Krampuslauf

While most kids were snuggled up in bed, dreaming of reindeer and the big Jolly old Elf, I was lying in bed terrified of the night ahead. You see, growing up with a mother of strict German descent, the demarcation between naughty and nice could be razor thin. As I lay in bed tallying up my years performance and placing my W’s and L’s in their respective columns, the specter of Santa’s evil twin brother coming to steal my presents and exact retribution for a year of misbehavior, weighed heavy on the minds of my brother and I. Most kids were told of Santa’s naughty and nice list. We were told of Santa’s nice list, but also educated on the half goat, half demon yang to Santa’s ying. When Christmas time rolled around, the naughty kids were punished by Krampus. The leather basket strapped to his back to carry naught children away, his curved horns, red forked tongue, and half human/half animal body were enough to keep us in bed and not look for the fat man shimmying down the chimney. Most years I’d sleep with my slippers on so that I could run from the punishment I was sure would come.

Recently, I have discovered that Krampus is celebrated with the Krampuslauf (Krampus Run) in many of the Central European alpine countries. This year we’ll apply a slight amount of punishment on you all to hopefully satiate the ol’ demon elf and allow you all a worry free holiday season. December 21st is the winter solstice (also a bunch of folklore with this yearly occurrence) and the day of our challenge. As such, the challenge is to inflict a slight amount of punishment on those legs you’ve worked so hard to strengthen. You’re instructed to do a 5k track workout. Not just any 5k track workout either. You need to alternate running forward 400m with running backward for 400m. In the end, you should wind up with 1.5 miles frontward and 1.5 miles backpedaling. One of your miles will still need to be under 15 minutes. Fail the challenge and…well…take the risk. Remember to tag Josh and I in the comment of your activity (@joshpierce and @ryanmellem). As always have fun, be safe, and anything worth doing is worth overdoing.