FKT: Stefanie Schout - Hauensteiner Schusterpfad - 2022-11-12

Chrissi and I started our weekend in Pfälzerwald with the Hauensteiner Schusterpfad. We decided to each go it alone, and I picked the counter-clockwise route, which I hadn't run before, while Chrissi ran clockwise. We drove to Penny Hauenstein, where we parked our car and then went our separate ways. It was very foggy when we started, but I actually enjoyed the fairy-like quality this gave the woods. I startled two hikers, but other than that it was really quiet, with no one around on the first half, and I really enjoyed my run - aside from the fact that wet leaves covering slippery rocks and gnarly roots meant my progress was slower than I had planned. Still, the trail is super nice and varied, and it was a lot of fun. Chrissi, who was on course for a new male FKT, emerged from the fog shortly before the half-way mark and we high-fived and ran on. Unfortunately, I got lost on the very last bit (which was a bit embarrassing because I had been sure when we started that it would be Chrissi who'd get lost and not me) and only realized that I should have gone right onto Nedingfelsen when I had already run almost half a kilometre on a more comfortable and less steep trail. Anyway, I had to turn around and zig-zag up Nedingfelsen, which slowed me down considerably, but still managed to beat the mixed-gender time we set in March.