4. Vogtland-Lauf in Klingenthal (GER): 10km – 35:37 (1st place)

June 6, 2009

After Fridays 10.000m State Championships I competed only 18 hours later in a local race not far away from my home town Zwickau. The race started in the Vogtland arena, where also international skiing competitions such as the world cup for the nordic combined take place.

I came a bit too late to register for the 15km, so I changed plans and ran the 10km. Anyway, it was a very challenging course on cross-country terrain and a steep climb (up to 25% !!) in the first two km. The first climb I started pretty easy and ran with the leaders of the women race. When the steep part was over I decided to chase the guys in front of me. On the following flat kilometers I gradually decreased to race leader and running comrade Tim Herold. After around 7km I was level with him and by km 8 I decided to stay on pace, so I charged away and secured a victory with a 40-seconds margin.

Again the legs were pretty good, especially considering the 10.000m race yesterday. But also the mind is much more free then it was couple of weeks before. The “take it easy and just let it come” -approach seems to work.

Tomorrow no competition but long run with my coach on the bike instead.