Neither Here Nor There: The Power of Running In-Between
Vertical Wisdom for the Middle Years
Yesterday, I took part in a very special race—the Vertical Short, part of the Innsbruck Alpine Trailrun Festival (IATF). The format is simple: over the course of 5 kilometers, runners climb just over 1,000 meters in altitude to reach the summit and the finish line. A classic mountain race.
What I hadn’t realized was that this event also served as the Austrian Championships for U18/U20 youth and 60+ senior athletes. So, there I was at the start line, surrounded on one side by runners young enough to be my children and on the other by those old enough to be my parents. I’d never experienced anything quite like it.
Into the Fire
The race itself was intense. Charging uphill (steeeeeep!) for an hour at full effort is a challenging test of endurance from the first step. For me, I managed the discomfort well. I don’t always. Almost immediately, the effort cleared my mind of everyday concerns and replaced them with a kind of healing rawness.
I often wonder if there aren’t more meaningful things to do in life than running up mountains with a pounding head and burning legs. The answer I keep returning to is: Of course there are.
But running provides the foundation that enables other beautiful, big, creative, and enduring things to happen in my life. What it gives me is the baseline, the grounding, for nearly everything else I value.
The Art of Running In-Between
This particular race — side by side with kids and seasoned veterans — felt like a metaphor for where I am as a runner and as a person. I’m not really old, but not exactly young either. Similarly, I’m:
Not especially fast, but not really slow
Not quite experienced, but no longer a beginner
Not seriously competitive, but still showing up to race
Not always a Punk, not always a Levelhead
As I huffed and puffed up the mountain between two generations, I realized something: this middle ground is a privilege we often overlook.
The young runners attacked the mountain with boundless energy, charging upward like it was the only thing that mattered. The older runners, on the other hand, moved with a precision and economy that only decades of experience can teach.
And me? I was both — and neither. A wanderer between worlds. I drifted between the poles, sometimes lifted by youthful momentum, sometimes grounded by mature wisdom. A continuous dance between daring and discipline. Between the Punk and the Levelhead.
The Liminality of the Middle Field
In anthropology, psychology, and literary theory, there’s a concept called liminality — a threshold state between two defined stages. A "neither-here-nor-there" space, where old rules fade and new ones haven’t yet formed. It’s a fertile ground for transformation.
During the race, with each step uphill, I felt my body entering such a threshold state. No longer the everyday life in the valley, not yet the redemption of the summit. Just existing in the rawness of effort.
A conscious embrace of discomfort. A chosen struggle. A liminal joy.
Breathless Between Worlds
In the final 200 meters of elevation, when thought faded and movement became a survival mechanism, the in-between state turned meditative. I was exactly where I needed to be: in the middle, in flow, in the never-ending process of becoming.
As I took the final steps to the summit, I saw them all – the young champions, the old masters, and in between, us, the wanderers between worlds. The finish wasn't triumphant or dramatic. It was simply real. A brief moment of clarity in which I understood that being in-between is exactly the right place for me.
Coming Down with Clarity
On the way back down to the Innsbruck valley, I reflected on what the race had shown me.
I thought about my position between generations, between beginner and master, between ambition and serenity. Perhaps this position is not a lack of clarity, identity, or direction. Maybe it’s the richest possible way to live: constantly oscillating between opposing forces, always in motion, always becoming — never fully defined, but never lost.
The Nordkette mountain flank had not only challenged me physically. It had held up a mirror in which I could recognize my own in-between position not as a deficit, but as a wealth.
Everything Not Running
While I'm here with two friends waiting for the next races at the IATF, a heated discussion has broken out in our vacation apartment about the correct (or tastiest) way to make coffee with a Bialetti stovetop espresso maker.
Making the perfect Bialetti coffee is part science, part ritual, and part stubborn Italian spirit.
First, fill the bottom chamber with water—just below the valve unless you're feeling rebellious.
Add finely ground coffee (espresso grind!) to the filter basket, leveling it off but don’t tamp it unless you enjoy explosions. Or the ground coffee is too coarse.
Assemble the pot tightly.
Place it on low to medium heat.
WRONG: If you hear sputtering like a dragon with asthma, you've gone too hot. Congrats, your coffee is now officially burnt and tastes like regret.
RIGHT: The coffee should rise slowly and smoothly, like lava from a dignified volcano.
PRO TIP: Don’t wait for the pot to gurgle itself dry. Remove it from heat just before the last sputters for a richer, more intense cup.
Sip like a Roman emperor. Then immediately argue that yours is better than any café.
Challenge me.
On Repeat
It was pretty clear that Damnation A.D. would make it onto On Repeat sooner or later. After we featured the band in Willpower's Burning Fight Fanzine Issue One (an interview from 1997), I couldn't stop listening to them.
Each Damnation A.D. album is unique and has its own dark, oppressive vibe. However, I decided to choose "Wait for a Day" from the 1999 album "Kingdom of Lost Souls" for On Repeat.
The song is everything Damnation A.D. is: dark, menacing, introverted. But at the same time this song is something unexpected: a real hit.
And just to show you how well written this epic song is, here's a cover version with a completely different sound that works just as well as the original:
Hey Chris - great essay! Running, coffee, and a music rec all crammed into one? Well done!
Loved the coffee recipe! I’ll make sure to get it to flow like lava 😉