About

Running in the forest is the most primal running experience you can have. You immerse yourself in the greenery, and the hustle and bustle disappears. You are at one with nature, and the soft forest floor cushions your steps.

I grew up in Waldstadt ("forest town"), a district of Mölln in the Herzogtum Lauenburg county in Northern Germany. Even when everyone started jogging, running in the forest was what we did. We ran in the forest, up a few hills, down a few hills, around a lake, along a canal. Sometimes it rained, sometimes it snowed, but it was always a forest run.

There are so many different types of running these days, from tartan track to urban running to trail running, but for me, running in the woods is still the best type of running.

That's why we've now launched the Waldlauf brand, a small project that we hope will bring joy to many runners. This brand is deliberately minimalist, avoiding loud neon colors and instead paring it down to the essentials. We bring the Waldlauf into the city, but we also run in the forest. Just as was customary in the past, in a cotton T-shirt or, when it gets colder, in a cotton sweatshirt.

I spent the 1989/90 school year in Des Moines, Iowa, on the track and field team at Theodore Roosevelt High School (TRHS). We had wonderful dark blue hoodies and sweatpants from Champion; they were thick and heavy. The idea was that we would all run much faster if we trained in the heavy sweats and then took them off during the race. It probably worked better for others than it did for me. But I loved those workout sweats. So, for Waldlauf, I focused on the colors navy and gray, as a tribute to my school days in Iowa.

The forest calls. You start running.