Mega Marsch Training

^{Image from MegaMarsch.de}

Hello friends!

How are you doing? I think I mentioned before that I want to hike the small Mega Marsch. Small is funny since it's still 50km to walk in 12 hours. The large Mega Marsch is 100km in 24 hours. I'm already preparing for that event by hiking more often and doing leg-focused kettlebell workouts. I have 6 months to prepare but 6 months can pass fast. The hikes in Bad Bertrich were part of the preparation for the Mega Marsch. On the last hike, I was still a bit sick with the flu but we walked a bit over 10km and I had a 10kg weight in my backpack. The time was good for the short tour. We have to keep the time up for the 50km.

^{Last hiking tour}

Yesterday was another training day and I wanted to walk more but still with the weight on my back. This became a challenge...

Hiking Tour - Fantastic view over the lake

This was a very nice tour with many lakes, as shown in the tour map below. The weather was cloudy but warm. We started around half past 5 and it was clear we would hike a bit in the dark. But that is mandatory for the Mega Marsch anyway. The starting point is at the water tower, which is next to the climbing park, where I have been several times.

➡️ 14,8 km

↗️ 130 m

↘️ 230 m

⏳ 3:41

^{Screenshot from Komoot}

We saw a slowworm and thought it was dead until we touched it and it moved a little. I'm not sure if they are ducks, but they walked ahead of us for a while, acting like a trail guide.

We didn't even walk halfway when the pain came. The weight on my back took its toll. My hips began to fire but it was still okay. The hard painful part began around 10km I think when it started to become dark. Every walk hurt and I couldn't even walk properly and the darkness made it even more difficult. The soles of my feet hurt too and back pain was just another detail. I had to fight for the last kilometers because I thought that the Mega Marsch would be even harder and there would be a point when exactly this would happen just without much weight but due to the distance walked. In the end, we made it and I was happy to get rid of the backpack. When I wanted to sit in the car, I got a cramp in my stomach. It looked like a big egg under the skin just on the left side of my belly. I'm not sure where this came from. Possibly, I didn't drink enough. I drank some water and tried to massage the spot and after a while, it was luckily gone.

The last photo before we left is from the enlightened water tower.

Food

Because we all were hungry, we went to a Turkish snack bar. I got a Döner sandwich with hot sauce and it was delicious.
A funny side story with 2 other English-speaking customers. One of the guys wanted hot sauce and the employee told him that it is really hot. I had the same sauce and it was hot but still okay. Anyway, the guy still wanted the sauce and took his first bite. I heard 'Holy cow' and 'Oh my god' all the time and it was clear that the sauce was too hot for him. He took his cap off and I could see his red face, and after the second bite, he tried to wipe off the sauce from his sandwich while swearing.

Thanks for reading!

Images and screenshots are from me and the websites Komoot.com - MegaMarsch.de