30. Neujahrsberglauf Falkenstein 2009: 11,5km – 41:06 (1st place)

January 6, 2009

I started my race season only 3 days into the new year on last Saturday at the new years run in Falkenstein, which is close to my hometown. After races in Gera and Trier it was my 3rd competition within 7 days and a good test of my actual shape. I could clearly see, that there is a good base and once I start doing more speed work the shape improves pretty fast.

I could win the first race in 2009 comfortably with a margin of approx. 2minutes. The time of 41:06 for the 11,5km doesn’t tell too much, because the conditions were somewhat icy-snowy with temperatures of -5 to -10°C. The course consists of a 4km climb at the beginning of the race and afterwards it’s almost completely downhill or flat. After 2km I went clear of my closest competitor and went on to run a consistent pace, i.e. not all out but a good tempo-run pace. I also was lucky that I chose the right running shoe with a good profile, because there was not much grip in the forest parts of the race.

The new years race is almost tradition for me: I competed there 13 times. That means I competed there the half of my life! The first time I ran there was around 15 years ago and I only missed few years due to an indoor season or injury/disease (like in 2008).