And so this gentleman by the road was speaking: „You are in the wrong town. You need to go to Schmiedefeld am Rennsteig.“ Unexpectedly there was a bit of a confusion going on. I ended up in the wrong town. Disaster.

Lucky enough the “correct” Schmiedefeld was just about 55k down the road from the “wrong” Schmiedefeld. As the gun was about to sound in two hours from now, it was necessary to get my best possible Walter Röhrl approach on the road. The windy and twisty roads across the magnificent Free State of Thuringia woodland did not pay me any help as I was pressing the pedal to reach the “correct” Schmiedefeld on time.

As I was parking the car beside the race registration I was already warmed up and pumped. Still enough time to get organised and to get a suitable warm-up in. The battle before the race was won.

And so the gun sounded and what happened then was first class advanced jogging. After a short road section through the town the route got straight at the renowned Rennsteig trail. This place has some running to offer. What a great area. As we got on the first trails I was already amazed. I needed to focus on the underground as the road was hovering between some sweet single trails and groovy forest paths – really diverse and spectacular running. Spiced up with some nasty vertical as well as some proper downhill parts this was just a fun area to run in.

The finishing stretch up the Schneekopf peak made me hurt. Hurt a lot. Once at the peak the views unquestionably paid off for everything and made this day even more pleasant. We hang out on the summit and enjoyed the sun and the views over the Rennsteig area. Again. What a great region that is. Just made for mountain-biking and off-road jogging. Paired with such a blameless organization and friendliness it is a no-brainer to come back to Thuringia for more.

Oh well. I ended up in 17th place. Pleased with the outcome but still some improvements to make. Next on the list is the Dolomites Skyrace in Canazei. Bring it on!

Strava

 Tune of the day: Classified – Inner Ninja (Feat. David Myles)