Ultra Kraut Running

This review doesn't discuss specific data such as weight, flow-rate or length. I'll leave that to the manufacturer and other retail websites. This review only describes my own experience with the device as well as some things I learned before, during and after its use.

Over the years, I have used quite a few different water filtration systems. I've also given up on some of the more complex filtration products after reading their rather extensive product documentation, never even using them once due to their complicated instructions for use.

When I'm in the backcountry, I don't want to have to remember 253 steps on "how to make your water safe for drinking". Usually, I don't need the filter for car camping trips. The times I had to rely on a backcountry water filtration system were usually during organized trail ultra marathons, where time was of the essence and during self-supported solo adventures, where there was no access to any outside assistance or any safe drinking water that was readily available.

When you first start looking for a water treatment solution suitable for your needs (be it actual water filters or water purifiers), you will be surprised to find just how many different systems there are. There are pump water filters and purifiers, gravity filters and purifiers, Ultraviolet (UV) purifiers, bottle filters and purifiers, squeeze water filters, straw-style water filters, in-line water filters for hydration packs, chemical water treatment pills and good old fashioned boiling.

There are many factors that can and should help you narrow down the appropriate choices to meet your specific needs. How often are you planning to use your system? What do you plan to use it for? Car camping? Multi-day back country hiking trip? Single day ultra marathon? Or maybe you plan to use it for a variety of activities? What are other important factors for you? Ease of use? Water taste? Filtration speed? Filter cost? Once you answer these questions for yourself, you should have a great starting spot on finding the perfect solution.

As mentioned earlier, I've tried many different methods with varying degrees of success. That's not to say any of the tried methods didn't work, they did, but some worked better than others, faster than others and were less problem prone than others.

For a while now, I'd been on the hunt for a quicker, easier solution. I've tried pumps, in-line filters, straw-style filters and chemical solutions. While all of them worked, none of them felt like a natural solution for me with the exception of the in-line filter for hydration bladders. However, I prefer bottles, so that was not a long term solution either. The straw-style filter (with a squeeze pouch) seemed like a great option, but it still required you to stop, scoop up water and then filter it into another bottle for actual use. Not quite as intuitive as I had hoped.

Enter the Katadyn BeFree 0.6L Water Filtration System. One look at this solution and I was sold. I did some research online and bought it from one of the larger online retailers. In fact, I bought two. The BeFree looked like it was meant for ultra runners. It consisted of a collapsible soft flask very similar to the soft flasks currently being provided with the more popular running vests on the market, made by companies like Ultimate Direction and Salomon. The actual water filter sits inside the screw-on bottle top. Since my hydration running vest holds two bottles in the front, it just made sense to me to pick up two BeFree bottles.

This setup was to be my way to get drinkable water during my attempt to cover the entire length of the 76 mile Foothills Trail between Table Rock State Park and Oconee State Park in the Carolinas in a single day or 24 hours. I am happy to report that it worked and performed perfectly, but there are a few lessons learned. As with any product, there is always room for improvement.

When the BeFree bottles first arrived, they seemed to be identical to the bottles that came with my Ultimate Direction running vest. Unfortunately, when I tried to place them inside the front pockets, I realized very quickly that the BeFree flasks were larger (0.6 liters) that the standard soft flasks (0.4-0.5 liters). Initially, this seemed like a dealbreaker to me, until I realized a fairly simple workaround. These are soft flasks and not filling up the bottles all the way allowed for enough compression to place them inside the front pockets of my hydration vest. The perfect solution would be for Katadyn to produce a smaller bottle that fits the pockets of Ultimate Direction and similar hydration vests.

I also noticed that while it appears that Katadyn uses the same soft flask manufacturer (Hydrapak) as many of the other outdoor gear makers, the filter did not fit on these other bottles to due a different thread. I would much prefer an interchangeable bottle filter or filters, one to fit widemouth bottles and one to fit the narrow top bottles. Since the technology lies within the filter and not the bottle, it would just make sense.

One final item that could be improved upon is the actual water filter cap that prevents spillage. Currently, it is a small plastic cap identical to those of the single use "sports-style" water or sports drink bottles sold at your local convenience store. Their single largest "point of failure" is the tiny plastic hinge that keeps the cap attached to the filter. Should this little hinge break during use, one would no longer be able to prevent water from spilling out of the top of the bottle while hiking or running. Maybe a valve similar to other soft hydration flasks would be a better solution.

Now on to the things that make this system the perfect ultra running back-country companion. First and most importantly, there is the ease of use. Twist bottle top (filter) off the soft flask, scoop up water from your natural water source, twist filter back onto bottle, stash bottle back into vest, drink at your leisure. You're back to running within seconds.

Second, the flow speed is amazing. No sucking until your head turns purple. Instead, it's as easy to drink from this bottle as any other hydration flask. Or squeeze the bottle slightly as you drink to make it even easier. This is extremely important when you're exhausted already and/or are moving at speed. The last thing you want to do it catch your breath while trying to drink water, just because the flow rate is too low, preventing and keeping you from drinking water quickly.

That's it, this filtration system simply works simply:-) It is currently the best solution out there for anyone trying to move quickly through the backcountry. Obviously, that applies to every ultra or trail runner out there during a self-supported solo adventure or similar organized event requiring participants to filter their own water along the way. Once Katadyn sorts out the issues I mention above, it will also be more than worth the current retail price tag of $39.95. I still consider this filtration system a "strong buy" as is as there is nothing even close to it currently available on the market.

Even if I was going to be extremely disciplined, it would be nearly impossible to find the time to get in 100 miles. Instead, I rearranged my training plan, but I still had to rack up 80 miles for the week. When Friday rolled around, I was at 40 miles, still needing another 40 over the next two days. To make matters worse, the weather had been pretty miserable all week and Saturday looked to be the worst, yet.

I needed to do something pretty long on Saturday or Sunday. Since there was still a lot of snow at the higher elevations and more snow in the forecast, I had to stay at the lower elevations. St. Gallen is just 6 miles from Lake Constance and I figured there must be lots of hiking trails and bike paths around. A bit of online research revealed just that. In fact, there were two major trails or paths in my immediate vicinity. One 170 bike path looping entire Lake Constance and passing through 3 countries and the Camino de Santiago or Jakobsweg. It took just a few minutes to map out a nice point to point 50K route utilizing these trails along Lake Constance while passing through 3 countries in the process.

The route would start at the front door of my hotel in St. Gallen Switzerland across St. Gallen cathedral and take me 10 kilometers downhill towards Rohrschach, a small town at the edge of Lake Constance before continuing on more or less along the lake towards the town of Bregenz in Austria for about 30 kilometers and finally on to Lindau island in Germany, my final destination for this point to point self-supported solo adventure run.

After following the weather reports, I decided late Friday evening to do a shorter run on Saturday in case the weather got as bad as predicted and try for the solo 50K on Sunday in hopes of slightly better conditions. That would mean, however, that I would be running on Easter Sunday, so I had no idea if any gas stations or shops would be open, when I was in need for food and water during my run. Oh well, that's all part of the adventure.

I left my hotel at 7:05AM on East Sunday morning. It was raining and a chilly 42 degrees. My level of motivation was pretty low, to be honest as the day looked dreary. The weather would not change for quite a while, but I decided to just take it mile by mile, breaking down my run into little manageable chunks. Thankfully, the first 6 miles were all downhill, so all I had to do is fall forward.

I kept a relaxed pace. I was wearing my UD running vest with only a single bottle filled with Nuun. My other bottle had sprung a leak just before I took off on my run. I also carried my phone, a GoPro, passport, cash, credit card and two CLIF bars. I hoped that I'd be able to get water and food at gas stations as needed.

I didn't realize that I would barely eat or drink anything during my run. Temperatures were so cold and wet and I was moving conservatively enough that I didn't really feel hungry or thirsty. As a result, I did not drink my bottle of Nuun until mile 20, when I stopped at a gas station, where i picked up a bottle of water, a 16oz bottle of Coke and a bag of potato chips. I figured I could use a salty snack, even if I wasn't really hungry.

I ended up chugging my bottle of Nuun, refilling my soft bottle and dropping another Nuun electrolyte tab into the water. I also drank half a bottle of Coke and ate half the bag of chips. I almost had to force myself to do so as I was neither particularly hungry nor thirsty. After a8-10 minute stop, I shoved the left over chips in my pack and continued on.

The weather would continue to change throughout the morning. While it stayed mostly overcast, the rain would stop occasionally, allowing me to still get some decent pictures of my surroundings. It took 15 miles for me to finally start to really enjoy the run. I had settled into a nice pace and I was stopping whenever something caught my eye. A beautiful rocky beach, the Alps, interesting architectural structures, lots of things worth a second glance and a picture.

As the hours went by, the paths and trails got busier and busier, both with locals out for a Sunday walk and with tourists visiting the area over the 4 day Easter holiday weekend. While I am not particularly religious, it was kind of interesting to be running on the Camino de Santiago on Easter Sunday. I slowly made my way along the lake and through 3 countries. After just under 5 hours, I finally arrived at my final destination on Lindau island,  a small island in Lake Constance connected to mainland Germany via a short bridge.

Lindau island consists of the Altstadt of Lindau along with a train station, which made it the perfect finish line for my adventure run as I could hop on a train back to St. Gallen once I was done. While my running gear worked perfectly all day, now that I was done running, I was struggling to stay warm while trying to do some sightseeing in town before taking the train back to my hotel. I pulled my waterproof jacket out of my pack and put it on, but I was still walking around in my shorts, earning me lots and lots of surprise looks from pedestrians who were wondering why anyone would wear shorts with temps in the low 40s. 

After a few more photos, I went inside the heated train station to pick up a ticket and devour a large order of fries with ketchup and a half liter of German beer (my victory beer) from a small Kebab shop inside the train station before making my way to the appropriate track for my departure. 

Thankfully, my run was mostly uneventful in terms of any issues. I bought the wrong train ticket initially, which is a bit embarrassing considering I am German and this was a German train station. I didn't take any wrong turns, during my run, I was able to get some food and water at a gas station when I thought I needed it and my GPS watch battery didn't die until after my run, even though I forgot to charge it all week.

Once Iwas sitting on the train, I immediately started to look through all of the photos I'd taken, selecting the best ones for my running blog. I looked at the map of my run as well as my running data, always fun to check out after a run. Before I knew it, I was back at my hotel, taking a hot shower and looking forward to another amazing dinner at my favorite local Vegan buffet style restaurant.

One final suggestion to anyone that has read this far. If you have never done a solo run, do it. Map out a course of any length, anywhere, for any reason or no reason at all. You'd be surprised how much fun it can be, especially without the pressure that can come with the participation in an official race event. Go out there and create our own adventure. I promise, you won't regret it. In fact, you will look at your surroundings differently, always wondering how you could turn this or that into your next adventure run.

I already had a pretty packed 2018 racing and training schedule when my friend and running buddy Rick Rawls told me about the invitation he received from PA runner Larry Creveling, whom he'd met a couple of years ago at the Never Summer 100K. Larry had invited a few PA and NC runners to travel to Oconee State Park to attempt to run the entire Foothills Trail from Table Rock State Park to Oconee State Park, all 76 miles and 16,000ft of vert in a single push.

Rick asked if I wanted to join and when I checked my calendar, I realized that this adventure would fit perfectly into my plans, 5 weeks ahead of my first goal race of the year, the Hellbender 100. The Foothills Trail would be my last long effort and allow me to test out some nutrition and gear selections.

Rick and I loaded up our gear and left Huntsville, Alabama around noon on Friday to make the 5 hour drive to Oconee State Park. Larry had taken care of all of the logistics for this trip and rented out two cabins at the park to house ten of us just a short quarter mile walk from the Foothills Trailhead, our unofficial official finish line.