Prealps Trail du Mouret Race Report

I managed to sneak in a stopover in Switzerland on a work trip to India. I landed in Geneva on Saturday and swung through Chamonix. Ahhh, how I love Chamonix. After spending a bit of time in town, I drove up to Lac Emosson and did some exploring. Somehow I haven’t been there with the family yet and definitely want to go back with them.

I found a 28 mile race on Sunday in a part of Switzerland I hadn’t been to before. The plan was to run it in the morning, swing through Grindelwald on the way to Zurich, and then fly Sunday night over India. Totally reasonable, right?!

It looked like a stout course, so I figured sub 6 hours would be a good goal. Sunday’s 5:30am wake up was ROUGH with the jetlag. The race started with a 3,000 foot climb, and I was most definitely not awake yet. I again found myself the only American in a field of 300-400 runners, and as usual in Europe the race had a fast start.

While not the dramatic scenery of the true alps, the mountains here were beautiful, and I really liked the route. I struggled on first descent and the second climb, which was a real chinscraper. My nutrition was off, and I still felt half asleep.

I finally started waking up in the last third of the race. I picked up the pace and charged hard for a strong finish. I passed 10+ people in the back part of the course and finished in 5h45min, better than expected despite my half asleep start.

After the race, I made my way to Grindelwald. It had been 5 years since I was there, so it was fun to go back and reminisce. Some friends from work also just happened to be there, so we met up for an early dinner after they got back from their hike.

I love exploring new places I wouldn’t otherwise find and am glad I signed up for this race. I’d do it again in a heartbeat!