Yvonne running a few hundred meters in front of me battling through and decided, after the first attempt to close the gap, to relentlessly follow her. The consequence was a nice speed in that given conditions and an easy focus point – good that the light on her backpack was not red but weird orange. A dancing, fading and re-appearing light in the distance. Not too soon after we reunited in our mission to stay moving and to get closer to the finish. After the time alone we started to function together in a helpful way.

The showdown of the Great Escape at the rivers Sauer, Wiltz and Clerve felt oddly familiar, somewhat frightening mixed with a good portion of full focus and flashbacks from 2019 when I was running that section in the very same direction together with Matthias. The light came slowly back – yet in the steep river valleys we used our headlamps til what felt like hours after dusk. The trails were back at full difficulty; wet, steep, muddy – just the way we like them. As I was not wearing my best rain jacket (mistake during drop back preparations – I was not expecting that much of rain) I was happy we stayed in motion and ultimately started to shorten the CP breaks to not give our bodies any vague ideas of: „oh – its over I can shut down“. We were able to maintain about an hour to the various cutoffs along the way so after the last CP with 24k to go I was able to believe that finishing was indeed a possible outcome of that journey. Nevertheless, we tried to remain speed until we suddenly hit it. The end. I always have a strange feeling of being sorry that it ends while being tremendously thankful that it is finally about to be over for good. Walking up that last meters on the main street after what felt like more than 43 hours felt like the right thing to do at that moment. Unbelievable that this will be time and distance-wise only roughly half of what awaits us in February…

Crossing that finish line together was a very good and satisfying feeling. Despite the moments of not finding the vibe together – or maybe I should say precisely because of these moments and the solution we found for it – we went on this adventure and came back from it #alonetogether.

Some numbers about the new Great Escape: 48.35k flat (<2%; 23%), 77.36k uphill (37%), 81.02k downhill (39%). Climbscore 9.1/10, 7569m D+ – all in all a pretty challenging course.

Climb Score view of the Great Escape 200 from @runalyze.

81/169 starter reached the finish line in time (47.9%); 16/21 previous finisher of a Legends Slam finished the new Great Escape (76.2%) – lets see how many of the 81 will proceed with running the races of the new and longer slam.

Next race of the Legends Slam 2.0 is the Bello Gallico in December. Not sure if I really look forward to that dark and probably wet/cold misery – but well: what needs to be done needs to be done. And I know I will have someone with me in that race specifically in love with all misery. That may make it either easier or hard – it certainly will be a moral support throughout.

25% done of the Legends Slam 2.0 2025/2026!

Post-Race Depression

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Yes – it is real. And it does not feel very good. Especially after prime events with a lot of emotions involved both before and during the race the emptiness afterwards can be universal. If this hits in a challenging phase in life, the combination is obscure and of unreal intensity.

What should have been glorious days full of joy in light of the achievement feels like an exhaustive roller coaster. The usual go-to relief to the day-to-day challenges feels no longer easy and free but like a strange burden. Even after the body successfully finished the recovery the ease of running does not return. The emotions left out on the trails seem to be drained and gone without return. It feels strange to even think about covering a substantial distance. Why would one want to even think about it. It has been done, it has been completed and that chapter seems to be finished. It feels like digging too deep into something – everyone knows that causes trouble.

Science started to explain, to understand and to provide guidance but most articles do not fully cover the point. The closest is this article with the following section about the emotions.

I feel seen.

It´s a process – it always has been. The blues does come in different flavors and intensities. And yes, the time will heal and finally, after what feels like ages this time, the emotions will return. The joy of running will be back, the light-hearted strives through the surroundings will feel complete again.

Let’s hope it happens before the next race starts.

2024

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End of October is the usual time to draw the line. To sum it up.

Although the year is not over yet the yearly circle is closed for me. Starting November it usually is the time to start the preparation for the Legends Trail happening late February the following year.

The new circle starts right now.

Numbers:
In 2024 I ran 38 Marathons+ distances so far. With a handful more to come in the remaining of 2024 this will be the highest number in the records. With 600 missing km the chances are quite good that I will beat the 5000 km/year for the second time ever. All this wouldn’t have been possible without losing my job in February 2024 and the separation from the rest of the family. After all a quite difficult and painful process. Life is not as straightforward as expected; a lesson familiar from ultra running. Let’s see how this will turn out and what the future may bring. Together with Marek I immensely enjoy an interesting running challenge and this yearly review is a great opportunity to highlight the current standings on my end. The task is to run a Marathon+ on each and every calendar date available. Start date of the run = date for the entry in the sheet. Multidays/longer runs over multiple days count as one event. I guess no one else in the world cares but til end of October 2024 I reached 56% of all dates possible (204/366). This years highlight was the completion of February 29th – a rather difficult date. Focussing a bit more on the sheet and taking care that the longer runs are scheduled best possible certainly helped to increase this number. Whether or not it will be possible to complete it – who knows. But I am definitely looking forward to at least try it.

The Date Game – 31.10.2024

The year 2024 started with the our usual mAMa (matschiger Aachen Marathon) edition. With me no longer living in Aachen the future of mAMa is still in discussion at the moment. mAMa was followed by the first edition of the Teuflischer Biber Ultra – a great concept. I only managed to complete 1.5 of the 6 60 km loops but I think more is possible. If all goes well I will attend the next edition in 2025. Legends Trail 2024 was another huge test for body and mind but it ended with finish number 4. In March 2024 I had my go on the qualification run for next years LOTR Slam.

These slam projects really evolved in a small group of runners. After the Titanic Slam and the Marvel Slam this is already Slam number 3. We changed the concept a bit so that 2024 is the qualification year (you have to run a certain GPX within 2024 to access the 4 challenges in 2025). That keeps the concept alive but relaxes the time schedules a bit. So far we have 15 runners who completed the entry challenge – the Dead Mashes run (209 km). I am very pleased by the enthusiasm and the discussion in those underground Facebook chats. Proud to see how them undertake the Dead Marshes track – which happens to my GPX. Looking forward to see how those 14 and myself (or more – two more months to complete the entry challenge) will try to schedule 3×100 mile runs and a special surprise into our running agendas 2025. But I am certain that there will be finishers.

In April 2024 it was time to visit the loops again – Legends Backyard Ultra in Belgium. The aim was to qualify for the 2024 Team Germany at the World Team Championships in Backyard Ultra in 2024. The 36 loops were enough to achieve that. Huge thanks to Michael from the Biber Backyard Ultra Team for the support – both at the LBU as well as at the World Team Championships. To have a crew is crucial in this strange running format. To recover from all these loops it was time for a long trail adventure. Claudia and I tried to run the Westweg and managed 210 km. Although we did not manage to complete the whole Westweg it was a great time out there with the most spectacular polar lights night I ever saw. During the summer I tried to maintain some running abilities and attended at the 24h Lauf Dorsten (100 mi). Last but not least B. and me finally had the chance to run together and to complete the 100 mi at the Breckerfelder Flower Power Ultra – which was the last test before the Backyard Ultra World Team Championship with the German team in Nürnberg.

All in all 7×100 mi plus runs in 2024 – increasing the count from 35 to 42.

Apart from all these official runs 2024 was a great chance to expand the part of running/exploring I enjoy most. With Marek I have been trying to complete as many new tiles from @statshunter as possible. The side effect of this was that Marek could also increase his plaatsnaam bordjes count for his private challenge (collect all towns in the province Brabant in NL and take a picture of the town sign). My statshunter page looks like this – looking forward to to hunt more tiles in the next years:

Statshunter status 31.10.2024 – max square = 24×24

Another key figure in 2024 was Maarten – thank you for all those countless hours of madness – both underground and in the marshes. Lets try to conserve this in the future.

And 2025? Lets see.

A lot of plans have been made. The first focus will be on the Legends Trail 2025 – the last Legends Trail in the well known format. It would be a dream to finish this beast once more.

Backyard World Team Championship 2024

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WICHTIGE LINKS:
Internet-Auftritt TEAM GER
Instagram TEAM GER
LIVE COVERAGE DACH inkl. Links zu den LIVE-Daten weltweit
Laufend Entdecken Podcast mit Teilen der Teams GER/AUT
Live Ergebnisse GER
YouTube Live WW

00Days
00Hours
00Minutes
00Seconds

Es wird Zeit…

Viel haben wir im Team miteinander geschrieben im Vorfeld – am Samstag sehen wir uns endlich persönlich. Nur um uns ab 1400 deutscher Zeit dem Backyard-Format zu unterwerfen. Eintauchen in hoffentlich endloses Rundendrehen. Ein großer Dank geht schon jetzt raus an unseren Host vom TSV Katzwang 05 – super Vorbereitung, uns wird es an nichts fehlen.

Weltweit sind 63 Länder am Start – mit den jeweils 15 besten Läufern im Backyard Ultra Format der letzten 2 Jahren (August 2022 bis August 2024) des jeweiligen Landes. Insgesamt über 900 Athleten starten zur gleichen Zeit in 63 unterschiedlichen Rennen. Es muss ein Fest werden als Zuschauer.

Hier ist Team Germany 2024:

Team GER 2024

Wenn Ihr nicht vertraut seid mit dem Format – hier ist eine sehr gute Erklärung vom belgischen Backyard Ultra Account:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DA1QbnJNM7_/
How does it actually work?

Für die Zahlen/Statistik-Fetischisten – hier ist Euer Link. Alle Backyard Ultra Zahlen zusammengefasst. Vermutlich sogar mit einigen Live-Updates während der WM. Einfach faszinierend. Team GER liegt vor dem Rennen auf Platz 14 – hoffentlich ist diese Platzierung nach dem Event eine besser!

https://www.backyardstats.com/home

Für mich persönlich geht es darum die Zeit zu genießen. Und danach noch ein wenig weiter zu machen. Ziele gibt es nicht in diesem Format. Obwohl: eine PB im Backyard, eine PB was den längsten Lauf angeht (281 km) und ach – warum nicht – eine Quali fürs Team 2026 wären schön. Nur wie viele Runden Letzteres bedeutet ist ja mehr als ungewiss. Also: immer weiter!

Viel Spaß beim Verfolgen – sowas hat es in der Größe noch nicht gegeben. Ein Format aus der Hölle erobert die Ultra-Welt. Bald wird es die echten Lauf-Rekorde auf der ganz langen Distanz gefährden, wer hätte das für möglich gehalten.

Wie wunderbar ein Teil davon sein zu dürfen.

#justonemoreloop

Dead Marshes Loop 1 // June 2024

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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.

Are you ready for Legends Trail?

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„There is a button on your tracker. When you press that button for 3 seconds you will feel it vibrate. Once you do that we consider this to be a REAL emergency and we will try to be at your position as fast as possible. On your number and hopefully in your phone there is a phone number. If you have a problem, or another runner has a problem you can call this number and we will try to help you. Please do not call if you are hungry, feel tired or feel lonely.“

A wise man.

„Are you ready for Legends Trail“ was one of the most asked question in the last 3-4 hours before the start of 2024 Legends Trail. The question came from runners/volunteers/crew members. The only honest answer – and the answer I gave – is „no„. My opinion is that one is never truly ready for such a challenge. One reason is that the amount of uncertainties is enormous (and its impossible to prepare for the unknown) and the other reason is that Legends Trail is a really long race. Really, really long. For the shorter distances you can take measures such: at this point in race I do this or that and that will safe me for a certain amount of time/distance until I do the same thing again. If that does not work I have here a plan B/C/D/E/F – one of those plan will ultimately do the trick and will make me finish.

Most runners (including me) try to apply similar strategic breakdowns to the Legends Trail – simply to make it a bit more manageable in the head before the race. Although that might be an important first step to do to not already freak out at the start line most of us secretly know that this is not worth for the whole thing. The amount of plans you may need during Legends Trail exceeds the letters in the alphabet and then there is the unknown hovering above the runners as well. Waiting to strike.

Lets take one step back and have look at the question from a different perspective. If the question only means: „Are you prepared for Legends Trail“ the answer should be a different one. The answer should be: „I did everything under my control to prepare myself„. This preparation should include running, gear and mental preparation. And this preparation is or at least should be the basis for even thinking about starting

With regards to running everyone has very unique strategy but there are two general thing to take into consideration:

1. Go out when the conditions are the baddest you can think of. Because that’s a very likely scenario at Legends Trail. And you don’t want to be surprised by wind, rain, cold, hail, snow or ice.

2. Know the nights. Really know them. Embrace the darkness. Know how and when to sleep rough. If all goes down the drain at Legends Trail you may stand in pouring rain at freezing temperatures, shivering as hell already, but deadly tired with nothing else in mind than the urge to sleep. You may want to make sure to know every step you need to do in exactly this moment which safes you and prevents the DNF. Because the DNF will seem like the only way out of this situation.

With regards to material and equipment the considerations of Maarten „BEN JE KLAAR VOOR DE LEGENDS TRAIL?“ are worth reading. Also his Material Checklist and his blog about feet and how to keep them operational should be must reads. The topic feet (an important one) and other packing considerations are also addressed here. Not everything is a 1:1 adaption but there is inspiration and there are successful strategies out there to copy from and to adapt so that they work for your individual needs. What also applies here: know your stuff. You may find out that you work best if you change shoes, you may find out that you want to wear multiple layers of socks, you may find out that waterproofs kill your feet – just make sure you find out BEFORE Legends Trail. Another advice would be: do not freak out at the CP sitting in front of your drop back. I don’t know to whom I talked about it lately but he/she mentioned that he/she wanted to change to new clothes at one of the CPs and ended up to put on the wet base layer from the stretch before just because it was too „complicated“ to search for a fresh and dry one in the drop back. Stupid but it happens with a fucked-up mind. Live with it and don´t let it kill your race.

Well. Nothing really to say about the mental preparation. That’s an individual thing. My mindset is to be humble and thankful for the fact that I can take part in these kind of adventures and to embrace every step during it no matter how painful they may be. And I know that there are people both at the finish line and watching the dots which I don’t want to disappoint. I own and embrace a deep desire to make them happy. That does the trick for me. Make sure to find your best motivators and strategies as well.

With these point you should be prepared for Legends Trail (as good as you can do) so why are you not ready?

Because Legends Trail is absurd. Its a challenge which is tough from the very first step. Relentless climbing in ever changing but never easy conditions. Topped with most of the time interesting weather in the Ardennes in February. The energy the average Legends Trailer takes with them lasts roughly one day. The first night is considered to be kind of ok given the conditions and the first day is mostly fine as well. At the end of this time period (mostly around CP2) the energy is used up. It was a rough and very difficult 100-130 km ultra and its time that its over. Although perfectly normal feelings, this is the point in Legends time when the race slowly begins to start.

And no one is really ready for this second night. A night meant to break the runners, to finally crack them. To strip them down to their pure will and mental strength. One needs way more than those 100% to make it out of this second night. And there are still 24-30 hours left of Legends Trail at this point. Undoable.

Legends Sunday is usually a fragile construct. On the one hand its daylight (which makes things considerably easier) on the other hands the finish is too far to feel realistic and to pull you mentally. Its a demanding battle of attrition against Legends Trail and against yourself. And the worst is yet to come: night 3. If night 2 was already something one was not ready for – night 3 is the ultimate trip.

Things tend to break apart in night 3. Just like that. From one second to the other. The ability to orientate and to navigate is gone, the urge of sleep is overwhelming beyond description, your tired brain paints things into the forest which seriously distract you. You may see runners staring at stones. For minutes. You may find them wandering off track. You may find them crying, you may find them lying down with hypothermia, you may find them talking to themselves. Nothing prepares you for this. In night 3 everything finally collapses. The worlds disappears and you are not quite sure if the world may resurface. The only hope is daylight on the morning of Legends Monday.

Day 3 (aka Legends Monday) is the saviour, the ultimate relieve. You may be unprepared for the fact that you are not longer able to control your emotions. Every ever so tiny encouraging or beautiful thing you see or encounter may make you burst into tears. But in a good way. Close to the finish with the main effort behind you its an absolute astounding feeling. These moments as well as the moment of finish are the moments you came for. And they are beyond description but more than worth the effort. They truly belong to you and they will last. Most describe them as something which becomes part of their identity.

In the Trailmagazin Podcast Tom (LT finisher from 2024) is being asked if the race director of Legends Trail is just inhuman and cruel. Tom´s answer fits perfectly as he says: „I think its quite the contrary“. I truly believe its exactly this. Legends Trail is designed to confront runners with the DNF – to push them on the edge of their limits and then continue to push further. Only by doing this, certain abilities, certain mindsets are revealed. The lucky few escaping and being able to finish Legends Trail have gone further than they thought they could. Its deep in the DNA of Legends Trail to reveal exactly this in the competitors. To be able to great these people at the finish line and to live with them through their emotions must be a truly satisfying moment. My believe is that Tim is truly worried about if the Legends Trail is difficult enough to push us that far but that he truly respects and admires the ones he can congratulate at the finish.

No, one is never ready for this. To a certain extend you go there empty handed but you if you manage it its truly unique.

Run Throughout The Year #rtty

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Simple rules are always great. So the challenge from cockbainevents.com must be brilliant:

But, well. Turned out that there are some twists to it. I was absolutely unprepared for the fact that there are months not offering a 50 miler per default. Race months fine – don’t even need to to think about them. But what about the others? Strange. Another striking finding was that 50 mi are kind-of-longer compared to a standard long run (around Marathon). And, even more surprisingly, substantially longer. Like almost double – a distance which requires some determination to get it done outside of races.

Taking all that together this challenges requires just as much determination, dedication, consistency and grid to make it unpleasant. And I think that’s exactly what Mark had in mind. All is well. Clear recommendation. Its just that tiny amount of uneasiness that makes it extremely annoying.

MonthRunLinkDate
February 2023Montane Legends Trail (275k)https://www.strava.com/activities/859238081517.02.2023
March 202324h Sittard (163k)https://www.strava.com/activities/874164589218.03.2023
April 2023Venntrilogie (108k)https://www.strava.com/activities/894399349922.04.2023
May 202350 mi LKS (80.8k)https://www.strava.com/activities/902979572607.05.2023
June 2023Biber Backyard Ultra (140k)https://www.strava.com/activities/919805043203.06.2023
July 2023Schinder Prison Break (241k)https://www.strava.com/activities/941973471207.07.2023
August 2023Hinweg + Monschau Marathon K70 (100k)https://www.strava.com/activities/963932598713.08.2023
September 2023Infernal Trail des Vosges (208k)https://www.strava.com/activities/981806987007.09.2023
October 2023Tour Nordeifel (50 mi)https://www.strava.com/activities/9966830373/03.10.2023
November 2023Hohe Mark Trail (100 mi)https://www.strava.com/activities/1014817308601.11.2023
December 2023X-MAS-50@Lousberg (50 mi)https://www.strava.com/activities/1043504066825.12.2023
January 2024mAMa 2024 + Warm-Uphttps://www.strava.com/activities/1055173922313.01.2024

10 years

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Back in 2014 we had no idea:

2014 – Limburgs Halfzware 75k

Back in 2015 we asked ourselves some questions:

Limburgs Zwarste 2015 – 100k

Back in 2016 we started to explore…

2016 – random fun

Back in 2017 we met new friends:

2017: DCUrbN 100k

Back in 2018 we tried new things:

2018: TTdR 230k

Back in 2019 we received some Dutch Bling Bling:

LEO180 2019 – 210k

Back in 2020 we explored the darkness:

2020 GR Hageland – 150k

Back in 2021 we figured daylight is also ok:

2021 Krönungsweg Bonn-AC 140k

Back in 2022 we started to conquer the unknown:

2022 The Mystique – 200k

Back in 2023 we started to relax:

2023 Biber Backyard Ultra

And what is next? After thousands of shared kms we rarely meet to run these days. But when we meet its for something big, something new – its for an adventure. On, on we go. Hop hop don’t stop!

2023

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After the pandemic years 2021 and 2022 with the two Slams (Titanic Slam in 2021 and Marvel Slam in 2022) it was finally time to get back to a „normal“ schedule in 2023. Whatever that would mean.

February 2023:
As a kind of tradition the long-distance running year started with the Legends Trail in February 2023. It was the usual fight with the elements and with the own body – but at the end it was finish #3 at the third attempt. Maintaining the 100%. Its a race hard to describe but the final thoughts from my race report in February summarize the 280k of emotions quite well:

And then the moments were there. The moments I envisioned before and during the race – the moments I came for. Not just a usual Monday – the Legends Trail Monday. All efforts of the past long hours were meant to reach exactly this: the final 10k of Legends Trail with enough time that the finish is safe. As if nature wanted to join the party a glistening sun flooded the hills of the final stretch. It’s a bit like dream walking. Shook by the emotions of the upcoming finish. Deeply connected to the surroundings. Unbelievable thankful for being able to reach that point and to be part of this story once more. One of the last hills brought a nice view and standing there in the warm sun was an amazing feeling. It could have last forever but it was not done yet. There was a finish waiting, there were people waiting – time to ultimately finish it off – time to also tick-off the last kilometres of Legends Trail 2023.

LT 2023 – The Bus. The Walk. The Paradise.

March 2023:
As a Legends Trail cool-down I decided to enter the flat 24h race in Sittard. A nice and boring course – no excuses at hand for any break. I secretly hoped for a PB (>166k; something in the range of 180k should be doable for I hope) but at the end there was still some tiredness in the body so the mind could not push and required some breaks. I DNFed with a 100 mi attempt – at least the minimum goal was achieved.

April-June 2023:
In April we seized the chance to test out the new hiking trail Venntrilogie, in May we met for a running weekend in Sauerland and finally the first Backyard of 2023 in June – the Biber Backyard Ultra. Tough track for a backyard and mind and body were not really ready that day so it ended early.

July 2023:
Summer. Usually a time unsuited for running. But it was time to collect another long distance and the Schinder Prison Break offered a new format for me and a new chance for some decent running. Even better: as it was an escape running event it involved a lot of planning of the best track on the computer before it even started. Something I really love. The event itself was a great journey. The first night I was alone with my backpack but then I was accompanied by a great crew. The greatest crew. Car support, running without backpack, meeting my friends. It made running in the heat much more comfortable (although it was still a real torture). 48h of escaping and 241k – it was a nice adventure.

Prison Break 2023 – without crew you can’t conquer the desert!

August 2023:
Another transition month – connecting two long events. The home event – the Monschau Marathon – offered a good chance to squeeze in a long run. I never ran the K70 distance before and with a midnight start in Aachen it nicely added up to a 100k training run.

September 2023:
Showtime again. This time further away from home and for the first time in the lovely Vosges region in France. 200k Infernal Trail des Vosges was a well organized event. A bit too big and too commercial compared to what I usually run but a great team and great supporters at start/finish and the various CPs. A midnight start with a burning Infernal logo, a really spicy track, over 10k D+ of elevation gain and a brutiful landscape. On top of this – again hot weather. A tough one – 50 hours of fighting and it was done. It was satisfying to see that these things are doable backed with the experience of the last years. All in all a great trip – thanks to Claudia for the support.

The Vosges@Infernal Trail des Vosges

October-December 2023:
The final period of the year. Plans were made and could not executed. As an alternative and to get another long run in I chose another hiking track which is fairly new on the map of NRW and in a region I’ve never been before. It was a nice run on the Hohe Mark Steig but also pretty lonely and tough in a most of the time empty stretch of land.

In total 5×100 mi+ runs in 2023 – 2 less compared to 2022. Around 3800 km in 2023 – also less km compared to 2022. 72k of D+ in 2023 in total. A difficult year in many aspects but a year with great moments while running and some rare shared moments with good friends.

DateTime[km]#
Legends Trail 202317.02.202366h 56m275,0031
24h Sittard 202318.03.202324h 0m163,0032
Schinder Prison Break 48h 202307.07.202348h 0m241,5933
Infernal Trail des Vosges 202307.09.202350h 14m215,8034
Hohe Mark Steig 202301.11.202328h 36m161,0035
Sum1262h 29m6.676
Average36h 4m190,75
Updated List of Ultras – +5 in 2023
Statshunter as of December 2023 #tilehunter

The picture of the year can only be the one below – curious what 2024 may bring?!

Hydration while running – so important!