OCR... more than running

 Your ToughMudder state: Important and unimportant at the same time! I told it often - often as i can: For me it’s not a competition. I don’t run for any placement. And i don’t’ run to win! The only reason for me to run is me! Running give me even more. At first, it’s fun! It helps me to relax and blow my head free. Any trouble is away after a good run. I try to think on nothing else then to breath. Music helps me often but not every day. And you should not forget: running and sports in general keeps you fit and healthy. But it’s cool to know you place. It’s cool to remember at your successes. And it’s cool if you know the other knows your place and your successes too. In ToughMudder languages it’s called headband or legionnaire. At every full ToughMudder you get an orange headband and except the total first one you get a second one. Before your first ToughMudder you are a virgin and after you are a legionnaire. The second headband show in different colors and color combinat...

 Where no gain, there is no pain! At the last ToughMudder we decided to run a second round. It was hard but fun! And we wanted more! We wanted to expand the adventure. A weekend - not only a day! This time we wanted to camp at the event. We planed to be there from Friday til Sunday. And we wanted to kill each other with sport. If you once started with sports, if you're once infected, there is only one direction: Forward to more! You start with one race per year. But already in the next year you want one race per month. Now we are here: We booked two tickets: One for Saturday and one for Sunday! And we planned to run two laps on Saturday and a third on Sunday. We thought we arrived in the OCR-family. Not yet! Not yet, if you only run! You need to be there for the evening camping-party! Until then, it is like a distant relative. You know how he look, but you don’t know who he feels. But like in all families, some relatives don’t know an end. We get to know much nice peopl...

Raeren - one of the nine municipalities of the German-speaking Community of Belgium and at the same time a border town near Aachen with about 11,000 inhabitants, of which about 50% are non-Belgians. So much for the location …. I was promised a very nice landscape run in and around the village of Raeren. But was the promise kept? Funfair in Raeren is also RaeRun time! A Track with potential to be an asshole! The Raerun started unspectacular, if at the same time also funny. Where is the start and finish area in the middle of a funfair surrounded by a roller coaster and bumper cars. A sensible symbiosis: evening party and during the day sport. The empty marquee was summarily used for registration, food and award ceremony - Top thought! We first ran on the streets of Raeren but already after less than 2 kilometers to swap the road for a cow pasture. I myself (you know it) come from the Trail and/or OCRun and I like trail running - that is, beyond the road and way - very much....

 

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...