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Who Is The Harlerunner?
Profile
My name is Thomas Pier, I am 46 years old and live in the beautiful Münsterland (Germany). Actually I am an architect, but I have never really worked in that profession. Since my graduation I have always done “something on the internet”, which led me to do marketing and public relations work for architects.
Athletic Background
My athletic career began in elementary school with competitive sports. At that time apparatus gymnastics certainly laid an important foundation stone. Tennis, volleyball and at some point martial arts followed. Besides Ju-Jutsu and Judo, I did Taekwondo for more than 12 years – again as a competitive sport and crowned by participation in open German and European championships. Nevertheless, I didn’t make it to the black belt, because with the end of my university education and the subsequent self-employment the time for the sports was getting too short.
Did I mention that I also did triathlon at the same time? That too was over. What remained was the occasional running and a fancy road bike on the wall. But with a job and (at the same time) further university studies, that too soon dropped – for a few years. For a few years. There were always attempts to find a new beginning, but they were not particularly successful.
Why Did I Start a Blog?
In the meantime I got married, bought a house, planted a tree and our daughter was on her way. I had seven months parental leave coming up – and the firm decision to use this time to become a runner again. I always felt like a sportsman, but my wife had never experienced me as such. That annoyed me so much that I wanted to put everything into this.
This is how the blog was born. How do you make sure that you keep a new habit? You create obligations by telling all your friends about it – or the whole world. I did both and signed up for a 5km company run at the same time. That was in April 2014.
Why “Harlerunner”?
I live in Coesfeld and can start my runs in two directions: there is the “Coesfelder Berg” with its 60 meters of altitude difference on one side and the peasantry “Harle” on the other. This is where I run most often and almost know every trail by now. Therefore I have named the blog after my “home trails”.
Was it planned that the blog would be so extensive?
No, not at all! It all started quite harmlessly. All I cared about was keeping up my running. I read a lot of blogs myself and always found the posts very helpful. So I wanted to contribute and wrote about what I was interested in and what I use in training.
Basically, it’s still the same – even though I am now able to satisfy my curiosity on a broader basis through cooperation. It’s a bit like the child in the toy shop. I really enjoy being able to try out (almost) everything that interests me. And I am happy that so many runners like my reviews about it.
Do you make money out of it?
No, and yes. The posts arise from my own impulses and interests and not because someone pays me for them. However, I am allowed to keep some test products, which is an income as far as the tax is concerned. Therefore I have to mark the reviews as “Sponsored Posts” and I am very careful to point out at the beginning of the text whether there has been a cooperation.The same applies to affiliate links. The blog is and remains free of advertising, but there are manually maintained links to possible sources of supply of the products.
Guidance
The blog has grown so much in recent years that you could almost get lost in it. Therefore I would like to set some signposts here.
Chat
A small chat window appears at the bottom right of the screen, If I am also online right now. Yes, that’s really me answering – no robot and no advertiser ;) So feel free to contact me if you have any questions or just want to say “Hello”. Don’t be shy. :) If you do not see a chat window, you may want to check your privacy settings here.
Archive
Even with a good navigation and a powerful search function, I find myself looking at the archive in order to find a certain article or just to follow the chronological order of certain topics.