Athletics

In the summer trails in La Gaude ⛰️ (August 2026) and Le Cannet 🏝️ (Sept. 2026) I placed 3rd in both races 🥉🥉 in my category ( 🇫🇷 M4).

They were lovely events, as always. Beautiful locations. Amazing crowd. Passionate running.

In Le Cannet I just could not keep up with my wins of the previous 2 years, but I held on to a podium finish and, much more importantly, enjoyed the event.

In La Gaude I was given the privilege of bib no. 1 and responded with a finish line dance 🕺🏁

I am grateful for all the good.

What do we do on a hot summer lazy Sunday morning? ☀️
Why not run the Ermstal half marathon event … ⛰️ 🏃‍♂️
One of the most scenic courses to run, from Metzingen to Bad Urach and back.

More than 800 runners in the HM event, around 3000 in all events (5 km, 10 km) that day.

I was fortunate enough to win my category 🥇 M55 🏁

And after the enjoyable ceremony and receiving some spoils 🎁 a stroll through the shopping 🛍️ arcades of Outlet City Metzingen 😄💰 …

In a relatively slow race – perhaps the old town of Schorndorf is all just too beautiful to simply race by? – I could gain M55 🥇🏁

The weather displayed summerly warmth even in April.

Tobias and his family cheered me on in every one of the 4 laps. Their daughter showed a brilliant performance in the race, too.

And a lot of runners talk with many fellow runners contributed to an enjoyable experience.

I did a long distance runner’s unusual thing and ran an 800m competition at LAC Degerloch’s beautiful club festival on May 9.

Most runners have an ambiguous relationship with the 800. Too long for an all out sprint, too short for distance running mode.

This one was lovely. Completing it in 2:43 exceeded my expectations for the day.
4 years ago, my last time doing this, I did it in 2:38, and I was in a much better condition back then.

This kind of race gives a nice kick to my long distance runner body. Looking forward to the benefits in the next 10 km or HM.

Thanks to LAC Degerloch and all the wonderful people there for this amazing day. And for the 2nd place 🥈 in the “all over 30” category.

📷 credit: Jing

Ascension Day Run (Himmelfahrtslauf) Walzbachtal is always a pleasure in the race calendar. The special flavor lies in asking the runners to run on all kinds of terrain — grass, muddy off road next to the creek, tarmac, firm and loose gravel sections, forest paths — mixed with a nice hilly profile. This year however the course was slightly altered because of danger of falling branches in the forest. But it stayed a lovely course whose finishing times are not comparable to fast flat tarmac courses. That doesn’t make it easier, but it liberates mind and body, and makes it a holistically more enjoyable experience.

This year I finished the 10 km with silver 🥈 in M55. It felt good. But as last year too, I did not stay for the ceremony after the race, because it was „Father’s Day“ and, being a family father, I rushed home 😊

Grateful to gain the bronze 🥉 M55 at the 10 km in Calw. My shape had not been where I preferred it to be. But I kept putting in the work.

It seems that helped me back on a good path, especially among a strong M55 field this time in Calw.

Congratulations to Olaf and Armin on the podium with me. Thanks to Hannah Arndt who won the women race (overall) today and shot the nice podium picture of us M55 pack. I also enjoyed a shoulder to shoulder race over the final 2 km to the finish line with a 24 years younger runner. We helped each other to keep the pace. I could still outkick him in the final 200m, but what counts more is that we both enjoyed had a wonderful conversation it afterwards.

22 races 🏁 – 22 podiums (age category M55) – 7 x🥇 10 x🥈 5 x 🥉
with 1 State Championship medal in the 10,000m track event (Berlin open)

Historical overview last 3 years:

2024: 20 races – 18 podiums – 11 x 🥇 – 5 x 🥈 – 2 x 🥉
with 1 State Championship medal in the half marathon (Baden-Württemberg)

2023: state honors for special achievements in sports in Bavaria – the third sub-3 marathon in Paris – a pause in early summer – a comeback in fall

2022: State Champion title 🥇🏆 10 km (Bavaria) in the M50 – Regional Champion 🥇 10 km Lower Franconia – 16th in the National Championship 10 km

🥈 on the M 55 Podium