07/05/2026
🇩🇪 Laura & John Take on the 🇩🇪
What started as a “nice little euro trip” quickly turned into 31.1km of hills, thrills, and… spills 🙃
After a gentle “warm-up” at Padersee Parkrun (where John clearly misunderstood the assignment and bagged 🥇 instead of taking it easy), race day began bright and early. 07:30 hotel exit, 08:30 carb-loading German buffet (strictly research purposes), and then off to the start line under the mighty Denkmal.
Five waves, thousands of runners, and one mission: survive the hills.
The race kicked off with a speedy 2-mile downhill — which, in hindsight, may have been a trap. The first bottleneck had us playing trail running Tetris, but once things opened up, it was game on. Three climbs stood between us and glory, with the second being an absolute leg-burner 🔥
Highlights included:
👏 Huge crowds in Oerlinghausen bringing Tour de France energy
🌉 A motorway bridge crossing into Bielefeld
🪜 Endless trail steps (who put those there?!)
🏰 A stunning finish at Sparrenberg Castle
Now… onto the real story.
While expertly pacing Laura (obviously), John decided to test the durability of German concrete — tripping over a speed bump at full downhill pace 💥 Elbow and hip took the hit, pride slightly dented, but straight back up like nothing happened 💅
Not content with one dramatic moment, he later added a bonus fall in the woods (less style, more confusion). A couple of “strategic loops” followed while waiting for Laura… who had, in fact, already breezed past 🤦♂️
Cue a blind panic last mile sprint to sneak under 3:30… only to discover Laura had finished a cool 5 minutes earlier 😅
All wrapped up with showers, food, and well-earned cocktails 🍹
Moral of the story:
- Downhills are dangerous
- Laura doesn’t hang about
- And if you’re going to fall over… commit to it
Great effort, great race, and great memories 🇩🇪💪
Who’s up for it next year.
