After a 5 week break from running at the end of last year, I started laying down plans for 2020 races. It is going to be a big year!
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107.6 miles
33,500 +- vertical feet
I had an amazing experience at UTMB in 2017. I surpassed my expectations, finishing in 30 hours 17 minutes and 138th place. I figured the only place to go was down, so the wise choice would have been to not return. Well, I’m not very wise. While watching from the sidelines in 2018, I knew I had to come back. It wasn’t about trying to go faster, though I’d be lying if I said I don’t want to always improve. It is just a special, unique, magical race that gets in your blood. I had to make the run around the mountain again.
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40 miles
+-16,700 feet
10h5min
During our family trip to Chamonix, I signed up for the Tour de Fiz race as part of the build up to UTMB. It’s 40 miles with almost 17,000 feet of vertical, which is no joke even for races in the Alps. It is a bit longer with 3,500 more feet of vertical than the Trail Verbier race I did two years ago before UTMB, so it would also be a good test of fitness. I ran 17 minute miles at Trail Verbier, so I was shooting for sub 12 hours and 17 minute miles or so.
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28 miles
+-9,000 feet
5h45min
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. I drove up to Lac Emosson and spent some time exploring the area, as we hadn’t been there in our prior visits. Definitely need to go back there with the family!
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 on Sunday, swing through Grindelwald on the way to Zurich, and then fly Sunday night over India. Totally reasonable, right?!
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66 miles
+-23,000 feet
19h2min
GPX track (missing last 4.5 miles downhill)
Without UTMB looming, I was able to pick a big, challenging, scenic race while on the family summer trip to the Alps. This time around it was the Gran Trail Courmayeur 105km. With over 23,000 feet of vertical it looked plenty tough! I was also very excited for the course. I’d get to see some of the scenic sections of UTMB that I did at nighttime, explore some new areas, and see a bit of the course for my new unicorn race, the Tor des Geants.
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105 miles
+-33,000 feet
30h17min
Where to begin? I got into ultramarathons 10 years ago, and way back then UTMB captured my heart and my imagination. About 4 years ago I started working backwards from what it would take to toe the line. 3 years ago I ran a humbling 36 mile race in the Swiss Alps. My Trail Verbier 111km finish 2 years ago started the collection of qualifying points and gave me the confidence that toeing the start line wasn’t insane. I ran an 80 mile race in the German forest and a 50 mile race in the French mountains to get the rest of my points. I entered the lottery late last year and was very lucky to have my name drawn. Game on!
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68 miles
27,600 feet!
29h12min
The Trail Verbier Extreme Alpine was an epic and unforgettable experience. There are two sides to running in the Alps. You are in the most beautiful place imaginable and the views are breathtaking. But the price you pay is enduring the most brutal terrain to earn that scenery. This paradox calls to me and drew me to the Trail Verbier.
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