Picture: Wenning for Brooks Sports GmbH

Ultimately some update from my neck of the web regarding this Transalpine Thingy. It has been some pretty bumpy days for me. I’m not healthy. Just feeling pretty flat and without energy and strength. Was seeing the race doctor twice. He checked me but all the data he gathered seemed to be OK. Looks like I have some sort of infection in me which makes me feel very tired. That’s why my body doesn’t allow me to push. I take it fairly laidback. Not my real choice but the only choice besides dropping out. I don’t want to quit the race and I do not want to destroy myself by being over-motivated. I just take it easy and listen to my body. At the moment my muscles feel extremely good. I have no soreness and no aches whatever. It is still just my body who can’t do what I’m asking him to do. That’s it. I need to accept this.

And as it is a team competition it is not only me who has to accept this situation. And as I was involved in team sports for the first half of my life I know how hard it is to face situation like we face it at the moment. Just about a year ago I was in the same position in the El Cruce stage race in Argentina. Jose, my partner, was not as fit as I was at the time. It takes a lot of confidence and patience to deal which a situation like this. As the Transalpine Run is the highlight of Hendrik’s and my running season it is even harder to get used a situation like this. When you’re fit you just want to go and jog the shxx out of these trails and verticals. If you’re in a team and someone cannot do it you just have to expect it. It surely is hard.

Now we are used to the situation and got todays “Hill Sprint” completed in flawless team effort. I ducked in and shadowed Hendrik during the 906 meter of vertical climbing to the Motta Naluns. I cannot remember much of the course beside the heels of Hendrik’s PureGrit. This is the soul of a team race – a team performace. We delivered that today.

The next days will be exciting again as we face the last 3 stages. I’m still not up to speed but it is getting better. I give the body as much rest as I can and I enjoy the experience Transalpine Run. Denis from the German Trail magazine just got it exactly right when he wrote that a race like this is not about a certain performance or some results. It is about the involvement, about meeting people from across the world, about enjoying the unbelievable scenery and about being part of a huge unique family and a atmosphere that make these days pretty special. In any way.

Until later. If I find some interweb in Italy.

Noteworthy links:
Pictures Brooks
Pictures TAR
My Instagram
Strava