Stuttgart, can you run there?

Yes of course. They do have paved streets and walkways there as well and actually training can be very efficient since often you need to get out of the Neckar valley and that means going uphill for more than 15 minutes without a break. It meant for me climbing up 140m in altitude, that drove up the heart rate to 85% of HRmax.

Something that’s quite scarce in the region is space. The streets are relatively narrow especially when cars are parked on both sides. Walkways are sometimes so narrow that two meeting people need to draw aside from each other. As runner it’s then easier to mingle with the cars in the streets.

And quite often it’s fun to do that, you overtake a Porsche or larger Mercedes that just can’t move very fast in those tight places. The area is really rich, it let’s the Rodeo Drive look poor. There in LA you see a big Benz parked after a Porsche after a Z4 BMW on the length of a couple of store fronts. Well, the Stuttgarters pack in between a couple of more Porsches, some Audi A8s, an Aston Martin and some VW Touaregs in addition.

Finally, utilization is really high. Germany is well known for being on the forefront of recycling and the people in the Stuttgart region are famos for being the Scotts in this country - they turn around every penny (well, Euro cent nowadays).  And thus in this light it might not be such a surprise to see this sight of opposites as pictured below. On the background of a highly modern airport, I came across tracktors from well perhaps the 70’s and early 80’s. As long those don’t break down, they won’t go out of use.

today’s training: 13,8km of easy running

Tags: Stuttgart