Blackout

Monday: Bike Tour East End of Lake Constance, 89K, 4:03 hrs, flat route

Sorry dears, I have to admit - while I am staying with my sister at the Bodensee ("Lake Constance") - this evening ended up to be a wine session, too long to post any substancial content. To be honest I had a beer and three quarters of wine. I think I will sleep well. See you tomorrow.

News from the Mountain Goat

Friday: rest
Saturday: Swiss Alpine Marathon, 42K, 1900m, 4:55:12 hrs
Sunday: rest


Just a short line to report about the Swiss Alpine Marathon in Davos. The route was as tough as I expected it to be. I had a loss of form after the final descent with still 16K to go. 2 mugs of coke made me come back and I managed to cover the final 10K in 49 minutes finishing in 4:55:12 what was 15th place within my age group of 72 runners. Please don't hesitate to have a look at my race photo gallery. More tonight.

A Matter of Perspective

This is how our guesthouse in Lermoos (Austria) was advertised.
Mind the shadow in the right bottom corner of the photo.

This is what caused the shadow. Not really the place where one wants to spend their holiday.

I didn't expect an English word to exist for "Gartenzwerg" but actually I found garden gnome. Please note that this photo is taken of an Austrian garden, not a German.

One more impression: This is me, totally exhausted after the Tuesday mountain bike tour of 100K. Yes, Sabine, this is that kind of padded trousers.

Some more photos of the Mount Zugspitze Race

Many thanks for your kind comments concerning the Mount Zugspitze Race. I take "Bergziege" as a compliment. And I think I can really need some luck with (the rest of) my life. There are still some dreams left to come true.

Here are some more photos of last Sunday's race. By the way the winner made it to the top in 2:06 hrs, the first lady was home in 2:29 hrs.

Alpine scenery at about half way, at height level of 2000m.

Easy running between the steeper parts.

This kind of path is called a "Klettersteig". Originally it is obviously not built for running.

The final ascent to the top.

Very last steps before the finish in the fog, height level 2960m.

Ralf organizing the well earned award, free beer as much as you can drink.

Dancing on the top

Saturday: rest
Sunday: Zugspitz Race, 16.1K, 2100m, 3:04 hrs
Monday: bike tour, 65K, 3hrs
Tuesday: bike tour, 100K, 5hrs
Wednesday: hot run, 14.5K, 1:20hrs

Folks,

it is Wednesday evening now and I am still excited about last Sunday's race. I surpassed my own expectations and finished on the top of Germany after 3 hrs 04 minutes, which was 17 minutes faster than last year.

We were a group of 10 good tempered runners of my home town Witten. Two thirds of the race I was accompanied by some of them, but the longer the race the fewer were with me. Surprisingly I was able to outrun several chaps who normally are much quicker than me on flat ground. It seems like I have discovered a new talent: hill running. Certainly this race was my best performance since London 2004.

Now it is tapering again for next Saturday when I will try to finish the Swiss Alpine Marathon. For me it is the 42K race. Originally I intended to run the ultra race of 78K but after missing a lot of training in spring I think that I am not ready for this kind of adventure. The 42K race will still be the toughest race I ever did. It covers more than 2000 height meters and reaches its highest point at 2600 meters.

Those of you able to read German might like to look at my race report. Or just look at the photos.

Stats

I forgot to record the stats:

Monday: hill walk, 6 hrs, 1500m up (via Mt. Grünstein to Watzmann Hut)
Tuesday: hill walk, 12hrs, 900m up, 2200m down (Watzmann ridge walk and back to B&B)
Wednesday: hill walk, 6:30hrs, 1300 up and down (Mt. Hoher Göll)
Thursday: easy mountain stroll, 3 hrs, 500m up and down (around Mt. Jenner)

The view from Mount Jenner to Lake Königssee and Mount Watzmann. Here the complete Watzmann ridge can be seen which I walked from right to left.

My feet and thighs are still hurting what made me reduce today's programme to a trip via the cable car up Mount Jenner and a short stroll at high level. There are two more days to recover before the race up Mount Zugspitze on Sunday. The event might be at risk now. It is not impossible that it will be cancelled due to high likeliness of thunderstorms. I can understand that nobody can account for sending 1000 runners up Germany's highest mountain when lightnings cannot be excluded. There are some sections of the route which are secured by wire ropes what is extremely dangerous in foul weather.

Today's photos can be found in gallery 4.

By chance our ridgewalk along Watzmann has been photographed by an online reporter. Many of his excellent photos show our group and myself: bergtouren.at.

Me on the first top of Watzmann, called Hocheck.
(photo by www.bergtouren.at)

A Dream Came True

Sorry being late with the posting, but my B&B has not only the poorest breakfast outside France. What drives me crazy is that they don't care about the wireless internet access and switch it off whenever they like and just ignore my complaining.

Now I am lying on my bed with legs raised and I can feel the blood flowing through the legs. My feet are covered with blisters, the ankle hurts and all leg muscels are crying for a day of rest. But this is a story of success. Another one of my many dreams came true. I have been to all three tops of the Watzmann. The route along the exposed ridge looked dramatic but it was easier than it seemed to be. The mountain guide did a very good job and brought us (there was one other guest) up and down without any risk.

The Watzmann as seen from the Grünstein, a nice viewpoint at 1300 meters. The main ridge with the first two tops is seen to the right. The third top is hidden behind.

The night before the ridge walk one has to stay overnight at the beautiful Watzmann Hut.

One of the many exposed sections on the ridge.

Many more photos can be seen in the Summer in the Alps gallery 2, also of todays climb of another mountain, the Hoher Göll, which finally put my legs over the edge - luckily not myself.