The Jungfrau Marathon concluded my "3 mountain races in 2 weeks" adventure in the Alps. In the process, I raced +160 miles and climbed +51,000 feet in 3 countries (Switzerland, France and Italy) and across and around some of the most beautiful landscapes and mountains, including the Matterhorn, Mont Blanc, Eiger, Jungfrau and Mönch, to name the most prominent ones. At the conclusion of my trip to Europe, I had actually had the opportunity to run in a total of 6 countries, including Spain, Germany and Austria.
I arrived in Interlaken, Switzerland via rental car from Zurich airport after a few days of work in Barcelona, Spain. I had only run once while in Barcelona as I was still recovering from UTMB the previous weekend. To be honest, I had no ambitions for the Jungfrau Marathon. I was here to complete another bucket list race and not knowing how my legs would handle it, I just wanted to enjoy it.
The Jungfrau Marathon is widely known as the world's most scenic marathon, so it was no surprise that nearly 5000 registered runners from across the globe showed up the day before the race to pick up their race bibs. There was a decent sized expo in the center of town right next to the race start. The area had already been widely blocked off as I quickly realized when I tried to drive to packet pickup. I had to park my car a few blocks from packet pickup, which allowed my to take a relaxing stroll to familiarize myself with this beautiful town.
I picked up my race packet and enjoyed a free pre-race pasta dinner before checking out the expo and heading back to my rented room. Luckily, I had found a room a 5 minute walk from the race start, but that's about the only good thing I can say about my accommodations. I had ended up with a couple of rather questionable accommodations during my 4 week travels in Europe and this was definitely one of them, but that's for a different conversation. Eventually, I managed to get a decent night's sleep before the 8:30AM mass start the next morning.
Interestingly enough, this race actually provided pacers starting with 4:30 hour goal times in 30 min increments to 6 hours, if memory serves right. I say interestingly, because this race is not like any other marathon I've ever run. For starters, it begins on paved roads and ends on technical trails. More importantly, it is a point to point, all uphill race that continuously increases in steepness all the way to the finish. All that to say that is is extremely challenging to pace towards a particular finishing time under these circumstances.
To help runners pan their race, organizers recommend they add 90 minutes to their most recent marathon times to come up with a finishing time estimate. Since I hadn't run a marathon in some time, I decided to take my marathon PR and add 90 minutes to that for a "goal" time. I lied up next to the 4:30 hour pacer and figured I'd run by feel and use the pacer as a guide. If it felt too difficult, I'd just drop back. I had no plans other than to start slow and see how I felt.
When the race finally started, after a performance of a large group fo Alpenhorn players, I ran completely by feel and immediately lost sight of the 4:30 pacer. In fact, I had no idea if he was ahead or behind me. I didn't realize that he was actually behind me until about mile 12, when an on course announcer I had just passed welcomed the 4:30 pacer along with the crowd of spectators. Prior to that realization, I had actually peeked down at watch when it had vibrated to indicate another mile split. I was surprised to see a pace way faster than I would have expected or hoped. I quickly decided to ignore it and just continue to run by feel. If it felt easy, I was pk with it and if I would start to suffer later, I'd just slow down. The only goal was to finish and to enjoy the journey. For now, I was doing just that.
Around mile 16, I fell in with the 4:30 pacer and we chatted for a bit as we climbed the first of two extremely steep sections on the course. I stuck with him until about mile 20 or 21 and since I was feeling pretty good at that time, I decided to start pushing a little. With les than a 10K to go, I saw no reason to try to preserve any more energy. I was feeling surprisingly good considering the last 2 weeks and with this one being the last in my "race series" I wanted to push at least a little.
Just as I decided to pick up my pace, the course got a little steeper again. I changed to a run walk strategy, letting my heart rate be my guide as we made our way up the final miles to the finish at the Kleine Scheidegg. In the process, I passed quite a few runners. I had a blast. I was feeling great, but the push to the finish did turn into a laborious effort. One only needed to lift his or her head and the views of Eiger, Jungfrau and Mönch mountains and their glacier moraines to forget all about any potential pains. I was only disappointed because my iPhone camera would not allow me to take any pictures until after I reached the finish line. In fact, all pictures in this race report are from the finish line area, since my iPhone would not unlock due to its screen being too wet.
I crossed the finish line 10 minutes ahead of the 4:30 pacer and was happy with both my time and my effort. I ended up spending another couple of hours at the finish line, where runners were served free (non-alcoholic) draft beer and lots of awesome food choices were available for purchase. Along with plenty of food and drink, they had also set up the largest mobile shower station I had ever seen. An Oktoberfest sized tent had been set up as a changing room along with another giant tent that offered nearly 100 showers. I was able to take a long hot shower before taking the 1 hour train ride down the mountain via Grindelwald and back to Interlaken.
Even though I had already completed this bucket list race 3 years earlier in 2015, I could not resist another trip around the Mont Blanc massif. If you've ever been to this area you would understand and if you haven't been and are passionate about adventure and mountain running, Chamonix is nothing short of the world's mecca of trail and mountain running. Sure, there are other contenders in the Alps, but Chamonix and it's now famous Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc and its weeklong celebration of trail and ultra running with no less than 7 distance events is the clear front runner. UTMB boasts 33,000ft of vertical gain over 105 miles of alpine mountain running.
In fact, people refer to UTMB as the Tour de France of Ultrarunning and rightfully so. It is hard to describe the feeling that rush through your body as you enter one village after another after having spent hours climbing up and down the surrounding peaks and be greeted by thousands of enthusiastic supporters cheering you on with rattles and child sized cowbells like you are indeed about to win the Tour de France. Or the feeling you get when, after climbing 3000 vertical feet in the middle of the night and finally reaching the peak, you are once again cheered by spectators with giant cowbells and you wonder, how did they get up here? Why are they up here in the middle of the night? The feelings one experiences are indescribable.
It is for these reasons and for the sheer beauty I experienced in 2015 that I wanted to come back, no, I had to come back. This time like last time, it would be a bit of a family affair. in 2015, my better half was able to set aside some vacation time to join me and support me for all 39 hours it took me to circumvent Mont Blanc and finish the race. This time, I was able to recruit my brother Andy, who would fly in from Germany to hand out and be my crew. I hadn't spent time with him in a long time, so I was really looking forward this this week, also called race week in Chamonix.
I met up with my brother in Zurich as be both arrived on different planes from different places, he from Hamburg, Germany and I from Huntsville, Alabama, USA. I had rented a car for the week as I felt it would be much easier to get around. After some initial issues with my original reservation, we finally got on the road to Zermatt, Switzerland, where I had planned to participate in a final tuneup race, the Matterhorn Ultraks 50K, but that journey has been described already in another race report. On Monday morning, we left Zermatt for the 2 hour drive to Chamonix. I had reserved a pretty unique AirBNB and I could not wait to see if in person.
We arrived in Chamonix a bit earlier than initially planned, but our AirBNB hosts were very accommodating. We found the place right away, it sat just below the lift to Brevent just 500m from the start/finish area of the UTMB, but not on the actual course, so we would be able to sleep. Like I said, race week is one huge party with runners essentially arriving day and night throughout the week.
Our AirBNB was actually a remodeled wooden train car, probably the coolest place I've ever stayed in, well, almost. The hut on the side of an active volcano in Nicaragua was probably slightly more unique. However, this place was nothing short of amazing, queen sized bed, bathroom, shower, kitchen, dining table, couch, TV, wifi, everything we could possibly need during our weeklong stay.
Pierre and Veronique were gracious and extremely helpful hosts and after a quick tour of our new "home", we headed to the center of town to check things out. I remembered the location of every important venue, so we just went ahead and picked up some basic groceries first. After that, we explored some more before heading back to our caboose.
I pretty much spent the week leading up to the race meeting friends for coffee and dinner, getting my race kit in order, picking up my race bib and taking car of other logistical things. I had been here before, so I wasn't as nervous, initially. That changed pretty quickly on race day, when we received some unwelcome news just 4 hours before the 6PM race start.
I had completed my mandatory gear check with flying colors during the bib pickup two days earlier. There was also a separate mandatory gear list for inclement weather conditions, bot foe extremely hot and extremely cold conditions, but since the weather and the forecast had been fantastic all week, we were not required to present the additional mandatory kit for these conditions. My Thursday evening, I had packed my gear in my 12l Salomon vest and I was ready to go.
On race morning, I met my buddy Brian Bell for coffee to chat about his TDS finish a day earlier and about my impending race. We were talking about the course reruote that had become necessary due to a deadly rockfall just 2 days earlier on the final climb of the course to Tete Aux Vents. The course had seen some rain and we were discussing shoe choices. In fact, I became so concerned I picked up an extra pair of my preferred Altra Lone Peak 4.0 in town, just to have a dry air to change into later on in the race. However, at no time did we discuss the possibility of a dramatic change in weather, so I was extremely surprised when I received an email from the race organization just 4 hours prior to the race informing us that we were required to pack the mandatory winter kit along with the other mandatory gear. Apparently, the forecast now called for rain for the next 24 hours along with temps as low as -10 celsius or 14 degrees Fahrenheit. Quite the change from the 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit we'd been experiencing all week.
A little bit of stress set in as I struggled to decide exactly what extra pieces of gear to pack. I had brought different additional layers and jackets that would fulfill the mandatory requirements, so now I had to make some tough choices. Ultimately, I found an appropriate balance between weight and function and I was lucky to be able to hand the rest of the gear to my brother in case I needed another change at a later stage of the race.
I laid down for most of the midday trying to get some rest. Sleep was impossible, so the next best thing was to just rest my body. About 3 hours before the start, at 4PM I started to tape my feet, inside of my big toes, inside of the balls of my feet and the edges of both of my heels. I use KT tape as it allows for some stretch as I pull it around the corners or edges of my heels, preventing any creases in the tape, which would ultimately cause friction blisters, which is why I was taping my feet in the first place.
I threw on my race kit, opting against my racing singlet and instead wearing a long sleeve mid layer along with a rain jacket and shorts. I would keep waterproof gloves easily accessible as cold hands are another common issue for me, especially at higher mountain altitudes.
Since I still had to drop off my drop bag for the mile 48 aid station in Courmayeur at the collection drop off spot at the local gym near the race start, we decided to leave the comfort of our caboose around 4PM. It was raining pretty steadily at this point. We dropped off my bag and now had about 90 minutes of time to kill before the race start. I had no desire to stay out in the rain any longer than necessary, so we did like the French do. We found a cafe near the start and ordered a couple of lattes to stay both warm and dry.
With about 45 minutes to go, I lined up at the race start in the big market square. The front area is roped off to allow space for the elite field of runners and behind that it's everyone for themselves. Please lined up hours before the start and while I very vividly remembered the frustration of being stuck behind runners for almost 40 miles, I also remembered how badly I suffered later on and that it never hurts to start slow. So I was perfectly content to line up in the very back, I mean the very back. The only folks behind me were spectators. I took in the atmosphere and as the actual race start approached, I was eager to get started. I had come up with some A,B, and C goals, but at the end of the day, my goal in a 100 mile race is always to finish, no more no less. To finish is to succeed. Don't believe me? Check the list of DNFs from this year alone, lots of carnage across the board. Nearly 800 runners out of a total of 2500 runners did not finish.
If you want to be technical about it, I actually beat Kilian, Jim, Zack and a host of other elites that abandoned the race for a multitude of reasons, some of them due to going out too hard, some of them due to unfortunate injuries and falls. All that to say, anything can happen over the course of 100 miles and when you train long and hard for these events, the main goal should always be first and foremost to finish. At least that's what I believe.
As the race got started, the giant throng of runners slowly snaked its way through the narrow streets of Chamonix. Runners were excited, spectactors were excited, video cameras and flashing everywhere. There wasn't a single empty spectator spot anywhere along the course for nearly all of
in Chamonix. these images would be repeated in just about every village we passed through for the most part, day or night.
I settled into my perceived easy pace pretty quickly. It required me to pass a runner here or there, but for the most part, the early stages were uneventful. The miles ticked by quickly and I was mostly concerned with the slippery and muddy terrain on the downhills. My focus was going to be on my hydration and nutrition plan early on as I knew that it could be an issue later on in the race.
Without giving a blow by blow, the first 50K and even 50M went by without any issues. No hotspots, no hydration issues. My brother met me at 30k and 50M providing a much appreciated mental lift. At Courmayeur, I decided to change everything but my shoes and socks. After having been wet for 13 hours, it felt great to out on some dry clothes. I was hoping that it would stay dry at least for the time being. It was challenging to keep my temperature regulated, as it was warm in the valleys and bitter cold at the higher altitudes. However, I prefer to be warm and sweaty over cold and dry, so I kept opting for an extra layer for most of the race.
Things continued without any serious issues, but the climb out of Courmayeur to Refuge Bonatti was the first one that felt challenging. Things didn't get easier after that. I continued to move pretty well and I was in good spirits the entire time, but slowly my feet were starting to hurt a little. I'm happy to report that I never developed any blisters, but the pain continued to increase, making the downhills the most challenging part as the race went on.
Thankfully, I connected with a British expat from the Netherlands and we continued on together for the remainder of the race. We still had high hopes of finishing in under 34 hours but as we started the final (newly added) to last climb to replace the rerouted climb to Tete Aux Vent, these thoughts were fleeting fast. This was the third straight up vertical 500m climb after two 1000m climbs in just the last 20k and it was wearing us down. We were questioning not our sanity, but the thoughts of the race directors when designing the final third of this course. There was some cursing as well, but ultimately we knew were were getting it done, just not as fast as initially hoped. In fact, my A goal (still realistic at mile 48) and my B goal (still realistic until the final 2 climbs) had passed and there was only the C goal and the "just finish" goal left. Sometimes, it's a good idea to have multiple goals. While it may allow some to adjust their goals to easily, I like it because it means i'm not putting all eggs in one basket. I am able to stay in the race mentally as I haven't failed until I drop from a race. A backup goal is very important to me in 100 milers.
There was still some silver lining. As Alan and I made our way down from La Flegere, the final 10K descent to the finish, we knew we'd still finish the race in the dark of the second night and that was a victory in and of itself for me. We cruised to the finish, cursing the occasional root and rock on the final switchbacks down to Chamonix, but when we hit the pavement, all of that was quickly forgotten.
We crossed the finish line to the cheers of our personal supporters, the only drawback to finishing at 5AM in the morning:-) Other spectators were still in bed recovering from the party of the previous night. Another reason to not rush to the finish as the latest finishers usually have the biggest crowds on Sunday afternoon. Once again, this race was everything I had hoped for and more. I cursed it more than once and swore to never run again. Never has already been replaced by "maybe in a couple of years". Chamonix, its people and the Mont Blanc massif have a special place in my heart and my life. If you ever question why you trail run, come to Chamonix and you will never question it again, ever.
For me, it was made even more special because my brother joined my on this, my second journey around this magnificent mountain. I'm glad I got to spend this time with him and I'm sure he enjoyed it almost as much as me, even though he's never worn a pair of running shoes just to run in them:-)
Please comment below, if you are interested in the mandatory gear an other gear I used and I will gladly share it.
