Race Report: The Pfälzer Forest Marathon 2009

After spending every available free minute for over a week removing wallpaper, scraping paint and other tasks in the kitchen at home I was ready for some fresh air. I had been contemplating running the Pfälzerwaldmarathon (Pfalz Forest Marathon) in Pirmasens for a couple weeks, so decided this would be some good therapy.

I left the house on Sunday morning around 7:30, and drove over an hour to Pirmasens in the Rhineland-Pfalz. The town is set on a hill surrounded by forests, a beautiful area for a run. I arrived at the convention center where the finish line was set up and picked up my race number. The group sponsoring the race was selling cake and coffee, so I sat and enjoyed a second breakfast - I had an hour and half to wait until the 10:30 start. I chatted with Friedrich, a 69 year old that I visited with before the Hornisgrinde Marathon in July. He was from the area and gave me a good description of the trail, warning me not to hammer the hills because they hit back.

About a half hour before the race I visited the bathroom for the last time, and then headed to my car to drop off my jacket and long pants. The start of the race was about a 10 minute walk away, in the center of the town. I shivered as I walked over to the start, the sun was shining, but it was only about 13°C (55°F) outside, a little chilly for shorts and short-sleeve running shirt.

I found a sunny spot and watched the other runners as I waited. There were reportedly around 150 runners doing the full marathon, 350 running the half and around 60 marathon relay teams. With two minutes to go the announcer called us to line up, I took my place towards the front, we wore no chips, so every second counted. I really didn't have a time goal for the race, but I though 4:15-4:30 would be about right.

We counted down the last five seconds and were off down the streets of Pirmasens, past the convention center and out of town into the forest. I knew from running the race in 2006 that the first 5K were pretty much downhill, so I hammered the pace a bit averaging around 5:00/km (8:00/mi.). I wasn't too concerned about the pace because I knew that right after this a hill would smack me in the face.

The first climb came sooner than expected and I heeded the wise words of Friedrich, switching to short steps and backing off on the pace. We climbed and climbed, for almost 3 km (2 miles), parts were steep, others friendlier. I kept running, adjusting my pace based on the severity of the climb. Just as my quads became heated we popped over the ridge and began to fly down a rugged single-track, quad-busting, downhill trail. It was scary and exhilarating, one wrong step and I would have tumbled down the hill!

At the bottom we broke out of the forest and came upon the first aid station. I sampled the isotonic drink and grabbed some water, then headed up the next slope. The climbed was more gradual and gave my quads a chance to regroup. I passed the 10K point in roughly 55:00, pretty fast for this course.

The next 10-12 km were not eventful, a consistent pace was out of the question for this race, so I concentrated on easing up the hills and hammering down the other side. I past the half-way point in around 1:53:00, an average pace of 5:21/km (8:37/mi.), about a minute slower than in 2006.

Around kilometer 23 (mile 14), we started climbing the next major hill of the day. It was warmer outside and my quads held onto the memory of the first climb, I felt I like I was moving much slower. And like the first major climb, the downhill dropped fast, at least this time the trail was in better shape.

The trail continued through the woods, over several rolling hills. I could feel that my quads where hammered, but tried to keep moving the best that I could. With 20 miles (32 km) behind me my stomach started complaining, somehow the isotonic drink wasn't setting well. I switched to coke at the next aid station and eventually it settled down again. Around kilometer 34 (mile 21) I began the last major climb of the day. The trail climbed on endlessly, "the Wall" came in the form of a 2 mile climb! I was pretty whipped as I made it to the top, I tried to settle back into a decent pace as it leveled out, but my speed had retired for the day.

The last 5K became all about maintaining forward motion, I ran, but at a weakened pace. I knew I was still within earshot of a sub-4 hour finish, but had trouble finding a good reason to do so. I plodded on and tried not to think about, I was way ahead of my planned race time, I tried to enjoy the beautiful forest around me.

Finally with around a mile to go I started up a small hill (that felt like Mt. Everest at the time) that would bring me to the finish line. I glanced at my watch and spurred myself on over the last few hundred yards and into the conference center and the finish line. I finished in 3:58:27, a very respectable time for me for this marathon course, and 31+ minutes faster than the first time I ran the course in 2006!

My quads tried to seize up as a pretty gal placed a finisher medallion over my head. I wobbled over to the refreshment stand and ate a banana and drank some water. I walked around the conference center for a bit, than hit the showers. I was very satisfied with my time, only a bit worried that it was too fast - I have another marathon this coming Sunday!

The marathon course is one of the most beautiful that I have run in Germany. The course has some good climbs, beautiful wooded sections with fantastic views, and is about 85% logging or single-track trails. I found the organization very good, the fans enthusiastic and the overall experience well worth the drive to get there. It only got a little lonely out there, I guess I have been spoiled running so much with my running club this year...next year I'll have to try to talk a few friends into running with me :-)