Bärenfels Holy-Eve-Marathon in Neubrücke/Nahe, Germany

Every year again… Correct! Is Christmas again and also the Bärenfels Holy Eve Marathon. For me it is a tradition to run overthere the marathon every year at Christmas day. But it is more than just another marathon. It is the chance to meet up again with many running friends and finish the year together.

Unfortunately, Hoppstätten (urban district Neubrücke) is far away and this means a three hour drive (one way). Luckily the start is not before 8:15am. Still we had to leave at 3am. My wife and me met up with Walter Zimmermann in Kist and continued together. We made good progress. That is why we had enough time to take a breakfast at the new gas station next to the Movietown in Neubrücke.

Just past 7am we went towards the start. As always, it was located under the highway bridge. Almost nothing had changed. The event was almost completely outdoor. Only the award ceremony took place in one of the rooms at the Movietown. The showers are still about 3km away at the comunity center of Hoppstätten. A small group of runners already had started, when we signed in. The rest started in time at 8:15am for the five loops around the Bärenfels.

After the start Karsten Fischer speeded away in the front. I started slowly, since I knew that otherwise I would run into problems. The first loop I ran with René Strosny and after with Rainer Hauch. We talked and enjoyed the day. And it was a day to enjoy! During the night there was huge rain, but now it was dry and quiet warm at around 10°C. But it was getting cooler at noon. There was only one small change at the loop - the turn around point. Its location was slightly moved.

After I finished, we did not stay for a long time. Walter had already stopped after three loops and therefore was already ready to go. We drove to shower and then directly continued home. Because of the long distance we did not want to wait for the award ceremony.