Sun, Nov 11, 2018 - 10K - 00:00:00
10K Tegeler Forst Crosslauf with Hannah and Gisi
We had three choices for our November 10K race: (1) the Teltowerlauf, which we had already done back in 2012, (2) the Tropical Islands run which Hannah didn't want to do yet since she will be going there with a friend soon, and (3) the Tegeler Forst 10K Crosslauf up northwest of Tegel Airport near Konradshöhe, which is the one we choose. The race was easier to run than it was to find. We literally drove all around the forest on various roads looking for a sign of the start, two cell phones gives us conflicting directions on Google Maps since we typed in two different streets as target destinations. We ended up once in Tegel, and once somewhere in Konradshöhe, where when I asked a man at the gas station where the Schwarzer Weg was and received a typical Berliner answer, "Oh, Sie sind janz falsch!"  
 
Time was running out and while driving in the direction the man told us to drive, we saw what seemed to be someone waiting at a kilometer marker, so I hopped out and asked him if he knew where the race was. He said he was at the 9K marker and so the start and finish were one kilometer away, and to drive to the start we would have to drive around the whole forest again.  
 
So only having 20 minutes before the start, we decided to just park the car there and run the 1 kilometer to the start, a nice warm-up run. We picked up our numbers and by the time we put the last safety pin in attaching them to our shirts, the first runners were off, and we were right behind them, only 345 people in this race. 
 
The whole race was through the forest, a few little hills, some of them quite steep, about ten logs lying across the pathway which we had to jump over, one we had to crawl over, and lots of roots in the path, some painted, some not, so you had to pay attention where you were running. It was lightly raining most of the run but conducive weather for running through a forest, you got the full nature intake, wonderful fresh air the scent of wood the whole way. 
 
As always, Hannah started her end-sprint 200 meters before the finish line, this time around a corner and down a hill, and I tried to follow her. Afterward we saw that there were only 18 other runners after us out of 345 runners, so they were all quite fast, more than two-thirds under an hour, even on this definitely non-personal-best course. As a winter run this is one to recommend, just give yourself some extra time to find it.