A lot has happened in 2017, so an overview makes sense. I moved from the city to a smaller town that has some hills and nature, quit my job and said goodbye to a lot of people. Met a lot of crazy outdoors people, started another job and said hello to a lot of people. Tried to find a way of living which is both sustainable and fulfilling. I often think I'd like my life to be more stable, but at each moment of stability, I feel myself drifting towards an uneasiness, there has to be more to life than this? I'm still trying to combine a "normal" life with being outdoors, having contact with nature and playing on a more or less daily basis (when and why did we become so serious?). Trail-running, fastpacking and micro-adventures seem to give an answer to this, so I'm curious on further exploring these paths I'm slowly discovering. You might look upon this as an attempted escape from reality. But on the other hand, being out there feels more real than the daily life we are leading, where a high-paid job to buy a big house and a fancy car have a higher priority than experiencing life. There's a huge risk involved in reading Walden. Another thing I learned is that I'd rather be running through the cold and the mud with friends, than running on a tropical island with which I feel little connection on my own. I'm more and more convinced you don't have to travel far or someplace exotic to get truly rewarding experiences. And it is rewarding to feel a connection with your playground. I'm struggling to find the correct words, but it seems more rewarding to travel deep, than to travel wide. And as long as I haven't reached the bottom of the traveling I can do close by, as long as I haven't grown tired of my own extended back-yard, I don't really see much reason to travel far. "Far" is relative of course. I'm happy to stay on our little European peninsula, which has plenty of places left to discover. Like mr. Taiko supposedly said, if you find the answers, you probably haven't done enough searching. There's more digging to be done next year.
Below are some pictures from 2017. The main difference with previous years seems to be there are a lot of people involved.
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| Feb: TransGranCanaria80 with Frank (and Ingo) |
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| April: 5d Snowdonia, trying to combine trekking and running |
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| April: didn't need a torch under the Welsh moon (although that might have kept my feet dry in the bog) |
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| May: "Toerke Hageland" with Geert |
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| June: Crib Goch at V3K in Snowdonia with Matthijs |
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| June: V3K in Snowdonia |
It's not always easy combining holidays with Charlotte, but a mix of camping, wild swimming and trailrunning seems to work very well for both of us. So in July, we went camping in the Cevennes, before heading to Switzerland where I would run my first 100k around Grindelwald.
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| July: wild swimming in the Cevennes |
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| July: smiling my way to the finish of my first 100k at Eiger Trail |
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| August: Trail des Fantômes 100k with Frank |
August: 2-day fastpacking with a weight-saving tarp-poncho combination. I had to crawl into a corner, but I did manage to stay more or less dry during the nightly downpour. Feels like a good 3-season option for the Ardennes. In more exposed areas, the MLD Trailstar proved to be a lightweight, roomy and bombproof shelter.
September! My main goal for 2017 was finishing the Great Escape, which would become my first 100miler.
In March and August, I spent two weekends on the trail, training, experimenting with fastpacking and getting to know the (perfectly marked) route which follows the beautiful Lee and Eisleck trails. After going the first 100k by myself, Ingo and me teamed up for the final part. Seeing the sun rise, set and rise again is a sense of freedom I hadn't experience yet. I'm equally amazed at the intensity of the bond that's formed between people when sharing the trails. And I can't imagine getting so much out of this with another organisation and volunteers than with Legends Trails. Being welcomed by Frank at a CP in the middle of a forest, sharing the night along Nisramont whilst we were both falling asleep with Ingo or seeing Chloe, Alexia and many others at the end of the race is something I won't easily forget. To say this organisation and its community is an enrichment in life would be quite the understatement. Like a friend once said, doing what you love is a great filter to meet people you like. Or at least she said something in that area, we were drinking beer at the time so the exact words escape me.
Talking about "exact words", although it's called a race, I don't really see what we're competing against. Surely not against each other? You should see that merry bunch of crazy people, sharing beer and a good laugh after going knee deep through the mud in the middle of the night. And surely not "against nature", what is sometimes used as advertisement for obstacle races, these words seem to be most remote from what I'm experiencing during an ultra.
There seems to be a huge difference between 100k and 100 miles as well. Where 100k is just a stupidly long run, moving onwards for 100 miles is so much more an adventure, with a similar mindset as an unsupported trek through remote country. Planning is necessary, and you know in advance every plan you made at home, safe in the comfort of your couch, will need to be changed throughout the race. Logistics and sleep deprivation also become things to take into account, making it all a lot more interesting. Even if you know the route like the back of your hand, you will go places you've never been before.
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| September: Great Escape 100 miles with Ingo (photo after 140k) |
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| November: first time snowshoeing and wintercamping in the Vosges |
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| December: Bello Gallico 100 miles with Chloe. Grateful to have spent the weekend with this amazing person. |
Upon finishing the Bello Gallico, I completed my running plan I started last year with the Polar Bear Trail, which I wrote down (and obviously adjusted and re-adjusted) on my chalkboard. Time to wipe it clean and start anew!
2018 is already planned. One of the trails I'm joining is the notorious Legends Trail, 250k of stumbling and sliding through the mud. Do I need to explain I'm looking forward to it?
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| December: first steps in Legends land |
There were other races and adventures as well during the year. I'd like to think I'm tending to go towards less races on which I can put more focus in the future. There seems to be a risk of over-consuming and just ticking the box after finishing. But I admit I find it difficult to leave something for a later date. I'm still very much feeling like a kid who just entered his first amusement park and wants to try all the attractions, afraid the day is coming to an end and closing time might be near. Taking a look at my schedule for 2018, I might sign up for having a rematch on "doing less" in 2019. But not yet.
Anyway, if you've come this far, dear reader, I hope you understand that the past year has been special to me, not in the least by the various people I met along the way and shared some of the above, regardless in what form. Thanks for being there, and I hope to see you next time. Wish you all a great 2018.
