Let’s start with the concept of “speed”… 1697, Newton’s law of motion. Newton’s first law of motion states: An object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an external force.

„Corpus omne perseverare in statu suo quiescendi vel movendi uniformiter in directum, nisi quatenus illud a viribus impressis cogitur statum suum mutare.“ 🙂

20 hours after Vienna … I tried to bring yesterday’s moment to the AZ Tower in Brno and to execute this continuously. The staircase of AZ Tower is a very fast one. A great running track where you really can get started! However, the last 3-4 floors are very steep, till you reach the highest point of the building. Alas, my legs felt heavy and not recovered from yesterday, which why I had to live with a weak finisher time and with position 16. Someone once said to me “I don’t know what’s going to happen to you out there. All I can tell you is that you’ve got to play the cards life deals you. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But at least you’re in the game.“

The Kick-off for the 3-day Grand Prix d’Europe in Towerrunning has been a few hours ago at the Danube Tower in Vienna. Vienna, the city which has a cultural program as long as wide, was allowed to serve with the 1964 completed Danube Tower several times before for stair climbing events. This time I reached the top 15 seconds earlier than in January. With burning legs I lay on the ground, right after the finish line. A fire extinguisher was not within reach. 779 steps, 60 podiums, 4:06 Min. Strong time, but I still unnecessarily gave away some seconds at various points. The next goal is – to break through the 4 minutes barrier. We are now on the way to Bratislava with the Towerrunning tour bus where we’ll spend the night.

Frankfurt, the center of our “social free market economy”, shelters also the Messeturm / Trade show tower, not far from the main train station. I was today in 7:40 min on the top and could start a second time in the Team Cup. A good race-pace arrangement, proper time with top 10 place! 7:20 min. are already in sight, 7:30 would just have been feasible. In general – when the effort is too low, we are probably not thinking about the opportunity,we are thinking about the obligation. Habits begin to change when we begin to change our perceptions. A heavily occupied race with over 900 starters. Hats off for the teams of the fire departments who run up with full gear.

Next weekend the Grand Prix d’Europe stands at the door and wants to come in. This event will be held in Vienna, Brno and Bratislava. Looking forward to it!

In the course of a 4-day extended “Henne”weekend experience in Meschede, the first edition of the Himmelstreppe run took place at the local dam. The so-called “Hennetalsperre” in the Natural Park Sauerland-Rothaargebirge dams the water of the “Henne” (lake) above Meschede. Despite lower participation the moderation and the event was very successful and very exciting for runners and spectators. The local people cheered on the runners from the runway on the top. From there you had a great overview of the course of the race. I finished second in the men’s category. In the women’s category won my TRG colleague Jana Kasper.

Afterwards followed an extensive chilling in a sandy beach, good food and live music from a band. Hopefully there’ll be another run next year at this extravagant location!

Actually, the Trappenloop at the WTC in Almere, Netherlands was a pretty cool running race.
Actually, this was only a Sprint 3 floors down the parking garage and then 33 flights upwards.
Actually, this kind of run suits me down to the ground.
Actually.

If I had arranged my strength reserves right, certainly a great result would have emerged. On top of this came the prize which I had to pay for my sensible restlessness from the weeks before.

Thus I arrived on a lukewarm 9th Place.

Coming up next! Vertical Tube Race, a 2700 steps race. Organized by my stair running- and mountain running buddy Emmanuel Manzi – this will take me next Saturday to Valtellina, Italy.

Here’s the trailer: