Yesterday was the 35th Annual Neckargemund Mountain Run near Heidelberg, Germany. I ran this race in 2006 and just loved the beautiful trails that the race is run on. I also knew that this flatlander was in for a good workout, the 11.8K/7.3M race route starts at 118 meters above sea level and ended at 568 meters.
So at noon I drove to Neckargemund, about a 70 minutes drive, and quickly found the sports center next to the school. I picked up my start number, drank a cup of coffee and ate a delicious piece of carrot cake. There was not much going on - it was a small race.
The weather was almost perfect for a mountain race, 13°C (55°F) and the sun was shining. About 20 minutes before the race I returned to the car and made a final decision on the "outfit", deciding to stick with long running pants, a short sleeve short with a long sleeve running shirt over it.
I ran for about 10 minutes trying to warm up a little, the race was almost entirely uphill, so I would be working hard right away when the race started.
I took my place in the back of the other racers, I guessed there was around 300-350 people. I was in no hurry, my only goal was to run the whole distance, e.g. no walking. At promptly 2:15 p.m. the starting pistol sounded and we were off, first down a little asphalt road leading out of town, then quickly up the first hill. It was the last asphalt that I would see until the finish, and, with the exception of a tiny section at kilometer 8, the last downhill section too!
So up the mountain we went, the hill was fairly gradual, I kept a steady hill-climbing tempo and just concentrated on not wearing myself out too quickly. Almost the entire course was leaf and dirt (mud) covered logging trails, it was a pleasure to run these trails. Well, almost, if you think running most of the first four kilometers (2.5 miles) in one steady climb a pleasure ;-)
Just past kilometer 4 it appeared to level out a bit, I picked up the pace, this section continued on for maybe 5-600 meters then we started climbing again - for almost 3 kilometers more before the trail weaved down a slight decline at around kilometer 8.
As I began the last 3 kilometer climb to the finish line I could feel myself slowing down a bit. My breathing was good, but my legs were showing wear and tear. I had not done much training in the last 5-6 weeks and it showed. I slowly checked off the last couple kilometers until I finally heard the crowd of people at the finish line. I concentrated on trying to pass a few runners - I pushed ahead, encouraged by the ever increasing number of spectators, and crossed the finish line marking the end of a very satisfying run.
My time was 1:09:47, a new personal best for the course, besting my old time of 1:11:30 by a good margin. There were somewhere around 370 people who ran the race, and I left about 110 behind me, not bad. But as I said in my race report from 2006, this race wasn't about the clock, it was the Mountain vs. Jack and Jack won!
This year I elected to run the route back down to the start, as several people did. I did fine until about 5K from the bottom, my legs started protesting against the downhill pounding. I was just about to take a walk break when I passed a runner who had just stopped to walk. As I passed he started running again and asked if he could run with me. I decided not to mention that I was ready to walk and we managed to keep other moving through mutual discussions until we got back down to the start.
After a shower and some warm, dry clothes I wobbled back to the car and drove back to the house. After some hot food I collapsed in my chair for the rest of the night, I think I aged on the course this year ;-)
Well done, Jack! Sounds like making the run back down to the start is a great way to get a nice long run in addition to the race.
Look at it like that: it's only one hill!