I’m Alex, German citizen, born in 1971 and settled down close to Shanghai since more then a decade. Never ever I was into any kind of sports. In 2012, when I was just in my 40’s, I felt the urge to change something in my life. I became a 105 kg (231 lbs) and chain-smoking couch potato over the last years.
So I started in March 2012 a crash diet and started walking home instead using the elevator (I live in the 25th floor 🙂 ) A month later I started with some bicycle tours around my city and I really to liked it to push myself to the limit (which was very low at this time)
3 month later and 10 kg lighter, I made my first running steps. That was a disaster and an eye opener. I couldn’t run for even 500 meters. My lungs was burning and I was coughing all my self rolled cigarettes, made with the strongest black tobacco, out of my body. I stopped smoking at this day and since then I never ever touched a cigarette again.
Running became the new sport addiction in the second half of 2012, followed by the decision to stop drinking any kind of alcohol and in September 2013 I finished my first marathon in Beijing.
During 2014 I increased my muscle strengths, improved running technics and stabilized my weight which is now 72-74 kg (159-163 lbs).
In 2015 I focused to increase my monthly training mileage and started to run ultra-trails. Meanwhile most races I sign in are longer trail runs and I’m jumping around mountain ranges, deserts or bamboo forests, but I still run a city marathon once in a while.
Running is my new addiction (the only one since I quit all others), and challenging myself at ultra-long distances is a great adventure. The improvement of the body is limited. Limited by age, talent and many medical-physical factors. But the improvement of willpower is unlimited. Therefore looking forward to an prosperous future.