OCR... more than running

 I need a good OCR and I wish this pandemic ended better today than tomorrow.

BTW: This is a real photo of the day! In the forest near my home, where I run regularly, we have many animals like eg deer.

One more time an event was only a virtual event. I would like to run with and against other people. I can’t tell you who much I hate this pandemic! Based on an obstacle course, the challenge today was to interrupt the run twice and do a series of exercises

We started a new challenge: Catch the medal! Strong Viking changed its system. Until now your collected points got lost every year. Not anymore! The medal (the first one) is parted into 4 pieces and regardless of your runs you will get one part after one. At the end it will be the viking ax and an honor to have it! But no one could know what the year 2020 will bring to our lives.       ...

Once again a new run - once again a new format. The Gladiator Run is a run in Vossem, Belgium near Brussels. We didn’t know it before, didn’t know if it was a single run or series of events. At the trip we were a bit nervous because we didn’t know if it will be a good event. How strong are the obstacles? It takes a lot of experience to organize such an event well. There are many more aspects than only the obstacles and some running events fail already with the rudimentary details like toilets or check in. But we were satisfied and more than that! It becomes a very great event! Well-prepared and organized, well done running course and great obstacles! It was November and it was cold outside. But for there was a heated tent - wonderful! Not at least for waiting before the race. It was more important to get warm again after the race and not cooling down in the wet clothes. Well done! As so often I was laughed at the start by my colleagues! But after 5 minutes (as so regul...

         

 Everyone said “You must be crazy!” while they were shaking her heads. But this wasn’t new for me and, yes, I have to admit, I’m crazy! For this Xletix I had to cross the country. The event was 600km far away from my home. Sorry Greta, I know it’s not very eco-friendly, but I had already heard a lot about this event and only very good things! And so I had to go there! Okay, I only have participated at 3 Xletix but on many, many other OCRs. And so I think that I can quite allow myself a judgment. The Xletix in Grömitz are one of the top ten event I have participated! But it was sure one of the harder runs too! The sand was an obstacle in itself. Not the whole track but enough of it we were running at the beach. The scenery was extremely beautiful: The sea, the beach, the sun …. Very nice to look at! I started at 9:20 with the first wave. Not at least because I had to drove home at the same day. We started with the obligatory warm-up. After that we started the track. I ha...

  Some weekends are more exhausting than others. So was this weekend: On Saturday we ran the Xletix in Wuppertal and on Sunday we were at the Stolrun-OCR. It’s a small local run but not less funny! Unfortunately, I have to say that you have to pay more and more for your photos. Last year the pictures could be downloaded for free. But this year they have to be paid and with 5€ per picture they are not cheap. I’m thinking they might be included in the start price but for commercial reason they are not :-(  But let’s not spoil the mood: I’m there to run and for fun not for the pictures. It was a very funny run and, different than expected, my  legs carried me as if I had not run yesterday.

 Sometimes you have to do it a second time, if the first wasn’t great enough!  Looking back, the first Xletix in 2016 were not good! The location (a public park) wasn’t good enough for OCR. At that time we had decided not to come back. But they looked for a new location, and so we got back! Back to Xletix and it was fantastic! You can see me at 00:47. I’m the guy with the flag! ...

It was a Sunday during my holidays. A little run took my attention. Nearby my home in Belgium is a village named Walhorn. I like to try new OCR formats and new things. So it wasn’t a question: I registered and took part! After 10 minutes warm up, we started the 10km long track. More precisely I started at this distance. It’s up to every single runner to choose his own distance out of 5km, 7,5km and 10km and it was also possible to choose it during the run. It’s a nice feature for all who didn’t know who long they could run and a good feature for OCR newbies. Let me say it was (and I don’t say this is a bad idea) more a trail run with obstacles. The track was very funny to run. Very varied underground - absolutely my favorite! The Obstacles were more or less all at the event area. Think positive: At this way the runners have the most possible viewers at the obstacles and the viewers will have the best view at all “important” parts. But on the other hand (for some not so s...