Hi,
I wanted to write this post a lot earlier, but there have been many reasons, why the plan was postponed. On the 9th of June 2023 I drove with my family on a rental car to Lüneburg, Germany, in order to avoid any further stress with the travel. The weather was hot – about +26°C and I was feeling very uncertain due to the upcoming race and the weather conditions.
Our hotel was located about 900 meters from the start and finish area, which I regarded as acceptable when thinking about the race and the expected exhaustion afterwards. After having checked in at the hotel I went to fetch my race bib and to have a quick pasta supper. I was delighted to see how friendly I was greeted and briefed about the upcoming race – such a great organization. I simply felt wonderful to be in Lüneburg! However, I wanted to hit the bed pretty early in order to be fully prepared in the following morning.
I woke up at about 04:45 in the morning and had a quick breakfast to get enough time for the digestion. My backpack with the nutrition and water I had already packed on the Friday evening. It only remained to get to the starting grid. The weather was nice, and even the temperature was pleasant in the morning – about +12°C – however, the expected temperature during the race could exceed +28°C so I was happy we would start at 07:00.
I was expecting an unforgettable day und I must say that I seldomly have met a such a cheerful crowd of runners than in Lüneburg. The ultra runners for sure are a nice species. I was encountered by many smiles and friendly chatting – “Are you gonna take part in the sprint race?“. Yes, one didn’t want to think about the whole distance, but to rather start and see, how the day would go on.
The “tribe” of ultra runners really seems something special. I have seldomly been encountered by such a crowd of friendly people that really seem to care about each other and are able to cheer to good accomplishments – whoever the person is.
At 0700 off we went. It was a nice feeling to finally get to the route – having trained for weeks and weeks beforehand. The first impressions of my condition on this particular day were not too bad, so I could continue with a pretty high confidence, even though the whole event naturally was a big unknown to me. My plan was to entirely concentrate on doing my own race, without caring too much if I was left behind of the others, so it all started with an average pace of 6 – 8 minutes per km.
I was surprised at how quickly I seemed to gain in distance – a benefit of running in a totally new environment to you cannot be disregarded. As a runner you don’t normally enjoy the views like a conventional pedestrian, but anyway it makes a difference, if you are running along a route you have run dozens of times before.
Ten kilometers …twenty … thirty. The race went on pretty nicely, but gradually I noticed my decision to mostly resort to energy bars as my source of energy seemed not to be the wisest one. I had more and more difficulties to swallow and soon it seemed I mostly had to take my energy in a form of a liquid or a gel. This obviously made me a bit worried as I thought it would not give me enough energy, but what can you do, if your body does not co-operate? I decided to take every other piece of food and drink I found reasonable and try that way to maintain an adequate level of energy. Fortunately there was one drink, a nectar from the heaven, I still could drink – and thankfully the race organization had took care of that there was Cola at almost every service station.
The temperature was on a rise and it felt more and more burning, so I tried to avoid it whenever possible, and also poured water on my head to keep it cooler. There were, however, parts in the race, where this hardly was possible (see the image below). When I reached the heart of Lüneburg Heath, the heat was obvious and I just hoped it would get better soon. Finally it did, but before that I once had run to a false direction which gave me a couple of extra km to run. I mostly blame myself of this, but on the other hand I also think that the organization could have made the race route signs a bit clearer. I wasn’t the only one who had taken a false path, so I think this is a grounded point of criticism.
It was the first time in my life, when reaching the full marathon distance hardly meant anything. I had to keep my thoughts focused and surviving the kilometer after another. I continued with a relatively steady pace, but gradually the kilometers done paid their toll and I had to slow down every now and then. What I still wanted in the first place was to finish the race so it was actually quite fine like this. Obviously it is a bit of a disappointment not to be able to run with the target pace, but in the end that is only a secondary objective.
Having finally reached the 80 kilometer post, a deceitful thought overwhelmed my mind – the race is almost over! Only twenty km more and then the finish! How wrong could I be? That was by far the most painful part of the race, but I had decided to continue as long as I could proceed, so stepping out of the race was no option. The final kilometers took a great while, but finally I could see the starting area on the horizon. Finally reaching the finish line felt so unbelievably great I cannot describe. After having trained for months for this occasion and then succeeding, not with a great time at the finish, but being a finisher. I had in the end spent over 13 hours on the route, but there is always the next race if one wants to improve. Even though I didn’t say it aloud, I was pretty certain at the finish, I would do this again. At the moment, months after Lüneburg Ultra Marathon, I’m figuring out, at which 100 km race I could take part next. That’s some kind of a madness, for sure, but I don’t mind, but will do it again.
I’ll try to write about my thoughts about ultra distances and running them in the following posts, but this is enough for now. Until the next time!