#strongviking

A day like a dream, but a very long one!

OCR (for me) is the best run sport. But if you want to do special things you have to “pay” a special price. I don’t mean the price of each OCR event (maybe too) but OCR events are not as common as sand at the sea. And so we have to drive many, many kilometers. This time we had to drive around 300km (one way) to Wächtersbach. This means we had to start at  5:30 am. We were four, the weather was for the first time this year very sunny and hot. Everything seemed to become very, very good.

Once we arrived it’s almost the same at every event. It’s a simple 3 step list to have fun: check in, change clothes, go to the start line.

The main obstacle is and was the “Fjord Drop”. Like I said in some other posts this is a big, a very big and high slide. We think for security reasons, they change the set up a bit. They installed barriers between the slider lines. But did they help to prevent accidents? No, they didn’t.

The result is shown in the relaxing picture from after the race. The instructor pushed me a little early down the Fjord Drop. Gopal was pushed at the right time, and so he jumped into the water and onto my head when I showed up out of the water. It wasn’t his fault but my pain, my shock and my panic because i was unexpected pushed under water again. But this isn’t anything dramatically. If you finish such an event without any scratches or wounds you didn’t do it the right way!

The other obstacles were also fantastic. Some new, some old but all were good. You know the kind of obstacles because I often spoke about them: hanging, climbing, ropes, sand, mud.... The water edition has the emphasis on water - the name implied it. And so there was much water. They also include a see which we had to swim through. Well done! I like it if they include local conditions.

At the end we had to wait for two of us. Gopal and I relaxed near the Fjord Drop in the sun, had some small talk with other runners and friends and enjoyed the time!

Unfortunately, Corona isn't over and so some events still have to be canceled. First I was very annoyed of the cancellation of the trail run in Berendonck and about the fact, that my ticket was rebooked by the organization to another event in Balen which I had already a ticket. But then I took it like it was and started, run and finished two times in Balen. Oorah!

Fun fact: The unexpected often comes. If you like something and do it more and more, your network increase from event to event. I'm in a OCR group at another, actually not athletic social Network. We are spread all over Germany and know each other only from the internet. So we planned a group meeting at the xletix event in Grömitz. But this event was canceled too. At the toilets in Balen, someone suddenly called my name. Martin, someone of this group recognized me.

God, I love the OCR family!

The trail was harder than expected because the underground was nearly only sand. But we did it! We accepted the challenge and finished like a real viking!

What to do if you are bored by only running a 19 km track? Right! Expand the distance!

That's what we did! Today, we are running an OCR with marathon distance. At every Strong Viking event you can choose three distances: 7 km, 14 km and 19 km. But they call it 19+ km because all of them are "a bit" longer. So it was our challenge to run all of these tracks today and it's called "Iron Viking"

The last days are hard, mentally hard. If you do it right, a 19 km OCR is hard enough. But the challenge is not only to run and try the obstacles. The challenge is to do not any burpee and you have to do burpees, if you fail at an obstacle! And today we want to do it at a distance of 42,2 km.

Turn off your head and do it. Most things go wrong, if you think too much. Try it or leave it - that's the only thing that counts!

I love the atmosphere at these events. Every time it's an epic event and not only a group of people who run. The group is sworn in and for a few hours you become an army with the same goal. You become a Viking! Not only your goal counts. You help each other and are proud that the other has (also) made it!

The first 19 km were nothing special. We have done it many times! But in the second lap of 14 km I expected my personal fight. Usually I get extremely hungry around 27-30 km. And that leads to the fact that I don't feel like it anymore and start to torture myself. But not today. The desire to run and the desire to reach the goal increased from kilometer to kilometer. Of course we took every refreshment point with us and maybe that's the real reason. In the end, however, when I reached the goal, I could have continued running.

Now we're hooked, have a new not boring distance and the plans are going on. The next step after the "Iron Viking" is the "Ultra Viking" with 60 km which we planned for 2022