Running With Jack

Straubenhardt lies between Karlsruhe and Pforzheim (Germany) and together with Bad Herrenalb, Neuenburg, and Dobel form the northern portal of the Black Forest. The Straubenhardt Panorama Run is a beautiful, hilly looping course with a panorama view of the valleys below. With bright sunny weather and temperatures reaching into the lower 80’s (°F) last years 1000 participants quickly grew to over 1400 this year.

Several race disciplines were offered including the 10K/HM races and several shorter kids races, as well as 5K and 12K walking events. The race began in Conweiler, a village of Straubenhardt and direct on the Schwaben-Baden border of the northern Black Forest.

The half-marathon started at 1:45 p.m., so I arrived about an hour early. After picking up my number and T-shirt I enjoyed the panoramic view from the sport center for awhile, then got ready to run.

It was already over 80°F as I lined up with the approx. 300 HM runners at the starting line. Like many I was carrying a water bottle on my belt, it was going to be a warm race. I knew the course had 340 meters (1100 feet) of elevation gain so it would not be a fast race, so I lined up in the mid-pack and patiently waited for the race to begin.

When the starting pistol sounded we shuffled slowly forward and eventually started climbing the small hill through town and beyond. The gentle ascent continued along a diverse mix of gravel and asphalt bike/farm trails.

The ascent continued for almost 7K/4.3M, and all it without the benefit of shade! Although most of the ascent was gradual, there was 3 short hill climbs that slowed many a runner to a walk. I took advantage of these opportunities to pass a few racers.

After around 7K we headed up a steep hill into the Black Forest turning right and finally downhill towards the way we came. The dirt and gravel trail through this section allowed runners to pick up the speed and I did my best to keep from being passed.

At around the 13K point we completed the circle and started the next loop. The second loop followed the same trail for a distance, but cut back at an earlier point. By the time I reached the top of the last hill I was dripping with sweat from the heat and my quads were feeling the benefits of the workout. I had been running fairly conservatively up to this point, as I had only planned on running this as a training run, but as I started the downhill stretch that would cover the last 4K to the finish line I removed the governor and started reeling runners right and left. They were serving my favorite alcohol-free beer at the Finish line and I was late :-)

Here is a shot of the 92-year old Albert Olbrecht winning first place in the Male-80 class for the 10K race!

I had expected to run an easy 2 to 2-1/4 hour race, but ended up finishing in 1:55:58, a pretty fair time considering a slow start and a hilly course. This put over me the finish line in 130th place out of 269 that finished. I was 27/51 in my age group (M45). More importantly I had a good workout on a hilly course on the hottest day of the year thus far! Hill and heat training all in one session, it just can't get any better than that ;-)