The main event of this year is over – looking back with a happy and a nostalgic eye.
Date: 15 June 2019
Distance: 64 km
Elev. gain: 3000 m
Goal: 8h30
Finish: 9h10 (basically goal w/o the breaks :-P)
Rank: 120 / 1200
Shoes: Altra Lone Peak 4.0
Before the race
We travelled to Germany on Thursday morning before race day (Saturday), giving enough time to settle in to our airbnb in the city of Garmisch.
A first moment of shock happened on our way to Garmisch, when we stopped for lunch along the Autobahn, which caused some 30 minutes of scare and fear: As any layman knows, one has to stay well hydrated on days before such an event, even more during summer. In avoidance of search for a rest room I used the ‘big public’ one, just to notice 5 minutes later that I was being attacked by ticks and other insects during my step into the bushes. I was able to remove two ticks right away, however, one tricky tick left something (not its head) well stuck in my right lower leg! An infection two days before the run wouldn’t be so much fun. All right, get this guy some pure alcohol, tweezers, and a needle. It took me almost 30 minutes to get out whatever this little beast had left inside; nevertheless, no infection, no pain but a cut that’s still visible after two weeks.
Nevertheless, Thursday evening then welcomed us with a beautiful view from our terrance on the Wettersteig mountains, and thus, a big part of the race course.
Friday morning was then dedicated to a 30min recovery run including a bit of race track inspection and enjoying the amazing scenery of the Wetterstein mountains and their surroundings (Ferchensee). The weather was perfect, blue sky and 30 centigrade during the day.
However, the weather forecast and snow conditions on the planned track required some major changes from the race directors:
Because of heavy storms expected for the race day afternoon, the two longer race distances (80km and 100km) got cancelled and all runners would start on my race distance of 64km. Starting time was also advanced by 2h to 8am 
in order to be as far as possible ahead of the storm. All this meant more traffic on the course.
Friday afternoon was then dedicated to the collection of my race pack and the pasta party with obligatory race briefing, which became even more important because of the forecast weather conditions.
The following night was short and my alarm got off just before 5am because we had to reach the start location by a 35min car drive (start was in Leutasch, Austria, while finish was in Grainau, Germany). Nevermind, I was up already with my head wrapped around the final preparations for the last hours.
The race
Due to the increased number of runners, two starting waves were organised at 8am and 8.15am. I made my way into the first wave after the obligatory equipment check (not too thorough indeed, but with special attention on water supply, warm clothing, headlamp, and labeling of all personal food – leave no trace!).
After a last briefing (some parts of the course had been modified because of the still present snow) the gun went off exactly at 8am. Weather was sunny with around 20 centigrade at 900m altitude, perfect.
After only 3km the first climb came like a wall, leading uphill for 5km with 18% grade average (= 900m climb), 1h of fast hiking, not much running, but stunning views, and some snow sliding on fields on the downhill part.
The next 5km downhill were good fun, through a mixture of trails, mud, and snow including cow pat. I stored my poles away, just to realise that my backpack now smelled to cow poop and nature.
The lower we got, the more crowded became the side of the track with spectators and cheering crowds, amazing. It also was all of a sudden warm and humid again.
Then, first check point, don’t loose much time, fill bottles, take some sips (and a bit of baby shark??!! wtf) and continue, 15k of flat part ahead, and 30k until the next big climb.
Now was the time to gain some easy kilometers and to push down the pace. (In fact, I was able to advance on this part more than 30min on my target time, however, lost them again spectacularly on the last part 😬).
Second check point, same procedure, and third check point at the Ferchensee only 6km later, where my family was waiting. Great motivational push halfway through the race!
This motivation was strongly needed, because now it got a bit more tough.
15k of quite hilly terrain with several climbs and drops (around 700m each), in quite low altitude during the afternoon, meaning it got warm and sweaty. Although scenically beautiful, tiredness now set in a little and everyone was just reaching for the next check point (#4), after which the last big climb should start.
My legs were okay, quite a good pace on flat parts and good hiking on uphills, but the downhills took their toll already. A 350m drop before reaching check point #4 wasn’t anymore as rapid as it could be, but I was not the only one (little Race Anecdote):
Runner 1 (R1): Me
Runner 2 (R2): Runner behind me
Runner 3 (R3): Runner behind runner 2
R2 to R3: “Go ahead and take over, I”m having problems.”
R3 to R2: “No worries, I feel good here.”
R2 to R3: “But then no complains about timing please!”
R3 to R2: “Yeah, I’ll tell the story of this slow dude in front of me”
R2 to R3: “Yes yes, everyone will know Tobias blocked everyone!”
R1 to R2&R3: “Nope, everyone will know Bernd blocked everyone!”
It wasn’t that bad after all, still below a 6 min/km pace on this part.
But the next check point (#4) took 10min off my time, giving a short rest to my legs and re-applying some more sunscreen before setting off towards the last big climb of 1000m elevation gain with a 15% average grade (7km). Two more checkpoints would come on this last part.
I reached checkpoint #5 after 1.5h, it got now cloudy and coldish but they had salty hot soup! What a delight after tens of gels, power drinks and sticky bars! So I grab my soup and sit down in a deck chair, wondering if I’ll ever get up again. But so I did after 5 minutes of rest. The last 300m of uphill were calling.
Once up there, it was a simple 8km long drop of 1300m and a total of 10k to the finish. I had around 1h left to make a sub9h time, i.e. a 6min pace for the last part – easy peasy one may think! But not after all that downhill that was already in my legs – Brussels is simply not made for mountain training. Parts of this downhill were pretty technical, my quads were exploding, and I had to partially walk this beautiful trail.
It.did.not.end! Although you can see the valley coming closer…
But eventually one gets out of the forest and onto some concrete roads, made it into the city of Grainau, 2k left, time to enjoy the last part of this long day out. Plugged in some good music, sped up to a 4’30 pace (so the legs weren’t so bad after all), caught some other runners (which had caught me on the downhill) and full throttle into the finish.
20 minutes later the predicted storm hit with pouring rain, but not too long and nothing crazy. I was just happy having a warm shower instead.
The final and most important thanks go to my little support crew and family! Not did they only endure and help with the month-long preparation, but also travelled with me, came to the course to cheer me up and waited for me at the finish line. What else can one wish for? Thank you Marinas, Jorge and Ian 😘.
FunRun song
Rammstein – Deutschland
Fun.Run.Dad 
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