We planned on arriving at the ring at about 10 am (for a run at 12:00) but somehow, it did not work out that way. Between the monster traffic jam and the parking chaos (which was a freaking surprise given the dozen of thousands of spectators that show up there every weekend), we entered the ring only 20 min before the start. Getting lost a couple times searching for the drop bag area, finding the correct line to drop our stuff and actually dropping it would have taken us enough time to miss the start by about 30 minutes… if they hadn’t pushed it by that much due to the fog. Short before 12:30, we finally made it to the start area, right before the first runners were sent off on their way. 10 minutes after the first runners crossed the line, we finally were off.

The first couple kilometers running along the race tracks or on some gravel were pretty easy. We merely ran along, stretching our legs while looking at the nice costumes, joking with other runners and try staying the four of us together, not losing anyone.

When we reached the first aid station, the chaos started. Just try to picture nine thousand runners converging toward a 2m wide door and then go down a 2m wide extremely-muddy-slippery-slope. We were blocked at that gate for about 30min and then at the slope for another 15. The ambiance was very funny there, most of the runners were taking it very easy, or should I say the other “animals”? Since nobody could reach the aid station, the guys there started throwing cereal bars and bananas into the crowd, which was invariably welcome with a hugh roar… “animals”, I told you :]

After the gate, at the slippery slope, we were introduced to real fair play. We first realized that while we were waiting, a couple thousand runners that were behind us had cut through the bushes and thus avoided the jam, leaving us good last ( I really mean it, we were among the last runners of the 9 thousand – we had joked about the idea of starting back and slow to have the pleasure to pass a lot of people aferwards… that was forced on us then), looking at the first head-of-the-pack runners coming back for their second loop already. But the runners around us remained there nonetheless, playing fair play as it should be… wait all the runners? No, not all… some cheaters tried to go around the jam by climbing on the sides of the path… and were welcomed by a booing roar from 200 runners and shouting in rythm “pussy, pussy”… muhaha, I still smile when I recall their faces :]

After the slope came another really muddy section… slippery like hell… that’s where we saw a guy break his foot real bad. Concentrated on my footing, I was broken out of stance by the sight of a guy laying on his back in the mud with three guys around him shouting for the medics to hurry. One look at him and I knew what the problem was: his left foot was turned 90° left and his tibial bone was pushing his sock out. I exchanged a panicked look with Anton and decided to continue with ever increased caution.

After another narrow muddy section, we finally reached the first “real” obstacle called the “Swimalaya” - a couple haystacks separated with knee deep water - and were off onto a wide field where we could finally run for real. This field used to be covered in what looked like tall grass, but back then it was already a mix of grass & mud and soon to become a slippery muddy slope. We enjoyed a couple kilometers there, passing a lot of “runners”, trying to make it up for the time we had lost on all those cheaters, laughing at and joking with the other runners everytime somebody would slide and fall on his ass. We passed the second obstacle called the “Barbecue”, a small tunnel gulfed in smoke and bordered by buring woodstacks. After some more running, we reached the third obstacle called “Wallstreet”, a simple 3m high wooden wall before finally reaching the second real bottleneck: the “Black Widow”.

As you can see above, this obstacle was 4 or 5 trenches dug in the mud, covered with barriers laid flat so that you had to go down on all fours – if not crawl in some sections. The mud was really fluid and thus had an ultimate succion power, the runners trapped in there were barely moving one leg every couple seconds… and the trenches were 40m long. The tempo was so slow that the race officials started opening other routes on the sides without the barriers. That’s where we passed on the first loop.

The next section was a nasty one. Only made of mud, it was like making our way up a small hill. Some places were like mud ponds, some others were still dry. Uphill sliding sections succeeded to flat sticky ones. We mostly hiked that one, keeping our strength for the next section to come. That one was a steep uphill on asphalte (covered in mud of course) and at the very top of the hill was the next obstacle, the “Calves Killer”, were a few straw barriers on which you had to jump. I must admit my calves are trained enough now so I did not notive that one much… it was just enough to break my running flow and let my heart pump a little bit faster.

After that came the second aid station at which we did not stop either, and the best obstacle of the whole loop: the “Niagara Fall”… which picture below speaks for itself (yes that’s me in black and Anton in red). I assure you I would happily have done the slide twice and it’s with a smile that we ran toward the next obstacle.

After less than a kilometer, our smile disappeared when we saw that:

That monster hill, formerly made of grass but already transforming into a huge mud slide was litterally covered with people fighting their way up. Matthias an I managed to make our way on the side of it, where the grass was still a little bit present. But when we reached the top, our two fellow runners were nowhere to be seen. We waited for them for a few minutes watching a few hundred runners run by, but convinced they were ahead of us, we finally gave up… and never saw them again during the race.

Then came a short running section again – some asphalte that tasted like freaking candy to our legs and some gravel that did not – before we reached the seventh obstacle, the “Hay Yanks”. Those were two big walls made of straw blocks where one runner alone could barely make it up to the top. So we had to helped each other: you first help the guy in front of you, then you go up yourself and finally you help the guy behind you by yanking him from above. It was fun to see this camaraderie working out pretty well… with the usual assholes skipping the last yanking part and leaving you fighting with the block with only a push from behind.

Then came another running section before reaching the last part where the last 8 obstacles were concentrated. The first one was the “Panic Pool”. A large 2m-deep pool filled with icy-cold water that pushed the air out of your lungs and froze your balls off. Jumping in there was a real shock… I must say I was happy to leave that one behind me! But at least we were somehow clean again!

Then came the “Shiver party”, a small doorway filled with electric lines hanging from the frame and supposedly connected to some electrycity. I must unfortunately say that I did not feel anything… it must have been off when I reached it.

After that came the “Knee killer”, a totally “free” obstacle that had nothing interesting in it, just pain. It looked very much like the “Black widow”, 20m walking on your knees under some barriers but this time on gravel ; my knees still remember about that part.

Then was the “Dive Station”, a small pool of waist deep water (icy cold again), with a pillar laid across every 5m so that you have to go underwater for a bit. That was fun!

The thirteenth obstacle was the “Schlammassel” (as far as I can tell, it’s a German play-on-word between “Schlamm” = “Mud” and “Schlamassel” = “Dog Food”). This was simply a mud pit, most of the time it was ankle deep, but here and there a little bit deeper. I did not anticipate a change of  thickness when I jumped in there and landed doing a pure-style barrel-roll… as you can see on the picture below, the panic-pool cleaning effect was over (but that’s for the best for the spectators isn’t it?) ^^

The final obstacles were the “Pyramid of Pain” a giant hay stack built on top of containers, and the “Final Destination” which access was bared by a pool of old tires you had to walk onto. Those tires were really nasty. Some were hard, some totally flexible, some holding your weight, some litterally collapsing when you stepped on them, sending you belly first in this gum-sea.

Once you reached the top of the containers, you could enjoy the view (hum…) or cross some nets before reaching another tires & container section, the final obstacle of the loop.

When we reached the end of the first loop, there were already people finishing the race beside us. But we were off for another 10km.

The second loop had some pros&cons. This time the jams were almost all gone, but the mud had worsened. The mud sections were muddier, the grass sections were gone, replaced by some mud. Running there was a continuous controlled slide during which I embraced the ground a couple times and managed to puncture a nice hole in my shorts.

During that time, Björn and Anton were apparently having fun:

Nothing really interesting happened until the “Black Widow”. The first time we had to go around it, but since the jams were now gone, we jumped head first into the mud… and it was tough. The mud was sucking your knees in and not easily letting go. Each step was hard for the muscles and every other step was excruciating due to the lonely stones that were present in the mud (and which participated to leaving some hefty marks on our knees). But we made it anyway, even though we hiked the next uphill muddy sections like 99% of our co-runners.

Once at the top we skipped the aid station again (which was smelling so strong like oranges due to the people stepping on the peels covering the ground :] ). We were rejoicing at the idea of going down the waterslide again, but they had closed that one for whaterer reason :[ that was a real disappointment.

So we made it to the big hill again. This time it was either wait and go on the sides or go up in the middle right away… so we chose the middle… and boy that sucked up a lot of energy! I was constantly looking up, expecting somebody to slide down and topple us with him but it somehow went ok. The five fingers I was wearing were helping get a good grip I guess.

The rest of the race was a boring fight with myself, trying to make it to the cutoff (3h30 if you want to be a real “Strongman”) while preventing my quads from cramping (they were showing the first signs of cramps at km 16 or so). It was nice to have Matthias around for the last kilometers, we really paced each other and finished faster as I could have done it alone.

As you can see here above, mud all over my face, quads cramping, tired as hell but happy to be almost done. We finally made it exactly in 3:30:15 (just to realize that the cutoff had been raised due to the bad weather conditions) and we ranked 3715/16th from about 9200 runners! What an adventure…

(pictures: sportograf)

This easter bunny is really not reliable these days… two chocolate eggs were replaced by real ones on the way to us… I’m sure you can feel the weight of the lack of inspiration in that one…

Taking care of them is a daily routine. Everyday is ball game day. As a massage or exercise, those are perfect under my desk at work. The band is only for long run days or race days…

And with that evening, we’re finally through with the first season of Game of Thrones. This scene, probably one of the most important of the story made a very take for that evening, when the young recruits are about to say the words to become Men of the Night’s Watch: “Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to the Night’s Watch, for this night and all the nights to come. ”

Paying a visit to the doctor can also have some good parts. Like the one where you discover a new view of a part of the city you thought you knew… and manage to mess it up with some simili-HDR :]

Delaying the birthday party for some better days, we managed to land it exactly on the first day of summer. Waiting for our guests, lying in the garden, this picture came naturally…

With such a nice weather, we decided to join the family on the shores of the Constance lake. Most of the time, we just rested there,  enjoying the sun, the water and the mountains!

Spending some time with the family on the shores of the Constance Lake has become a constant ; and keeping the fire burning another. That place is magic… I quite couldn’t choose between the 3 pictures I had (2 and 3).

After 30 pictures, another door closes on a nice month of April spent looking for pictures (almost) everywhere!

—

This 2012 PADC is now over, with some mitigated feelings from my end. I clearly see two picture sets in my participation: the pictures I had a lot of fun taking, making up stuff or staying in front of the camera and composing something ; and the rest, the pictures I took “just in case I don’t have anything this evening” or worse the “fuck it’s already 11:45pm picture”.

Nevertheless, I took my camera out a lot, had a blast browsing through all the pictures of the other participants and discussing those with them.

Thanks Ghusse for organizing (you can find Ghusse’s report in french here)!

There were about a hundred runners on the starting line, a lot of them looking smokin’ fit and ready to race the hell out of each other, most of them coming from running clubs, and at 10:00 we were off.

The first 3km, we ran in the woods. The path was nice although a little bit too “gravely” for my taste. The weather was already warm and the shade very enjoyable… everything was up for a good start…

It took me only a few minutes to realize something was wrong. My legs were heavy, not turning as smoothly as usual. My calves were already complaining as if they already had 10km in and my tendons were after-the-run-like-tight. What did I expect? I guess a race cannot go well if you party until 3am the previous morning and head up to your run with an empty stomach… but it was a 30th Birthday party… I had to enjoy it til’ the end!

After letting Anton go, I concentrated on my form and rhythm for a while and finally managed to find my own peace. As I said, the first kilometers were on wood paths and gravel road, all in the shade of tall pine trees, barely going up. At that time, I had already settled with a group of runners, somewhere far back at the end of the pack. They were racing each other but I had already given up the competition part and was only running along, contemplating the woods.

After the woods came a long road section. I guess that was the biggest deception of that race. This stretch was long, straight… boring. That was not really what I had in mind when I thought of a trail run on a mountain (the “berg” part of “Moritzberg”). That’s on this section that I met a guy I would run with for the rest of the climb.

After this section came the steep part ; the fun part. Somehow, that’s when my legs started going better ; I guess that’s really what I trained for. The track narrowed, the gravel became earth, mud and roots and the path started changing direction every 10m, that’s what I call “trail running”. This part really gave me some wings. The narrower the path the happiest I became. My steps became little jumps landing right and left on the borders of the path. I really felt like I was running again and managed to pull away from the runners around me.

The very last kilometer on the road again… but at least it was really steep (steep enough to powerhike a part of it and thus win some precious meters again). After being passed by a couple dozens of runners during the race, I managed to pass 5 or 6 during that last steep stretch. I guess doing hill repeats in training paid off for that part.

Finally, the very last couple hundred meters were almost flat again and I managed to run those with all my heart, pushing a little harder and finding back my lightweight (in contrary to what the picture below shows… boy I have to ditch that belly) steps and finish in an honest 56:08 whereas Anton finished in a nice 48:59, only 2 weeks after his last race, the “Marathon de Paris”.

All in all, even though the race was nice and the organization was truely flawless, I must say I was a bit disappointed by the course, but only because I had a wrong expectations. I went running with B. a couple time on that hill and it would have been totally doable to design a 10km race going up and down on those small paths only, skipping the whole boring flat-road-part and getting to the heart of trail running only: elevation and tracks. As is, the course was more like a 10km run with 2km of technical trail in the middle… but that was fun nonetheless. Thanks Anton for the tip!

I didn’t take my phone with me for the race so here’s a approximate map I drew afterwards. Somehow, the website of the race says 363m+… I don’t know where those missing 100 are hidden. Nevertheless, I was running a sub 6min/km with all that elevation, which is not that bad for my current physical state.

With this, we’re off to Bonn on Friday for a half marathon with obstacles on Saturday… I’m looking forward to that one as well!

My very first run of the month was a gorgeous 15km trail run with 600m elevation gain in the Franconian Switzerland. A few very steep hills to prepare the beginning trail season. A few days later, I ran back from work again, trying out a new route which was not really a success. I guess I’ll have to try the West-Route via Fürth next.

Toward the end of the month, I did my first (wonderful) trail race (which full report you can find in a previous post here) and a couple long aerobic heart-rate-driven runs that confirmed that my running improved a little over the last few months. Trying to remain at 145bpm (my aerobic zone), I ran 5:30 to 5:45min/km where I was running 6:15min/km 6 months back.

All in all, it made for 103km and 1400m elevation gain.

May will start with a May 1st trail race called the “Moritzberglauf” (10km, 300m elevation gain), followed the weekend after by the “Fischerman’s Friend Strongmanrun” (20km, 30 obstacles) near Bonn. I must admit I’m pretty intimidated by both of them… we’ll see how well-beaten both races will leave me! The next race after that should be in June, either a half-marathon or even a full marathon depending on the next weeks…

The second day’s picture was taken really late, coming back from a 4-episodes-revival of Game of Thrones Season 1. Late that night, I set my camera on its tripod in the middle of the street and tried to get pictures of the passing traffic (which was quasi-in-existent)… until an ambulance stormed by…

After taking various pictures of objects around the house, I settled on myself for the last picture of the day, playing with various body parts, I settled on my eyes for a colorful shot.

After last week’s failure at baking some brioches, I re-tried the experiment with the recipe Franziska left on the second week’s article. Ghusse tried it as well, it really tasted fantastic! Thanks Franziska!

The 19th will remain a memorable birthday evening spent in good company, two dear friends… and two good bottles (and I don’t mean the bottles when I talk about the friends)… gorgeous evening!

That evening, I received a poster I had ordered a while back, right after it was linked on twitter by a dear friend of mine! That’s a manifesto I’d like to live on, here’s the original.

I’had been asking myself if driving 200km for a short trail run was worth it. I guess the scenery answers for itself… what a day! The mountains are not that far after all…

The drive was a no brainer. Almost no traffic, small mountains slowly growing as time passes… I finally arrived – a bit early – got the administrative stuff over with and headed to the abbey for a quick visit. When I came back, the parking lot was getting busier with lots of professional-looking runners getting prepared, jogging around in their bright colorful Salomon shoes (which I had never seen in such a high concentration before… it looks like every other runner was wearing some).

I wandered around for a while trying to guess who would be running the beginner’s distance (like me) and who would run the expert’s one. A lot of people looked damn professional, wearing top class gear over thin muscular bodies. I figured those were the experts. Half an hour before the start, I decided to go for a jog to get all warmed up and burn some time.

The staring contest continued at the starting line, going this time in my direction as well ; specially toward my feet. Unlike at the Wolfsman run last september, I was the only one wearing 5Fingers (that I could see) this time… and some people could not really believe I was going to run with those. I answered that it was my first trail, I was running the beginner’s just to check that kind of things, if it is really possible to run with those. I chose to run with my Spyridons, my latest 5Fingers acquisition, specially made for trail running.

The single start happened at about 10:15 on a small gravel road, both experts and beginners together. After something like 500m, the trail split in two, experts to the right and beginners to the left (that’s somehow where the picture below was taken). Unfortunately I had positioned myself quite far back so due to the slow starting pace, I lost sight of the head group in less than a kilometer.

But I was feeling strong, my legs were good, so I started the chase, estimating I had about 40 to 50 runners in front of me. I pretty much went rabbit hunting, chasing pack of runners at first, passing them running in the fields on the side of the path, then chasing individual runners one after the other and being sure to pass them “strong” each time (just to be sure to hurt their feelings hin hin hin).

(Picture source: Andechs Trail Facebook page)

The gravel went on until about the 2nd km where we entered in the forest. The path was covered with roots, from muddy to “swampy” in some parts. Running straight was not a problem, the 5Fingers grip was way enough. I rejoiced in running straight in the water ponds and get my feet wet. The sharp curves were a bit harder to negotiate, I always took them pretty “defensively”, making big turns and hopping from one side of the path to the other in search of herbs or leaves to get more grip on. But as far as I could see the other runners were having as much fun little trouble.

Wondering how many people were really in front of me, I just pushed as hard as I could. At about km3 or 4 we came out of the woods and I could see the path making a sharp turn left in the open field. There I counted 9 runners in front of me, 8 of which I still managed to pass before the end.

We made our way to some high ground where an aid station was waiting for us. I flew through it without stopping, just smiling when I heard some spectators commenting my footwear with some kind of “look, he’s doing it in barefoot shoes!!!”.

The next kilometers were really enjoyable. Back in the woods, the roots-hopping and mud sliding went on again. This time I was not able to pass a lot of runners, 2 or 3 at most. The track was going up and down all the time and those runners were running strong as well. My lungs were burning and I started looking ahead in the clearings for signs of the Abbey.

At some point around km 6.5, a biker came blazing in my back shouting that the head of the expert race was coming, short before 4 Salomon’s team runners almost flew by like the trail was nothing to them. Since I was close to km7, I thought they were closing on km 14 and wondered if those guys could really be running twice as fast as I was. This doubt haunted me for a while, until I finally saw the 7km mark of the beginner’s trail, short after the 9km mark of the expert’s one… I must admit I instantly felt better :]

Right after that we reached a tricky section, pretty steep and quite slippery ; the only section where I envied the guys running with heavyweight shoes. In order to remain on the forefoot part of my feet I had to increase my legs turnover and prevent from breaking with my quads. I used the trees around to try and control my speed while still paying a lot of attention to my foot placement while my fellow runners were hammering that section down… I landed on my heels on a couple steps and that’s pretty much the only remaining pain my body is complaining about 24hours later >_<

With 1km left on the beginners trail (the expert’s one going back in the woods for some extra ups and downs), I finally caught up with the runner that finished just before me and attacked the last ascend, 50m altitude gain over less than a kilometer, most of it being the last 200m of the race.

I ran most of it, power-hiking the last part, exactly where the photographer had placed himself ; the nastiest spot possible. During that last hike, heart pounding in my throat, that fellow runner managed to get away and finish 10 seconds before me. Like the look on my face is hinting, I gave a final chase at that guy during the last meters, but could not catch up.

(Picture source: Andechs Trail Facebook page)

The finish-line organization was great. Lots of refreshments, oranges and bananas. Also some beer but I did not feel like it before the next 200km drive.

The final results says 41:46 for 8km with ~100m of altitude difference. All in all I finished 19th from about 70 runners, 13th in the senior category. Not too bad for my first official trail run.

On the footwear front, the Spyridon behaved really well. The grip is really good, the simili-rockplate under the arch really helped reduce the beating on my feet while not hindering the flexibility and minimalist-footwear feelings. While my left foot ended up in perfect shape, the right one gathered a pretty big blister on the side of the arch, almost where the strap joins the shoe. I did not identify what could have caused it yet, I’ll have to look into this before the next weekend (next run) and maybe tape it.

First of all, that guy proved himself to be a good suspect… but in the end his lawyer convinced the police that he did not look like he could have moved a week ago… and that got him discharged…

Then came easter… and as always it ended up molten in chocolate. As you can imagine, I did not run that day :]

Having not run a kilometer in 4 days, I releaved the pressure by wondering where I could go run next weekend. In the end, I will probably run on one of the 4 or 5 trails I know best (furthermore since the weather will not be nice). I keep on looking on to hiking maps for some hidden paths not too far from home, where the elevation would look funny and the paths would keep away from roads and civilization.

Wednesday was Game of thrones day! Now that the BlueRay of the first season is out, we though we’d meet all together to watch it again before jumping on the second season. I hoped for 4 episodes… we achieved 2… season 2 will have to wait a tad longer…

I titles this one “if my office had a security cam…”. I took it that morning, when I was browsing through the previous’s day code changes. After a couple “crunch days” at work, I started realizing that what we were/had been doing was not going to hold the line. We were tired, discovering that we dropped the ball big time in our estimates and would not be able to complete the sprint.

So that’s a lesson I already knew and I learned again: when you’re tired, your back against the wall, facing some difficult problem to solve, back off, take a break and come back on it later, fresh and with a different state of mind.

For the 13th picture, I wanted to show you this prototype version of the iPad6 and his crazy xRay function… incredible what you can do with an iPad right? :]

For the final picture of the week, I tried to go back to my french heritage and bake something like “pain-brioché”… but it was an epic fail. The yeast did not produce any gaz, the whole thing remained flat and compact. I’ll change the type of the yeast next time (’cause there will be a next time) and let you know!

That was week2!

It all started on the trails by a beautiful sunny day. I ran for a couple hours up and down hills. Toward the end, I finally ran on that wonderful track. The runner’s high (or the runner’s fatigue) made it look even more stunning that it is down here…

Day2 was not so funky. Too long at work, too long in front of a computer… I had to end up not looking straight. So I decided to revive an old idea that I already explored during the previous PADCs (1 and 2)…

The third day was a run day. And the idea came to me after my shower when I saw the footprint I left on the ground. This picture started a series on the topic: “who the fuck is that monster that left this print on my floor?”

Fourth day, lack of inspiration, the monster hunt went on… but apparently that’s not that guy, he has two feet!

On the fifth day, running away from the girls watching girly stuff on TV, I had that idea. It did not turn out exactly how I planned it, but I like the result very much.

Warmed up by the previous day, I wanted to explore the post-prod composition again for day6! I revived an old idea and the result turned out very nice.

With my family coming from France and running around in Bavaria with us for Day7, I had a few landscape pictures to offer… but I chose to immortalize my father enjoying his (first) new hat. Damn it looks good on him!

Here you are, that was the first week! Hope you enjoyed it.

I enjoyed some impressive trails in Turkey, did some decent hill repeats around Nürnberg and concentrated a lot on my form ; which is still giving me a lot to think about. Running with the 5 fingers is becoming less and less of a problem. I can now run some sustainable 10-15km every other day without experiencing much of the shin, foot or PT band issues I felt in the past * knocking on wood *.

On the other hand, I used the warmer weather to start running with the Lunas again… and those are still giving me some headaches. I ran thrice 10km and got some blisters each time. Somehow I have the feeling that my feet are rubbing in/on the sandals and that this is the source of the blisters. On the other hand, I still cannot run 10k barefoot so it could be that inherently my form is causing this rubbing and thus the blisters… damn I’ll need to get to the core of this.

April will bring the first race of the season and my first official trail run, the beginner race of the Andechs Trail a simple 8km / 100m climb race, before (maybe) the MoritzBergLauf 10 km / 300m climb on may 1st.

All that said, the sun is shining and I have a few hours ahead of me so off I go on the trails!

First evening, I ran up the hill to see the sunset from up there. And took the Lx3 with me (and thus the nice pictures :] ). The path started nice and smooth, some kind of road that came from nowhere (I honestly did not find any entrance that a car or buggy could drive on) and lead to nowhere with some dead paths suddently stopping. It first took me all around the mountain and at some point, exactly 180° from my starting point it finally went straight up, still nice and smooth.

But the last 50 meters climb were not so nice anymore. The trail completely vanished, bushes and dead wood appeared, just for the sake of scratching my legs and the stones became rolling and treacherous… well it became “adventurous”. For the story, the day after, another wakeboarder looked at me during breakfast and asked me something like “Did you go up that hill?”. I answered positively and when I asked him why, he made a big smile and simply showed me his legs… which looked very much like mines (10 days after, the scars are still there… that reminds me very much of my Scout summer camps).

When I reached the top, the sun was coming down… and it was gorgeous. I guess I was on my runner’s high, enjoying the moment and not caring about anything else.

The thing is, I did not expect to be on my way for so long so I had neither water nor my flashlight. So once I came out of the zone and realized I had only 30 minutes of decent daylight (it had taken me about an hour to get up there), I started looking for an alternative route down. That’s when I spotted a path going almost straight down to the lakes… I just had to go though 50m of scratchy bushes first.

So I closed my sensory receptors and ran in there, reached the path and rolled down the hill… until the path came to an end that looked very much like the picture here under. Hum. Doh. By the time I reached this point, I already had burned 15 minutes and could already see my target (the lake that looks like an inverted “U” on the picture). I was not going back up.

So there started the really painful part. Armed with two woodsticks, I tried to get the spiky stuff (the yellow and green bushes) out of the way while making a new path down the slope, searching for some rocks to climb on whenever possible. I had to backtrack a couple times, but I was playing against time now. I finally came out of the bushes following some kind of little river where the vegetation was not so harsh… but this took me in the opposite direction I should have gone to. The final part was 2.5km on a dirt road, going by some houses guarded by nasty dogs barking like crazy.

I finally reached the wakeboard spot as my friends started wondering if they should call somebody… it was pitch black… but I was home.

During the run, I spotted a few other mountains though… and my mind could not help but wander on those as I was recovering. A couple days after, I left out even earlier, with two half litter bottles in hand and my flashlight, leaving the Lx3 behind.

This time, I promised myself to keep to the tracks as I wanted to make pretty long round trip on the surrounding mountains ; this is how it turned out:

2h30, 18km, 500m climb while enjoying some gorgeous scenery! This time I only had the iPhone with me so the pictures are a tad less funky… but charming none the less. One thing I realized: I still have no freaking idea how to run downhill with my minimalistic style. I cannot hammer down, and when I try to really be careful I feel I’m hurting myself more than anything else. I really need to look into this.

I did one last run before leaving (1h40, 12km, 300m climb), but as I was out of stuff to eat, I kind of “bunked” in the middle and felt like I’d have to crawl back home… that was not nice to see.

All in all, that was the hell of a week in turkey. Destroying my upper body muscles during those wakeboard rounds and getting my legs tired on the trails! One is sure: I love trail running!