Strong Viking Trail 2019, Niederlande

“Strong Viking Trail” also and better known as “Emergency Run” because we all were ill. I had headache, throat and earache in advance and I have surrendered several times. Yes, I know: I had promised myself to better take care about myself and hear to my body. Normal, this had to mean I had to stay in bed. But I had such a big desire to run. And I would not be disappointed.

Four more or less healthy runners met in Wanroij, Niederlande. Two of them were going to run the marathon and two of them a half. The long distant started an hour before the short and because of construction sites and road closures it was at the end very stressful. There were only a view minutes left to the start. But everything gone well. I had registered for the half-marathon.

The trail was nice. Even if it was more a forest run and totally flat. We had parts to run over sand, and we ran past some animals. The weather was good to run, but the wind : Wind gusts with 70km / h were no rarity. I almost needed an anchor not to fly away.

We required a bit less than 1:50 hours, and we were surprised as we saw one of the marathon guys. Could this be possible? Sure, he started before us but…. No, he aborted his track. He did not finish the run. Everything was fine! It’s better to not finish as to suffer worse health consequences! He did it right!  It was a great new event format and we all will be back next year!