This race has got to be one of the best events on the planet! It is definately in the Top 5 of all the races I have ever done! Right now I have so much to say, that I feel at a loss for words...where to start?
I arrived on Courmayeur, Italy on Thursday...which gave me a few days to acclimate before the race started on Sunday. I have already posted about what a spectacular town this is, situated in a beautiful region of Italy. It was very enjoyable seeing the sights here and enjoying the alpine flair of the area, but dominating the time here was the pending competition.
All of the athletes started to arrive on Friday, and flooded into town on Saturday. The closer the race got, the more excited I became! I felt very confident. I knew I had trained hard...and I was happy with my gear and food choices. Before the race I had trained in all the new gear I had acquired and was already familiar with all of the food I was bringing.
For each day of the race I was bringing along 2 lbs of food! But I felt that my pack was not too heavy. Before I left home I weighed it with everything in it except water, and it was 8 pounds and 8 ounces. For desert racing my pack was 15 pounds starting out, so half the weight was really a piece of cake.
On Saturday, all of the athletes had to head over to the sports centre to register. Our race chips were attached to our wrists like hospital bands, and we got our race bibs...Lucky number 583!!! I had seen the infamous yellow TDG duffle bag in previous pictures, and now had one of my own...LOVE IT! Sorry to get so excited, but I just Love Race Swag! We also got the best technical race T-shirt I have ever seen. On the one hand I want to wear it everywhere...and on the other, I want to keep it in the closet and just bring it out once in awhile to stare at it because it is just that awesome!
We brought the race bag back to the hotel and began to stuff it with the extra things we thought we might need as we got to each lifebase. Comfort food, extra clothing, extra gear and batteries. God, did the bag get smaller from last year? It wasn't big enough for everything I wanted to have handy! So then I had to start over, deciding which items absolutely had to be there and regretfully getting rid of the rest of the other "must-have" items.
At 6pm we lugged the bags back to the sports centre to check in. The next time we saw those bags would be at the first lifebase in Valgrisenche. The pasta dinner was being held here too, but Jim and I did not want to stay for that. I have traditionally avoided the pre-race meals...just to escape some of the hype. I usually like to have a quiet evening the night before a race, and go to bed early.
We hit up a great restaurant that the North American runners like to frequent here...The Pizzeria du Tunnel. We each had a fabulous bowl of Spaghetti Bolognese and some red wine. After that, back to the hotel and to bed.
Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny....Race Day at last!!!! The event begins at a very respectable 10am. Plenty of time to get up, get ready, have a great last breakfast, coffee, and head over to the race start. Jim and I never run together. We always part ways as we approach the start line and we did the same today. We said our goodbyes and Jim disappeared into the crowd of runners.
I was very worried about him. He had come down with an acute case of bronchitis back in Florida, and had still not been able to shake it off. He had a deep hacking cough that emanated from deep within his lungs and invariably brought up large gobs of yellow phlegm. Neither of us really discussed how he was going to be able to get by in the race, because it was what it was. Push ahead and see what happened was all that he could do.
I headed over the the church steps at the start and sat down to enjoy the race commotion. I loved savoring the excitement and nervous anticipation of all the athletes. Everyone had trained so hard for so long, and now the race was imminent. Everyone here could share in the moment, because as they say... just getting to the start is an epic achievement!
All of a sudden Jim came rushing over. What was he doing here? He asked me if I had gone to the tent to have them scan by race band for timing? Duh....No! Oh my God...I had completely forgotten! He had too, and came running to find me because he figured I wouldn't think of it. Can you imagine?!!! I pushed my way over and they scanned the band for me and that ate up some more pre-race time and helped inch us closer to 10am.
And then the countdown was upon us...backwards from 10 in Italian. This was it! I had watched the race video a hundred times and now here it was for real! And then we were off! Running through town to the cheers of hundreds of supporters and townspeople. It felt simply epic! A short run on pavement brought us to the trailhead of Col Arp.
There were so many runners that we were basically all backed up in a line and were forced to travel a certain speed for what seemed like miles. All of us just steadily climbing up and up and up. No one seemed to be too disturbed about going a certain speed with all the others. I think we all knew that there was no need to get antsy when we had 6 days ahead to race. It was a matter of biding our time and letting the race string out.
Along the way there were still supporters out in full force, yelling encouraging words and ringing cowbells. We saw many herds of cows along the way here, and with cows, comes cow crap. Lots of it. And you could tell by the footprints left behind that many peope were stepping in the cow crap. (Mental note...do not step in cow crap because you will smell like cow crap for a long time.)
I got to the top of Col Arp and was really pumped...this was a blast! And the views were incredible! I love this race! So far, so good!!! It was a 2571 meter climb and I had done a great deal of huffing and puffing. But I felt strong and was ready for more...bring it on!
The descent from here seemed quick and easy if I recall correctly. The next Col was Passo Alto...2857 meters. This area was everything I had dreamed it would be. It was breathtakingly beautiful...a stunning waterfall cascading down the mountain into the valley, with flowers everywhere. There was something to look at with every turn in the path. This was heaven on earth. I breathed in the mountain air and felt lucky to be here experiencing this. The sun was shining, and all was well.
But then on the way down from Passo Alto I began to experience a terrible headache. My nose was beginning to run alot, and my breathing was turning into hacking and wheezing. I headed up Col Crosatie and was beginning to slow down. There were some serious scree fields here...what looked like miles and miles of rock in very steep terrain.
I was beginning to understand that you can do all the training you want to become stronger, but unless you train in mountains you are not going to be able to simulate mountain conditions. By that I mean technical footing with rocks and roots and steep ascents and descents. Many people who do this race are like mountain goats. They play in mountains everyday, and can bounce through technical areas with ease and grace.
I am a desert runner. I feel like a gazelle that can bound through desert savanna and sail though sand and heat...but am like a fish out of water in rock and more rock. I have plenty of sand to train on in my backyard...but no mountains. I have never tained in mountains.
I did one other mountain race in my lifetime, and that was the Canadian Death Race. That was back in 2004. I never trained in the mountains for that race either. It is a 125 kilometer race in the Canadian Rockies that goes up and down 3 mountains. You have 24 hours to complete the course. That race was a cake walk compared to what I had done so far here at TDG.
Anyway I was managing the course, but not going very fast anymore. I am terrified of breaking an ankle. I am so terrified, that is might even be a phobia. In my minds eye I can see shards of bone sticking out of my leg...and it scares me to death...so I go slow through rock. I made it to the top of Col Crosatie and began my descent.
I arrived at a CP and stopped to put my headlamp on and my fleece jacket. The volunteers here, as at other CP's were fantastic! I had some hot soup and it made my throat feel a little better. One woman here, her name was Rosie...was just fantastic in helping me out. And it made my day to make friends with some of the herding dogs here that were hanging out near the food table snapping up bits of scraps. I miss my dog!!! It was here that I also met two friends that I had made through facebook....Julia Baykova and Vincenzo Bertina. It was great to get a hug and a kiss from Julia...who is about the sweetest person you could ever meet! I headed out refreshed and made my way toward the first lifebase...Valgrisenche.
I have to say at this point that the trails on this course are incredibly well marked. There are markers in some areas that almost tell you which step to take next and where...like in the scree fields we had just come through. There are the traditional yellow flags everywhere. There are yellow arrows painted on rock, and there are small wooden squares that have been pounded into the rock. There were also small rock cairns everywhere. It was fantastic.
At night though, I found it was a little tougher. I kept looking for the next flag with my headlamp and it just didn't seem like there were enough. I was always worried that I was going off course if I didn't immediately see another flag as I was passing one. At one point I did get lost, following an Italian runner. We were heading downhill forever and there weren't any flags. He got on his phone and called another runner on the course. Turned out both guys lived in the area. The guy I was with got the right directions and we headed back up the mountain and back onto the correct path.
Just before I reached the lifebase I turned my ankle. I went down in a heap and could feel the pain in my right ankle. I knew immediately that it wasn't too serious, just a first degree sprain, but still enough to make me cautious again.
I arrived at the first lifebase at 2 am. I had been on the trail now for 16 hours. I am the 600th runner in and there are only 130 runners behind me. I still have a 5 hour cushion heading out onto the next stage, but it makes me nervous knowing I am so far back. I grabbed my yellow duffle bag and started rifling through it to grab some supplies. Then I made my way over to the food table and got myself some pasta with tomato sauce.
I sat down at the picnic bench to eat when I sensed someone walking toward me. I looked up and it was with shock that I realized it was Jim! I thought he would be hours ahead of me. Turns out he arrived at the lifebase a couple of hours ahead of me and and had stopped to take a nap. He was in really bad shape. His bronchitis was terrible...he was hacking so bad it was shaking his whole body up and he looked gaunt. He was going to carry on but I was seriously worried that he was going to get pneumonia. I didn't say anything tough...it was his call to make and he wanted to continue.
We decided to head out together. We turned in our bags and headed out into the night. By now my hacking was really bad as well. I just could not get in enough air...and I was coughing up massive amounts of green phlegm. I don't know if I was getting what Jim had or it was just a matter of dealing with the extreme effort in climbing these mountains. Either way, it was becoming painful and difficult to breathe.
............WATCH FOR TDG RACE REPORT PART TWO TOMORROW.................
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