Well things accelareted a bit over the summer. As my big race got closer, I seemed to be losing the will to
blog and I didn't post for a while. My training however was going well. I went over the
first stage of the run; 18 kilometres for 1500 metres of altitude. It was
hot, hard work. In addition the course hadn't been marked yet, so in a
couple of places I got a little lost. The first 5km was okay, a steep
climb followed by a long descent into the head of a valley.
Unfortunately the ground was very damp and my feet were quickly soaked.
The next part was a very steep climb with sections traversing steep slopes of
scree. I lost my path, and I have to admit my cool. I finally
scrambled over the last pass and saw the last 5km of the path unravelling
before me. I felt that I hadn't run much, and the three-hour objective
had turned into 4 hours. I was able to jog over the last kilometres, and
consoled myself that my longer than planned time was due to doubts about the
track. The next day I felt pretty pleased, as I was not aching too much,
and I feel pretty confident that as I knew what to expect I would be faster
on the day. In between I did some short runs, plenty of exercises and
stretches. Of course there was also a long mountain walk in
between.
Then I ran over the second stage of the big race, easier, but
still 18 kilometres for 894 metres of altitude. The weather wasn't great, cloudy and cool. I was able to make use of the fleece that the race rules require that runners carry. Once again my feet were quickly soaked and I made a mental note to pack a change of socks. The other problem was the
lack of indications on the path to follow, particularly towards the end, but I expected this to be better on
the day.
Ten days holiday by the sea, with some short runs and one long mountain walk, and suddenly the big day had arrived.
