Running Europe - Sponsored by Nature
Here by the sea, I dream of the mountains long cool, icy slopes in the orange dawn and the stiff whisper of the mountain beech. I love to seek out fast running streams stare at the passing
parade
Sit
and think
Of
nothing. (Mike Johnson - Beyond a Book Launch - Waiheke Library book presentation)
334,5 Kilometres and 18,543 metres of elevation, running through Europe.
Exploring Trails, Mountains and visiting Friends from Norway, over the Alps to Corsica. Some stories, some thoughts, some memories…some footsteps nothing more but nothing less!
When I was younger, I did a small adventure in the town I’m from - MTB’ing along one of my home rivers (Alster) from its source to where it enters in the Elbe and then into the sea - just
one day but it was a good day and even if it was just a small adventure it got a place in my memories.
On
that day, I crossed paths with runners of the Trans Europe run. Some runners who run all the way through Europe. The runners looked tired, suffering, not healthy and not happy. So, my run through
Europe should be different. It should be joyful and fun to run and explore Europe’s beauty.
We only miss what we don’t have. But sometimes isn't it to miss something, not just another word for desire, to dream of something? Something to look forward to not there yet? Something hasn’t
fallen into place at times, yet?
Before I went to Aotearoa 4 years ago after Rafting in Tyrol to goals were to go to Corsica and do the GR 20 as a Hiking guide for a Travel company - Wave Tours, which had the great concept of
giving enthusiastic travellers to work as guides in exchange for the trip, food and accommodation and make it at the same time affordable for the guests. I liked the concept and had guided one
tour in the Dolomites before that. The trip never happened and the Wave tours got insolvent shortly after. I had no ideas about the GR20, didn’t speak french and normally wanted to run it
anyways, so probably it was for the better and instead I did the ran the Tour du Mont Blanc, often rated as one of the most beautiful multi day trails in the centre of Europe around the highest
mountain and going through Switzerland, France and Italy and with the UTMB, once a year the centre for the best trail runners to compete.
(https://www.together-alone-tours.com/tour-du-mont-blanc-3-days-3-countries/)
I missed the UTMB championships to support and run some km with friends during the Transalpine Run - one of the best known Team Stage runs passing the Alps from North to South, from Germany to
Austria to Italy.
I
had friends who came all the way from Canada to run and explore the alps once in their life and they ended up in the documentary about the Transalpine run and why we run challenges like this:
“BEYOND THE DOUBT - Transalpine Run.”
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj6HFK844s0&t=1773s)
A great documentary about what it means to challenge yourself in a team by running.
I had four years to miss and dream about running in Europe again, including the last year of being on an island without mountains.
So
somehow a dream grew to run again, to run trails, to run in the mountains, to test my limits, to suffer, to run with friends, to find myself again on the trails moving just as far as my feet and
my mind would allow me to go!
I haven’t forgotten about the GR20 in Corsica, the hardest trail in Europe - 180km 12,000m of elevation and it takes on average around 2 weeks to walk it.
My running form wasn’t how it was in previous years playing in the mountains and the last long run was over 6 months ago, more walking than running 77km around Waiheke Island. Also, I wanted to
visit and see friends in other parts of Europe and see other trails and environments, so the “training project” Running Europe was born.
Triple Crown Norway: Preikestolen, Kjerag, Trolltunga - the most famous viewpoint hikes of Norway between 7km and 28km and some travelling between.
Berliner
Höhenweg: A 80km, 6000hm, hut to hut trail in the Zillertal Alps in the Alpine area of Austria.
GR20, Corsica: The “hardest” trail of Europe passing through the dry, hot mountains in the mediterranean sea island in the South of Europe.
Easy! It’s always good to have a plan! That was the plan…
Hamburg - Home
It started with running back on the trails of my childhood. Trails and roads I’ve been running hours and miles on. Trails I still know every step and corner. Trails that were normal to me. Trails
running them for the first time after 4 years again felt special and so good. Sometimes you have to go and miss to appreciate some soft trails through beautiful green beech forest. Maybe nothing
special if you run them every day but coming back and running trails all over the world. I have to say my home trails are a blessing and probably made my first love to trail running to be
easy.
It was good to cycle and run with friends. Running with Paul, Master Sport Science student, 2 times Hawaii Ironman finisher. The last time we trained together we did intensive hill interval
repeats and I remembered them as pretty hard and he got better and I slower, so I was a bit like let’s see how that works out. An easy 12km GA1 run chatting about life and seeing him moving a bit
away from road running and racing towards the trails.
Another
run who I’m very happy and grateful for was the run was Martin. Martin, teacher and family dad, busy with life, work, house and family. I think we ran a way longer than expected, when he ended up
doing a school excursion to Tyrol, where I somehow worked as a raft guide and adventure park instructor.
I
don't know how Martin is doing it, but he is definitely a running traveller in his heart. When I post a long Strava run through the mountains, it is Martin who asks for pictures. It is Martin,
who posts some of the best running pictures of Hamburg, who does Strava art running by running a Seagull, a shark or a pumpkin to Halloween to motivate himself to train for his goal. To run the
250 miles Thames ring Challenge not just as a challenge for himself but to raise awareness for Stella, his daughter, who died just after birth. Martin runs to bring awareness and raise money for
Kinderhospiz and Sternenbrücke Hamburg. Learn more about Martin and his run and if possible support him here:
Stella.runs.250
https://www.instagram.com/stella.runs.250/
Norway - Triple Crown
Impressed
and motivated by those runs with friends. I went off towards Norway. I took a night bus to Kopehagen, a long overdue haircut and a warm welcome from Van friends of NZ. Malmoe, Gothenburg,
sleepless night at the bus terminal, Oslo, hitchhike, camping in the rain in the middle of nowhere rest stop after 4 hours no luck hitchhike try, another rainy night in the middle of a small town
camping at a bus stop.
Rainy cold days, two big heavy backpacks, one on the bag, one in the front with winter sleeping, rain clothes, extra clothes, food, because Norway is expensive. Lightweight trail running
adventures dreams are far…far away.
The
first run isn’t one of the Triple Crown but the “Besseggen” in the Jotunheimen “Home of the Giants” NP is rated as one of the Top 20 hikes in National Geographic.
Normally
people take the ferry over the Gjendefjord to a start point or to finish but there is an option to save that and make the normally 15km ridgerun a bit further by adding a run along the fjord.
Another rainy night and bivy at the ferry terminal. The hostel was kind enough to store my packs in the morning and I went off into another grey day, hoping and trusting the weather forecast that
it won’t rain heavily till the afternoon. Rain in light, running clothes on a ridgeline, light gloves and freezing as soon as you stop - summer in Norway. Rain and storm would have pushed it to
quite close to a limit.
Did I mention how great it is to have friends. I knew and contacted my raft college in Vossewangen beforehand and carried AJ Rafting unicorn all the way with me (gift Raft unicorn talisman I once
got as a present from Nick) but it’s pretty cool if you walk along a road just to see a van to stop. And minutes later you got a beer in your hand and while cooking you talk about rivers and
rafting just to go rafting on a crystal clear norwegian river the next day.
“Much has changed, but not the firm belief that there will always be sporty people who will enjoy the fresh outdoor life.” (Vossewangen)
During my travels in Norway I got one single blue sky sunny day! It was the one day I ran the Trolltunga hike. It was the one day I needed to make it a good trail adventure, to make peace with
Norway, to remind me about the beauty of trails and nature. I started early and already passed a lot of hikers and that was good. I made it to the Trolltunga viewpoint and took a picture with the
few people who have camped up there. Then I went a bit further, just because I had seen on a map that there was a infamous Preikestolen a bit further and off the beaten track. While the trails
towards Trolltunga were crowded, they were almost empty directly after the viewpoint. It was on those trails I saw a wild snow chicken, the only animal I saw on the trail apart from dogs. When I
made it back, there was a quite long line to take a picture on the Trolltunga. I ended up meeting a Phd student doing a study about Social media influence on visiting places.
“Why do people hike to places like Trolltunga? Is it just for the picture? Just because you have seen it somewhere? Just to see the place yourself? Or to be part of the picture yourself? To be
cool? Are you annoyed by all the people? Will you post the pictures? Is it good that it takes people out? Why do you go?”
Questions I get asked and ask myself from time to time?
The
trail was beautiful and it was fun! The infrastructure and all the people made the trail accessible and safer. It made it easy to get a hitchhike. But it also comes with rules and costs. No
camping, high parking fees, a bit of trash here and there.
Starvanger - rain again. I slept in the middle of the city in a harbour tube to stay dry and had to ask myself why do I want to visit, see and run Preikestolen and Kjerag?
For
my project? Because I promised it myself? For training? For Social Media? Just so I have been there?
It was cold and rainy. Travelling was expensive and quite lonely? I have been on a hike to Preikestolen with my dad years ago after I finished school, so I had some fantastic memories of that
hike already!
I went home.
Memories
of one great, sunny trail run out of the three planned Triple Crown hikes. One other trail run. Rafting and catch up with friends were the highlights out of otherwise cold, rainy, lonely travels
and finding this little quote in a calendar book about the beauty of Norway’s nature reminding us of the small things we might look for:
“Beyond the grey continent of our ordinary days; There, sometimes, you meet your own heart like someone you’ve never known.” (Hans Borli)
One of the most inspiring trail runners and a role models is Kilian Jornet. Not just because of his extraordinary records but also for his voice for the environment.
The
best trail runner created a brand of shoes to make the sport shoe running a little bit more sustainable. More about it:
https://youtu.be/XOmCLl1z7c0?si=GFaaR-FfKOzfOY82
The NNormal Kjerag was probably one of the only running shoes I bought new and not second hand in the last five years and it isn’t cheap. I tried to get sponsored for my Running Europe project
and to become an ambassador not just to get good shoes but to be part and be a voice for Kilians and NNormals project - Your Path, No Trace.
I
ran the Kjerag on almost all of the trails and I like their simple design and how light they are and the vibram sole gave them a fantastic grip on all surfaces, no wonder they lost a bit of their
grip during the dry, rocky part of the GR20. NNormal offers a repair service and I’m excited about it. Anyways, I think it’s a cool project of an enthusiastic team around some of the best and
most passionate runners, so maybe instead of buying another pair of the typical big brands try something different - just my approach of always try something new and support small business with
new ideas and idealism even if it cost sometimes a little bit more at the beginning.
Also, while I was running in Norway, resident country of choice for Kilian I saw one of his posts: Stop Rosebank (https://www.instagram.com/p/Cud6H96oPAw/)
Norway’s state-owned oil company
@Equinor
wants to develop Rosebank, the biggest undeveloped field in the UK. It would produce more CO2 than the world’s 28 lowest income countries do in a year. It would fuel the climate crisis &
threaten endangered marine species.”
You wonder how such a environmental beautiful and rich country can still always looking for more…anyways environmental, protest, fact sidetrack…back to the trails and running.
Austria - Alps
“The mountains we climb are not made only of rock and ice, but also dreams and desire.” (Film Mountain)
Die Zugspitze - the highest mountain of Germany. I’ve been to this mountain three times before. Three times I went home without being up there, without enjoying the view. Three times it was
either inexperience, gear, weather or time that stopped me.
Here I was again. After a week-long trip with my dad that ended in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. I heard and went to a presentation about the “Inner dimensions of mountaineering” by Gerlinde
Kaltebrunner talking about listening to yourself when climbing the highest mountains of the world. Here, in Grainau, where the ZUT Ultratrail, probably Germany's most famous Ultra trail run,
takes place. Here, I’ve ended up after the presentation on the foot of this mountain, looking up into a clear night underneath a street lantern in a parking lot at 10pm. A clear day ahead, fit,
with a bit more mountain experience, a harness, via ferrata set and even a helmet but without crampons for a short glacier part.
At
4am around 4 am there was no chance to sleep anymore in the parking lot as cars came after each other and climbers prepared for the climb and so there was no other option then give it a try…there
was not a better chance coming in the foreseeable future.
It was a good start 25km, 2900hm through the Hoellental Schlucht (German side) up and down the Austrian side. On top there is a packed gondola station. No one needs to climb mountains
anymore…there are other ways up the highest points. Nothing we can do about it and I’m not sure how to think about it but it’s well discussed in Alpine sports. We can decide about the way we go
and the mountain we want to climb. Does it have to be the highest and most famous one? It still makes me sad to find trash and not the right appreciation for a mountain, so. I always feel quite
honoured about being up and watching down. Not sure how and where some people lose it on the way…not sure why not everyone can see the beauty in nature.
The Grainau tourist office gives away trash pick up bags out of recycled plastic to tourists to pick up trash and keep the places we visit clean and beautiful. I thought it’s a good initiative
and could be an idea and role model for other communities.
#sauberbleim. There is also Patron #plasticfree peaks bring awareness to keep at least the mountains cleans. (https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreepeaks/)
https://www.plasticfreepeaks.com/about
Imst and Innsbruck.
Imst
was not only the place where I worked for a summer season as a raft guide learning to love the rivers but also home of TrailMotion (https://www.trailmotion.tirol/)
one of probably the strongest trail running clubs I have been training with.
The
short documentary about running 100 miles around the Pitztal shows it quite well, not one single person trying it but they try it as a team, which is actually quite rare for Ultra Run
achievements.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtZmoW_CxGE)
It
was good to be back in a Raft and on the river.
A River Runs (Poetry book by Benny Sip).
A
River, Running, Life - there are quite a few analogies.
There
aren’t many things as beautiful as a wild, free river running from the mountains to the Sea. Leading a meandering trail through land, and time. Young, enthusiastic here, calm and still there.
There aren’t many wild rivers left in the world to enjoy and bring us happiness. Dammed Rivers are prisoned Rivers loosing their soul and it’s sad to see that there are still plans to even take
the last drop out of the last wild rivers. One of the most known and loved rivers in the centre of outdoor tourism, wild water rafting and kayaking in Tyrol.
Please watch and sign the petition:
https://stubaiwasser.at/
WET Tirol: Bis zum letzten Tropfen
Innsbruck is still the city for outdoor enthusiastic people in the centre of Europe with a student flair. Climbing, Skiing, Paragliding, Biking, Trail Running and host of the Mountain and Trail
Running World Championships 2023 for a reason.
And
I’m lucky enough to have some friends to visit there.
Thanks
to Teresa for a relaxing barefoot walk through the forest picking some berries in the morning just to visit Jan in the evening, who showed me his 1000 vertical trail directly behind his house and
pushed me a little bit to definitely to my fastest run on the tour! Most of my runs are quite slowly either because of backpacks, stopping for pictures or just to enjoy the place but there is
something in pushing it to your limits…and I wasn’t used to it anymore and it took quite a while to get into the rhythm again…think I finally catched up to it after 10km and maybe just because
Jan finally slowed down a bit!
It’s
just different if you have an area and people to push you and make you train - I surely miss it! When you run so fast, you don’t really think anymore where to place your feet but it happens out
of instinct, if running loses all its effort and becomes a mix of falling, dancing and flowing down the trail. Lost in the movement of the next step placed for a short touch of a second of the
second - feet on the ground, gone again…
Legs trembling at the end full of excitement and tiredness but weren’t able to stop the flow, if I would ever study again somewhere, it would be in Innsbruck…well study…
The Berliner Hütte (2,042 metres) is a majestic and historic alpine hut in the Zillertal Alps – and Austria's only mountain refuge with protected status.
The central hut of the Berliner Hoehenweg, officially opened on the 28. July 1879. By pure coincidence and luck I ended up there on the 144 years Birthday of the hut, the day I chose to stay
there. A fantastic hut, settled between the mountains. In the end, I only ran around 35km and 2000hm of the Berliner Hoehenweg. Again the weather, friends and timing changed my plans but what I
saw…was already good enough to find the sanity between some snowy, higher mountains up to 3000m, I was looking for.
One of the best things of the trail running community is its craziness and with it comes creativity and happiness.
The last run was a mix, of somehow catch up with Maxl, a German Canadian friend, best remembered by backcountry skiing in the Rockies, to end up trying to get a hitchhike, in -30degrees around Christmas eve to Calgary to make it to a bus trip to surf in California. Now living in Vienna and me coming from Innsbruck, the Berchtesgaden Alps are halfway for both of us and it gave me a chance to pick up some shorts and see some of the most beautiful, known and famous mountains in Bavaria, where I haven't been before.
Jua design (https://jua-design.com/en)
Is a small family business in Bad Reichenhall, creating the coolest, sustainable, colourful shorts for trail runners or basically anything. I liked them so much I even ordered them, after a
really long thought about how justifiable it is to post it, to New Zealand. I ran, went to festivals and climbed with them, so they got some holes after a lot of use, so when I went home I sent
them to Jua’s repair service and asked if they’re keen to support my Running Europe project with two shorts. Every of the Jua produced shorts is unique in their colour pattern and it was an
absolute pleasure to meet founder Mathias Reiter, to see how much passion he puts in the product, the company and the whole idea and journey, and to choose my shorts to run the next chapters in,
myself and also get some trail suggestions.
Couldn't have asked for a better day to run with Max up and down the (Hoch-) Staufen to catch up on the last 5 years in a day and have a cold swim in a river afterwards.
GR20 - Corsica
“It’s possible.” said pride.
“It’s
risky.” said experience.
“It’s pointless.” said reason.
“Give it a try.” whispered the heart.
BAD IDEAS MAKE GOOD STORIES - originally the written text sign on the back of a jacket worn by the person waiting in line in front of me at the airport check-in.
I wasn’t sure about it, leaving towards suffering and uncertainty instead spending more time with my family and home.
I
had to pay an extra 60 Euro fee, because I hasn’t booked correctly - sometimes there are small signs and obstacles to warn you, to tell you that it’s not the right way. Why to fight instead of
flow. Sometimes those obstacles are also there to test you, to find out how much you really want something, how far you are willing to go for it.
The trail was calling! I had a sleepless night at the airport in Milano, a morning stroll in the heat of Italy, just me and whatever I could fit in my 10l backpack for the next week. There wasn’t
any space for comfort in it, just necessities: An extra pack of socks, two underpants, one extra shorts and an extra shirt, no sleeping bag, no tent, no mattress, money, a credit card. Ferry
crossing and another sleepless night! Off the ferry I found a group of hikers to share a taxi to the trail head.
After
two sleepless nights and days walking or standing in trains in the heat I was already dead before setting the first step.
The
sufferfest had started before the start! And once again I had to realise again that I don’t cope well with direct heat over 30 degrees. I did a short siesta in an empty tent.
The
GR20 is unique in the way that you don’t have to carry your own tents or mattress - Tent’s are already prepared and ready to rent all summer long and there are little shops and even lodges
providing evening meals after every stage of the trail - that means you can hike really lightway, but I definitely pushed it to the extremes of it. I finished stage 2 just before sunset and
arrived just in time to ask for a meal at the second Refugee before closing. Thankfully, they created the last pasta out of leftovers for me, while eating they asked concerned about my gear where
I would stay and I told them I was planning to carry on through the night.
“Why are you walking at night? You can’t even see all the beauty!”
And I wonder: Can you hear silence?
Isn’t
there a little bit of beauty left in anything, we can’t see all the time?
I
hope!
I can deeply say there is something special I really like of being just by myself, walking in the darkness just following my headlamp, just listen to my steps and my breath, no one else around, nothing to think about, just step after step - focused on the clear cold beauty of the night - maybe sometimes looking up from the ground up to the stars, the moon and into the endless darkness and space of the universe to wonder. Walk so long, so focused and be so exhausted till you at the end of the night see the first little bit of light again at the horizon. I’m certain it’s good to realise and experience the length of the night from time to time to really feel the full gratitude I deserve when the first rays appear in a golden shimmer, the warmth of the day touches you and the normal gift of everyday becomes precious and special again. Exhaustion and suffering is sometimes quite a good and easy way towards happiness and a great reminder of simplicity and gratitude for life.
But not today! There were too many voices, too many concerns and warnings urging me to stay. A good meal, tired legs, a hard to find and to follow trail, fatigue. A stranger sitting next to me,
offered to pay for the night for me, other people said if I sleep on the trail it would be a fine of over 1000 Euro. It would have been irresponsible to go for what for, I was already suffering
and grateful! Grateful for a good day in the mountains, a good meal, people and strangers around me and for a good sleep in a bed.
I
started the next morning around four to experience the silence of darkness for at least an hour - got lost twice - and that was enough!
Another long day, a short siesta, two stages. I wasn’t fast enough and already suffering. I experienced the mountains of Corsica, I tested my limits, I experienced the trail, I walked from dust
to dawn. I got everything and the only thing which started to worry me was the time. The time to find a ferry back to the mainland and the time to travel all the way back to Hamburg, by train.
After the first night in a dorm sleepout at the first refugee, at the second refugee I chose the tent option and had an incredibly good meal for a really reasonable price. It gave me a good
perspective on how friendly the Corsicans are and how much culture and pride they have and I love those places, which are different from the majority of the world. I definitely think it must be
incredible to run or walk the whole GR20 and explore more of Corsica.
After
4 stages, around 42 km and over 4,200 hm of elevation, two days and two nights, passing the highest and probably the most difficult parts of the GR20 I took the first chance and the last chance
before another 4 to 6 stages through the mountains and without any options to leave the trail. Another sunrise morning, some hitchhikes, exploring Corte, the cultural centre of Corsica, a train
ride to Bastia.
I
got a ticket on the 10pm ferry and had just enough time to buy a take-away pizza, which not only provided a pizza but also a cardboard - my creative idea to have a small substitute option of a
mattress to place between me and the steel floor of the ferry.
Leaving Corsica - sitting completely tired and exhausted on the ferry and watching the city lights of Bastia disappearing and most of the other people eating dinners and drinking wine. I saw
another T-shirt sign: “Is
this just madness?”
A
huge boat full of cars and people crossing the mediterranean sea in the middle of the night. A boat out of over 10 other ferries crossing from the mainland over to Corsica day by day. A boat full
of restaurants and entertainment but where you have to pay a lot of extra to get a decent place to sleep. But I’m still a lucky one, I’m still a rich tourist crossing this sea, paying 80$, trying
to find a space to sleep for my pizza cardboard to sleep a bit.
The
mediterranean sea is a death sea in many aspects - not only in aspects of overfishing and pollution and a dead seafloor, and touristic beaches but also there are smaller boats crossing this sea
during the same time, overfilled with people paying over 1000 euros for the hope to come from Africa to Europe to find some work, to earn some money, to feed their families to start a new life or
to capsize, drown and die.
Anyways,
I didn’t sleep well.
Europaweg - Switzerland
“Leave the road, take the trails.” “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” “There is always an adventure waiting in the woods.” “The pull of the mountain is like gravity for my soul.” (Pythagoras)
I couldn’t have asked for a better finish and I didn’t know about the Europaweg before. The idea was basically just to visit my friends Matze and Laura on my way back and, well I knew they live
close to the Matterhorn, the most iconic peak of Switzerland, maybe Europe, so I researched if there is a trail close by.
“The Europaweg trail between Grächen and Zermatt is considered by many to be the most beautiful 2-day hike in the Alps. The views along this mountain panorama including the Matterhorn are famous
around the world.” 33,4 km and 2500m elevation and as an extra, passing over the 494m, longest pedestrian suspension bridge of the alps.
Switzerland
is bloody expensive, so I tried to hitchhike and it took a while and then I explored Zermatt for a bit too long, so it seemed to be a thing that I also didn’t finish this last of my trail and ran
it just a bit over halfway, but saw the Matterhorn, the Suspension bridge and the Europahuette. I didn’t push it on this last run and just enjoyed it to the fullest.
“To walk in nature is to witness a thousand miracles.”
The most precious thing about my trip and running wasn't to visit Zermatt and other cities and its shops, probably one of the wealthiest towns in the world. It wasn’t the Matterhorn
throning in the background. Sometimes it makes me happy to just sit down, watching everything around me. The flowers and a butterfly flying around me, playing around, stops on my shoes, on my
shorts and then lands on a flower close by.
I’m
very grateful that I can travel and run around the way I do. That it wasn’t “just” a running project, but that I was able to visit and catch up with friends who welcomed me, to share some
moments. To not be in a rush but to be able to stop and sit down, to appreciate the small things once again and be able to watch a butterfly sitting on a flower and then flying away again, maybe
searching for the next one already. Who knows what a butterfly thinks…?
You
could say, it took me my whole life to travel, run up that trail and end up here to watch that butterfly on that flower. “…To
sit and think of Nothing.”
Or it was just a stop at a precious moment in time?
Why do I run? Sponsored by Nature?
“A walk in nature walks the soul back home." (Mary Davis)
Eins, zwei, drei, im Sauseschritt läuft die Zeit, wir laufen mit.
Schaffen,
schuften, werden älter, träger, müder und auch kälter, bis auf einmal man erkennt, dass das Leben geht zu End.
Viel
zu spät begreifen viele die versäumten Lebensziele, Freude, Schönheit der Natur, Gesundheit, Reisen und Kultur.
Darum
Mensch, sei zeitig weise, höchste Zeit ist’s - Reise, Reise (Wilhelm Busch).
I think it's a Tibetian quote saying, that only where our feet have touched the ground that’s where we have truly been. Everything else is too fast, so our souls can’t follow…
I think it’s good to have a reason and a purpose for why you are doing things and also how you do things. To have an adventure with purpose.
There
are runners like Martin’s (Stella Runs 250) to bring awareness and support to Sternenkinder. Dave Proctor set a new record by crossing 7,200 km of Canada in 67 days to run for those who can’t
“Out Run RARE” to bring awareness and support children with rare diseases.
Others run for fitness, records and times, for FKT’s.
I think, nowadays I run to see places, to run trails, to stay fit, for fun. I run and run just to get this rare feeling of either exhaustion in the end or for the total flow!
I run to explore nature and to find myself from time to time on those runs.
If
I can ask and hope for something I hope those pictures bring more people out to see the fascination and beauty out there and to protect it!
Running books:
-
Born to Run (Christopher McDougall)
-
Run or Die (Kilian Jornet)
-
What I talk about when I talk about running? (Haruki Murakami).
Stats:
Norway (Bessegen: 21,35km, 1322hm elev.), Trolltunga: 27,45km 1338hm elev.) (total: 48.8km, 2660 hm) (1-11 July, 11 days travelling)
Austria/Southern Germany: (Zugspitze: 24,99km, 2,962hm, Imst: 17,78km, 801hm, Berliner Höhenweg: 8,91km, 774hm + 27,74km, 2,027hm, Achselkopf Innsbruck: 12,50km, 1,086hm, Hoch-Staufen: 20,88km, 1,431hm)
(total: 112,8 km, 9,081hm) (23 July-31July: 8 days travelling)
Italy,
Corsica, Switzerland:
Milano:
12,90km, 51hm, Genova: 4,57km, 74hm, Savona: 10,84km, 23hm, GR20 1+2: 22,17km, 2,215hm, GR20 3: 7,04km, 867hm, GR20 4: 12,08km, 1,343hm, GR20 out: 13,16km, 82hm, Europaweg Zermatt-Ramda 27,32km,
1,561hm)
Total: 110,08km, 6,216hm
(13-18
August, 5 days travelling 3 extra days after run to go back)
Home: 14,38km (74hm) + 14,64km (196hm) + 10,94km (170hm) + 5,34km +11,09 (63hm) +6,43km (83hm) = 62,82km (586hm) (6 days)
Total:
271,68km, 17,957hm, 24 days (27days) travel
Total with Home: 334,5km, 18,543hm
Distance Google maps: Besseggen (Norway) to Corte (Corsica): 2,509km,
14,977hm, 504 hr (21days) by foot.
Where did I sleep?
1
night airport Milano
2 nights train or train station somewhere in Bavaria and in Column - thanks Deutschland ticket
2 nights ferry deck Italy Corsica and back to not lose time and sleep in a save spot and save money
3 nights huts: 2 on GR20 as nothing with me and 144 years birthday Berliner Huette
11 nights THANKS to friends! In Copenhagen, Innsbruck, Norway, Switzerland, Freiburg, Munich, Imst, Allgaeu
2 nigths Flix bus or and walking half of the night Hamburg to Copenhagen, Goeteburg to Oslo
1 Boat shelter bivy Besseggen
1 night Pipe in Stavanger
4 nights rainy tent Norway
1 bivy lake Norway before Trolltunga because Camping forbidden sign but bivy is emergency and allowed - just to get not in trouble
1 bivy Koenigssee - Southern Germany
1 bivy camping with a friend in Freiburg getting a parking ticket in the middle of nowhere…
Costs:
Transport:
Flight:
Hamburg-Milano: 110 Euro
Train Ticket Germany: 2x49 Euro German ticket, Switzerland train day ticket: 49 Euro, other train tickets Italy, Norway, Corsica and Switzerland, Sweden, Copenhagen: 400 Euro
Ferry: Norway-Denmark: 36 Euro, Italy-Corsica return: 150 Euro
Flix
bus: Hamburg - Copenhagen - Oslo: 150 Euro
Huts: Corsica, Austria: 150 Euro
Food:
400 Euro
Total: around 1500 Euro
Ironman
average cost 750 Euro
I got lucky enough to get support from another company.
A
huge thanks to Off-Piste Provisions - Plant- Based Jerky
(https://offpisteprovisions.com/)
I saw the van and met one of the founders with his van in front of my friend Evan’s bike shop in Waiheke. Tested liked the taste and the idea and the vision of Off-Piste and wrote them about my
idea.
Within a week they sent me around 20 packs to support me on the run without any concerns or questions.
Small
packs, yummy, full of proteins and plant based! I took them from New Zealand to Europe and from Norway to Corsica to snack on my stops and still like and can recommend them. Another small brand
with a vision for a better future and planet!
Thank you and it was a pleasure to run with you - literally!
Upcoming projects:
- 24 hours 100km Around Waiheke - Happy to join my friend Grace on a project of walking another time around Waiheke and explore Home with friends and at the same time bring awareness and support
people with Disabilities! Contact Grace or me for more details.
-
“Spirit of Ironman” Ironman Hawaii was a legendary event when I started with triathlon - A Mythos! Over the years it got more and more commercialised and Ironman seems more and more losing the mythos at least for me. The World championships this year were the first time not in Hawaii but in Nice, France. Reason was too big of a starterfield the year before.
(“It’s NIce but not Hawaii”).
More and more it seems to be about money. Money to buy the best gear, to qualify in an expensive qualification race to then have the money to fly and start in Hawaii or France.
“Spirit of Ironman” is the idea of creating a short film of doing an Ironman with the simplest means and the purity for the sport. Low-cost budget. Not about the time and being the fastest but about covering the distance of 3,8km Swimming, 180 km Bike and 42,195km Run and embrace the suffering and the experience.
Looking for someone keen to join and or maybe film the project!
Dreaming of Suffering - It’s not a Nightmare - It’s a vision A Life
Thanks for Reading and any feedback
