Mont Blanc 80km, or more like 90km...

Most of my blogs are in French, but since it's an international race, here goes for a very short write-up of my perspective of the Mt Blanc 80km, in English!..

You know you're doing something a bit silly when your alarm goes at 2:45am and you're asking yourself how much food you need for fifty miles of very hilly running...

So up the hill we went, a stream of headlamps up the Chamonix-style smooth ziggy-zaggy footpaths...

And it has to be said that the early start was well worth it for the view of the sun rising over Mt Blanc and the other mountains on the other side of the valley...

Onto the second climb and Alex Nichols and I break off the front. He's running super efficiently, as he does. And I'm feeling pretty good too...

Half way up the second climb my head goes really light and the legs suddenly feel rubbish. It was a bit of shock to feel so naff so early on. Lack of long mountain climbs in my recent running? or the altitude? I just hoped the phase would quickly pass...

The downhill wasn't much better, until I got low enough and back into thicker air. At this point I realised the race was going to be a hard-fought slog...

Several hours later and onto the last climb. Alex has long since disappeared off the front. I initially take 2nd position and feel confident. A gap grows behind me. But once again, near the top of the climb, my legs go very weak again. Suddenly the quads are cramping and even walking becomes tricky. I get re-overtaken by Frano Colle, moving much more effectively than me up the steep slope, with walking sticks...

The last descent I was counting down the meters. A thousand meters feels like nothing after ten and a half hours. Even with completely smashed legs it's quite possible to throw yourself downwards for half an hour, luckily...