OCR... more than running

Sometimes you need to leave your own comfort zone and test yourself. Why did we run only one ToughMudder per day in the past? Good question! So we decided to run a second round of the 18km, full distant ToughMudder in north Germany. Sound crazy? Is crazy! And, because of two reasons, we decided to take the half Mudder finish line: At first we wanted to have the white headband. And at second, my wife teased me even with here white headband and told me that I will never get this one. Early in the morning we were at the Muddervillage, the base area of the event, and we needed a coffee. We knew it will be a hard day. But we wanted it. We needed it. And we decided our self for it. We never felt so lucky as at the moment we arrived to the finish the second time. It was great but hart. If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you!

 Also in July 2017 met again a few runners from my club  to participate in the 7th Aachen Night Run: Sascha, Jörg and me. Additionally, some other friends of mine take part at this race. I had decided at very short notice to participate in the night race this year. Although this run had already reached my attention, however, for 10km a starting fee of over 30€ did not seem appropriate. Shortly before the race I was (let’s say) subsidized by a runner colleague, which gave me the opportunity to get a starting place for a much smaller amount. In addition to the (for me) overpriced entry fee you can say about the organization not a lot of negative: Registration, start number issue, supporting program, food … all very good. And so we were in a good mood: Highly motivated and - as always - well-prepared, we started at 9:15 pm. Mussa (a local “highspeed-runner”) wished us a lot of fun and - of course - he was gone … The track: If you take a look at the plan and run the tr...

I’m a caveman. Sometimes I feel like that. I love to make a fire in my garden. I like the smell of fire and looking into the stars. Okay, that has nothing to do with the Caveman OCR. The Name of these OCR is given by the Cauberg caves in Valkenburg and the fact that a part of the trail goes through them. In total, you run around 1,5km in the underground. It’s special. I don’t know any other OCR with an “obstacle” like this. It’s more a highlight than an obstacle. The caves are illuminated with lights and videos projections. It’s cool! The complete run is around a little mountain. From the bottom to the top of it. So you can imagine it’s not a flat trail. There are some altitude to overcome. You have to handle it! All over the trail are many water obstacles. Some natural (a river) some artificially constructed. But all of them are very wet ;-) There are other e.g. climbing obstacles. But if you don’t want to get wet try another OCR. This time we were two. A girl from my ru...

Again on the way with some mates of the “LustLauf”. This time we were 12 pleasure runners, and we rocked the Kitzenhauslauf in hot summer conditions. The run is sponsored by the club every year and it becomes more and more popularity for all Lustlauf runners. It is necessary to show all other (local) runners and sport friends the cohesion of the club. We act together as a group and, for example, we picked up not every single start number rather than all together. “Let’s go to the start line!” With a little delay we all started for the beautiful, but very selective route. The trail was a single up and down. At the end I couldn’t remember only one straight trail part. But apart from me and Mareike, all arrived nearly together to the finish. Mareike and me - we were like young horses. We couldn’t control our energy, and we had to run, run, run. So we got a bit quicker to the finish. But who cares? We are a club, a group….we are friends! Again a very nice and funny day! Thanks...

 On the way with some of my “ Lustlauf ” -mates  

At the MudMatsers I learned to pay more attention to my own needs and take better care of myself. At the Fischerman’s Friend StrongmaRun 2017 I took me self out of the race. The Race was on a Saturday. During the week before I was ill. I couldn’t eat enough and I often had to vomit. But on Friday everything was fine again, I thought. And so I decided to start at the run. I quickly felt, that this wasn’t a good choice and I stopped the race for me - I felt like a poor boy looking at the other sport mans. This isn’t o nice story of an OCR but that’s life. The next OCR will come! Two weeks later we booked the Fisherman’s Friend StrongmanRun for 2018