I started the run full of excitement and daydreams, wondering whether a 57-year-old running completely unsupported—loaded up like a pack mule with all my gels and water—might somehow beat Wings for Life pro Florian Neuschwander’s seemingly light-and-breezy, fully supported 3:33 FKT. His even faster self-supported record is on another level entirely.
For quite a while, everything was going according to plan… until the July heat arrived and my legs filed an official complaint—in the form of cramps.
Although I missed my target, I’m soooo happy and grateful. I finished more than an hour faster than my supported run with Clara two years ago.
A huge thank-you to my amazing pro, Clara Carste, who encouraged me, believed in me and helped convince me that this slightly crazy idea might actually work. I'm also so thankful for every smile and hello from those people that I passed - as this put a big smile on my face and was the best motivation to push forward.
For complete transparency: I ran all on my own, carried all my gels and supplies and refilled my water myself from the publicly accessible tap at the Gemeindehaus in Seebruck.
Apparently, getting older doesn’t always make you wiser—it just makes you more determined… and perhaps slightly crazier about carrying a small supermarket’s worth of gels and water around a lake in pursuit of a record.