I haven’t been running that much recently. I mean I am still running 50-70km per week, but I didn’t expect to be on top form for the Ebersheim Adventslauf. Ebersheim is really close to where I live. I have raced there 3 times. In 2014 I was very happy with 4th place. In 2015 I was 2nd but a little disappointed. This year I just wanted a form check really.
Jochen wanted to race the Adventslauf too, so he picked me up and we got to the race nice and early. I signed in and was going short/long, so short shorts, but a long sleeve top. We ran a little 2.5km loop as warm up and my hand were cold, so I put on gloves too.
Ebersheim Adventslauf
I had seen that 2 faster guys were there (Felix and AN other both from Team Gasser). They are not that much faster than me but usually a bit faster. A few others would be there or there abouts, but I was thinking that I should be good for the top 3. We set off and after a few hundred metres were running slightly uphill against a strong wind.
I tucked into the lead group of 6, Jochen was there too and the faster guys. The pace felt comfortable, but I didn’t want to be in the wind, so I bided my time. As soon as we went round the corner, I took off. The 6 strong group was broken and we were down to 3. After about 3km there was an uphill and the 3 became a group of 2, but unfortunately I wasn’t a part of it. I could stay with them on the flats, but not on the uphills.
I felt fine anyway and continued on. On the 2nd loop of the 8 shaped course, I was about 15m back from the leaders. I saw that the front 2 ran the wrong way, they went straight on, when they should have turned right. I shouted and they went back on course, but the sign said to go straight on. We were confused and the bystanders didn’t help when they said that we should go straight on.
Confusion
Straight on we went, but I wasn’t convinced. We went straight downhill and stopped to chat about what to do. Soon 4th place was with us, then 5th, 6th, and 7th too. We decided to run on but we didn’t see any signs for a while. We jogged together until we found the course, but the next km marker was 7km, the last one had been 4km, so we had been off course.
The race went on and everything went back to how it was. I fell into 3rd place, everyone had followed us off course and fell back to their positions. Kilometre 8 of the Ebersheim Adventslauf is what makes the race, it is steep! I tried to take it easy and was happy when I was over the top and on towards the finish line.
Everyone’s a winner, but no one is too.
I crossed the line comfortably after 8.3km in 3rd place, but disappointed. I had wanted to get a time for a comparison, but I hadn’t got one. The Ebersheim Adventslauf is really good, but ruined this year. To make things worse, they decided not to have any results, but to draw the winners of the prizes.
The top 3 would have been the top 3 if it was 8km or 15km, the guys who won deserved to win, in my opinion. I was lucky that my name was drawn out the hat, so I won a massage, but the other 2 weren’t so lucky. Every runner got a bottle of wine, which was good of them, but a little bit like a ‘everyone’s a winner’ thing.
So at the end of the day, I had a decent training run and got a bottle of wine and a massage for me 6€ sign up fee, so I can’t complain, but next year I hope they have someone at that corner, or a cyclist to lead the way, because it is a shame to let 1 bad sign ruin an an otherwise good race.