Early risers: 32 km before 9

Surely every MST virtual run has its own challenge, but does that also work to keep the running spirit up? Those are my thoughts as I leave Somerville, Tennessee behind me.

Watch geese seem like a good idea, until a running idiot wakes you up around five AM. Not just at the farms, by the way, in the bird-rich Groenzoom it's also a huge noise every now and then. But what motivates someone to get out so early?

If Marc Weening says we have to jump into a ditch, we do. In fact, we even post photo’s of it on Facebook. Grinning from ear to ear, pinch – that mud stinks – on the nose. Trailers are weird people who like to be challenged.

For this third virtual run of Mud Sweat Trails in which I participate, the theme was getting up early. Travel 32 km before 9 o'clock in the morning. The idea being that you could leave early around sunrise: 5.46 am according to Garmin. Unfortunately yours truly is a rather slow runner. To be sure I would have to leave at least an hour earlier. And that makes such an assignment even more difficult. After all, many nature reserves are not accessible at all before sunrise. Apart from that, cycling for a while would mean getting up even earlier. At 4.15 am I already got complaints at home... besides I'm really a night owl… Time for plan B, then.

Smart Planning

Whoever thinks I'm giving up because real trail areas are missing around here is wrong. And no, an existing route like the Houttrail, still pretty close, was too boring this time.

My attempt to get a printed topographic map may have failed on Saturday (they don't sell those things here anymore), but I have a subscription to Komoot for a good reason. The nice thing about Komoot is, that there are very good maps in it that often include the type of underground. My goal: as much unpaved as possible. Additional difficulties: 1) Pijnacker is a special area for meadow birds and waterfowl, so until July 15 some of the paths are closed. Of course there is nowhere to be found which ones. And 2) The bridge over the Zweth to Midden-Delfland is closed. How somebody managed to get a truck on such a steep bicycle bridge at all is unclear to me.

The idea was to connect the Groenzoom, the Balijbos and the Dobbeplas with a bit of puzzling. The way back would relatively have the most kilometres of asphalt. This resulted in a route of 32.5 km with about a quarter of asphalt and for the rest more or less unpaved gravel and loam paths. Simply a matter of exporting to the Garmin, I thought, but damn it: 1 km shorter. Unfortunately Garmin misses some of the paths that Komoot knows… that means improvising on the spot to reach the goal.

Easy start

The night before I had prepared everything I needed so that I could get up at 4.15 am in a relaxed state. Clothes, lamp, food, drinks, insulin, coffee. For those who don't know: breakfast starts with coffee to get your digestion going. If you don't, you'll search in vain for a dixi along the way.

When I put on the chest lamp I immediately think back to my first trail, a night trail in the Scottish borderlands. I've now chosen this lamp because I hate a lamp on my head, but also because of the feature that made me so popular with the Scots at the time: the beautiful wide beam of light. Ideal to see the surroundings. Another advantage is its rear light, so you can be easily spotted in the dark.

I actually expected to only need the lamp for the first few miles, until the sun would rise. I had deliberately planned those kilometres in the Groenzoom, a familiar environment without time limits.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Once outside it turned out that the lamp was not all that necessary. There was a beautiful moon. And a lot of fog. This night, according to the weatherman, it should even have frozen and that produces beautiful images above the watery Groenzoom. In the meantime I heard the birds slowly waking up here and there. My grumbling because of the early hour had quickly disappeared because of the serene rest. It ran wonderfully. The first ten kilometers through the Groenzoom were over in no time.

Improvising

The Groenzoom was of course not a very big surprise in terms of the environment. As my standard area to run in, I knew pretty well which paths I could take for unpaved fun. The crossing to the Balijbos was a bit more exciting. Here I also met the first birdwatchers of the day.

The first part was quite similar. Officially this probably belongs to the Groenzoom as well, although it doesn't seem to be completely finished. Therefore it is partly the same type of loam path. But there are also nice parts through meadows. A piece of the route looked really promising in Komoot as it was a loop around a puddle. Reality was different: the path seemed to be closed a long time ago.

Time for plan B: improvising. I checked the map on my watch. I could easily cut off part of the route. But with a route that was already missing a mile, that would be annoying. I saw a route through the grass, only Garmin didn't know it yet. Just carry on, was all I could do. Eventually I joined the route again: there must still be an unpaved path somewhere to make a detour, but I decided not to risk it. At the Dobbeplas I could easily catch up on missed kilometres.

• 

• 

• 

• 

The path here was quite surprising. It went straight through meadows, a bit less park-like than the other parts of the Groenzoom. Route error two was there as well: a bridge with missing planks. This one was easy to avoid luckily.

Neatly raked

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Zoetermeer is mainly known as a commuter city for people who work in The Hague or Rotterdam. The centre is relatively large, but there isn't really much to do. Ok, except for the Mud Sweat Trail Store (after this trip I believe that a trail marathon from the store with 70-80 percent unpaved is quite possible). Unfortunately the lack of ambition also applies to my entrance in the Balijbos.

It is really the only forest I know, where a lot of the paths are asphalted. Paths that are too small for wheelchairs and actually too narrow to be used as bicycle paths. That will be fun with the 1.5 m society. Unfortunately my route was mostly paved. Here and there I tried an unpaved branch, but that often quickly came back on the asphalt paths. I did see some nice huts of the scouting, though.

Neighbourhoods

• 

• 

• 

• 

The closer I got to the Dobbeplas, the more unpaved miles I got. It started with a beautiful piece of tall trees and rapeseed. Then came another Groenzoom-like stretch with loamy paths. There I made some extra kilometers compared to the original route.

For some time it wasn't as quiet anymore. On every corner there was a fisherman's tent. My funniest meeting of the day, however, was a somewhat heavy runner at the Dobbeplas. I had already ran for 25 km and was happily singing along to Alice Cooper when our paths crossed. For a long time he tried to catch up, but without success. I had completed the 26th kilometer smoothly in 5.41 minutes, which is quite fast for me on these distances.

For the last few miles I had actually planned to go through some neighbourhoods of Pijnacker. Then I would be able to walk unpaved paths in parks. However, for the sake of my own peace and quiet, I opted for a paved polder road which I guided for the kilometers along a small part of the start of the route. The sun already started to burn, but I felt satisfied. And I was ready at twenty to nine, well in time.

With a neat 33 km I ended the route on a bench in front of the house. My treat: a vegan chocolate bar from Moon Valley with raspberry flavour. It was tasty, but too potent to eat much of (better for my diet…). If you also did the 19K challenge: it was part of the package you could pick up at MST.

PS Somerville? Indeed, that's part of the Great Virtual Run Across Tennessee I'll tell you more about soon.