Written by Mike Raffan - http://ultramiker.blogspot.co.uk

Its been more than 2 months since I was in Chamonix and I haven't written about it yet, Skip to the end if you want to know why or continue reading if you want the whole story.

Flight was on the Friday, had ballzed up the fights booked a day early. George and Karen were arriving on the Saturday and we had planned to travel with them. Leaving Aberdeen Thursday evening we stayed at Annette's friend house in Edinburgh which meant to didn't have to drive down at some stupid time in the morning to get our 9am flight. It also meant we could leave the car there and get the bus to the airport. Everything was smooth for the easy-jet flight Geneva and the mountain drop-offs minibus to Chamonix. Due to my mix up in the flights and everywhere in Chamonix being booked we also had to shuffle about accommodation to save paying for full weeks. We were there for 10 days but it would have worked out as one full week and two part weeks and charged at three full weeks. Tip for anyone thinking of doing any of the UTMB races. Book accommodation now and worry about getting in to the race later. Accommodation one and three were in the same place and as it happened it was the same room. Mountain highs: a very nice chalet about 2km from Chamonix center, with a hot tub and a nice view of Mont Blanc, the main cooking/eating/chilling area was shared with other people and we had our room to ourselves. All the accommodation that we stayed in was self catering. I didn't want to be relying on food that I didn't have much choice in leading up to the race. So off to the supermarket we went. It didn't take long to realise that Chamonix made it money from tourism which mean one thing, everything is expensive!

Chia Charge taste just as good up mountains

While hunting down the isles trying to figure out what things were and avoiding the tins of snails, we were approached by a guy, "Do you run with Cosmics?" "errr yes." I'll let you away with us standing out as tourists but that was a bit specific. Turns out it was Kyle Greig, a very fast 10k/half marathon runner from Aberdeen and one of is friends I think his name was Barney. Kyle was out on holiday just training for a few weeks and didn't even know the UTMB races were on until he was there. He
was on his last few days so we arranged to go for a run the next day, since I had no idea where I was going, I was happy to follow them.

Day 2 we were on the road again to the next accommodation this time we were in the centre of Chamonix. Tip 2 if you are looking for accommodation and it says Chamonix Sud that's a good thing, it means you have about a 5min walk to the main street. An apartment this time, with the whole place to ourselves, if we had wanted there was a sofa bed to fit another 2 people. I met Kyle and co at the train station and we ran up the Montenvers. They were taking it easy after a hard day previous, just as well as I wasn't planning anything hard.

On returning to the station I was waiting about using the free WiFi that was in various places in the town and I saw 3 people raking in a bin. Strange I thought for a small place like this but thought nothing more of it. I realised that there was two train stations right next to each other,one for the mountain train and the other for he normal train so I went over to the other one to see if Annette was waiting there. just as I got there I saw the three bin rakers getting put in the back of police cars. I tried to ask uniformed police officer if he spoke English so I could tell he what I saw but was an arrogant F***** and brushed me away. An under cover police officer came up to me a few minutes later and asked what I was trying to tell them. I showed them where the bin was. he tried to take all my detail saying he would be in touch and I better stay in the apartment. I was on holiday and I already told him everything I know, I wasn't staying in anywhere. I didn't hear from them again.
Someone told us about a slightly cheaper supermarket south side of the motorway, it wasn't that much cheaper just a lot busier. After a trip there we met up in the Jekyll and Hyde pub for food with George, Karen and Bob Alison and his wife. Kyle joined us later. I had the Ghetto burger, if you managed to finish it you get a free beer. I didn't even want the beer but couldn't turn down the challenge.

Day 3. We were on holiday so better get some touristy things done. We bought a 2 day Mont blanc pass, this allowed you to get on all the ski lift around Chamonix. Unless you are skiing/walking/running every day then you can get most things done in 2 or 3 days. It gets cheaper the more days you buy. First place to go was the highest place we could get some "altitude training" in. having never been at that altitude before I wanted to see how I felt. l'Aiguille du midi at just over 12,600ft should do the job. Tip 3. get there early, we got there at about 8am and there wasn't a queue, later in the day there was a bit of a wait. the ski lift was about the size of a mini bus rising up though the clouds quick swap over at half way the up again. First thing that we did was head to the gondola panoramic that goes over to Italy. I think you are supposed to be able to get off at the other wend and have a look around but because for renovations at the other station it was a continuous round trip.

Tip 4. bring your own food. Since it was about -10degrees C we thought we would go for a hot drink in the cafe but it was rammed and although I didn't see to have any ill effects of altitude some others didnt come off so well, the cafe stank of sick. We managed to find a viewing platform that was inside and hardly anyone was there so it made for the ideal place for lunch. After about 5 hours at altitude (that's enough right?) we started to head down the mountain stopping at the half way point which I am sure is a lot more interesting if you are going walking or skiing in the winter.

We headed over to the Montenvers where I had run with Kyle and Barney the other day but this time got the slow train up. The crystal museum was vaguely interesting until you looked at the signs and 90% of them were from Brazil not the Alps. There is also a glacier tunnel that lets you go inside the glacier. They go on about how much the the glacier has melted in the last 20 years but I couldn't help thinking that drilling a massive tunnel into it isn't going to help.


Monday day 4 we caught the bus, which are all free in the Chamonix valley well if you are a tourist and have a pass given by your accommodation. Headed down to the Grand Montet and if it hadded been for the day before we would have thought "WOW!!!! this is fantastic" but it wasnt quite as good as the l'Aiguille du midi. Next stop Flégère and a walk over to the house of cheese (chateau Chesery). Annette kept telling me of for making up translations. While sitting having something to eat we bumped in to Thomas the crazy German. His wife Slike was over doing the CCC so he was out for a training run. I later found out that the route we were walking on was near the end of the race route. The only 2 miles I have now recce'd

Tuesday Day 5. It looked like we had picked the perfect days for going up in the mountains as today it was torrential rain. The river going through Chamonix had gone from a perfect crystal blue to a clay grey colour and was about 2 meters higher. some of the main streets in town had been closed off as they were so close to flooding. including some of the road the the race route would come through. this was the first day of the Expro/Village thing which was full of people trying to sell you fancy kit and do their races all over the world. Later that day I met us with Ross Lawrie and Martin Pryce and we went for a run with team Inov8. In the world of running UTMB week is the perfect place for celeb stalking. The team has some of the best runners in the world. Robbie Briton who I met at the west Highland way race in the summer. Nickademus Hollon winner of the Barkley Marathons. If you dont know this race then you have to watch this video

Joe Grant winner of the Hardrock 100. Its not often you just go out for a gentle run with people like that. Robbie had asked what shoes I am wearing for the race and I said the F-lites that I had one, his response was worrying "you'll be doing good if you get round in them" not the response I wanted from an Inov8 athlete.

The next few days were rest time we didn't do much apart from go see the TDS finish and bumped in to Luis Alberto Hernandez who although he had never run this distance was one of the favourites to win UTMB.

We went for "Coffee"(I dont like coffee) with ross and Donnie Campbell and Mike Wardain asked if he could come and join us.

 

Day 8 race day, 5pm I had been told the first few miles were like a city marathon fighting your way though the people who has selfishly gone too near the front as if the 20meters further forward is going to help them in a 106 miles race. I turned up just over an hour early and the start as already packed. I managed to squeeze into one of the few spaces left at the bottom of the steps and yet more people pushed their way in. with about 30min to go the heavens opened and the run was on. waterproofs donned and ready to go. The race numbers have a little flag of your nationality, a good idea in such an international race. It mean you can tell if someone will understand you if you start talking to them. I managed to spot that the girl next to me was had a UK flag and the Name: Gemma small print: Bragg. I said hello you must be Jez's wife. I think in any other situation she would have been a bit freaked out, celeb by association but given there as so many non English speaking folk around she was happy to chat until the start.As the time grew closer the music started playing (UTMB theme tune is Vangelis Conquest of paradise

). I wished Gemma good luck and we were off! She finished in 40hours 46min, 16hours behind Jez but he knew the course.

Getting out of Chamonix the streets were lined with people 5 deep for miles, there was no chance i could see Annette or anyone else. Getting past people wasn't that bad, but there was a lot of them that obviously started too near the front. I think if they has taken a read of the chips at the start then I probably would have been around 7 hundredth place. I had wondered whether to take leki stick with me and thankfully I did I took them out of my bag near the start of the first climb and didn't put them away for the rest of my race.I think I must be too used to the Scottish weather as even when it was pissing it down I was fr to hot so ended up taking off my water proof jacket. I was going to get ass wet from sweet as I would from the rain anyway.
Each town we went through it did matter what the time of day (or night ) it was the street were still packed with people. This race is described as the tour du France of ultra and I can see why. A combination of it being early hour of the morning and I had bee up all night mixed with my bad French but everyone that I run past would shout "Allez Allez Allez" Tour style but then they would add something that confused me, from what I could make out it was either "Fromage" or "Framboise". Even with me little French I knew fromage was cheese and due to raspberry beer I knew what framboise was. But why were they saying Go Go Go Cheese/Raspberry. Well one things for sure it gave me something to think about as the many hours went by. since I have taken so long to write this up a large sections of the race is now a blur so I have just jotted down the memorable bits so I learn from them the next time.

Coming out of Cormayeur (the only photo I took during the race)

Something that I was told by George before doing my first West Highland Way race was don't go down conic hill too fast your will trash your quads and you wont be able to run come Kinlochleaven. So I had this stuck in my head for the first 2/3rds of the race.

When we were out of the towns you were either going up, (and I mean UP!) or going down. the biggest going from 2,680ft to 8,00ft in 14miles. you cant train for that much constant climbing in the UK. and once you are up you have to go down the other side.

There was a checkpoint somewhere I cant even remember which one it was, probably due to before the race I didn't bother to look at the map or the what any of the check points where. I had looked at the elevation profile and knew there was 8ish main hills, let me rephrase that. 7 and a bit MASHOOOSIVE MOUNTAINS. I had no idea what any of the check points looked like so had no reason to remember any of them. I know they were about 6ish miles apart and they all had the same food. This was something I learned I didn't like about he race. All the check points had the same food, All the check points had the same food, All the check points had the same food, it started to get a bit repetitive especially when half of the food was salami and cheese, not my first choice for running food. This was probably why later in the race I could feel I hadn't eaten enough. At one point I could feel I was starting to get low on sugar so I took emergency action. 600ml water bottle 5 sugar cubes, I could hardly taste the sugar so next checkpoint 10 more cubes, that was better, next checkpoint tp op the water another 10 cubes. I needed that.


I think it was just as we were entering Italy at the top of one of the climbs the people at the check point were dressed in big ski jackets and they said to me "are you not cold?" as I was weather a vest and shorts. " I am from Scotland this is warm" I think they understood what I meant. If I was standing about for hours i the middle of the night at the top of a mountain I would be cold as well.

I have to say all but 2 checkpoint people were very happy and very helpful. the first one was a check point in a big marque where they would announce over a PA system the runners names and county as they entered and left. "Mike Raffan from England". she didn't like it when I said I was from Scotland not England and the Flag is United Kingdom. someone spoke to her in French and I heard the next person getting announced as Great British. As I left the person that had a word with her gave out a shout of "come on Scotland".

Just before you entered one of the check point there was a row of about 10 tables, each runner got directed to the next one that was free and they were asked to produce 2 times from the kit list of the person at the table command just to prove you had it. If you didn't have it you got a 30 min time penalty. I think certain items like waterproof you may have been pulled from the race.
check point kit check. I think this is a great way to enforce the rules everyone has the same time delay and everyone is checked.

Annette and the Duggans met me at 3 places. Courmayeur: it was good to see some friendly faces but they only saw me for a few seconds as they weren't allowed in to the checkpoint area. We had a drop bag at this check point and for the previous 20miles I had been looking forward to getting a few chia charge bars, just havnt something I knew I liked waiting for me was a great motivator. the Doh moment came when I started to put them in my bag and realise I had 2 on me already. One thing that they were able to do was solve the Go go go cheese conundrum, they laughed at me then explained it was "Allez Allez Allez Bon courage" My one was better so from now on its Go Cheese.
 Trient: this is where the second grumpy marshal was. Annette has a pass for the checkpoint here iso she was able to come in. the test was split in 2 one half for supporters and the other for non supported runners. the non supported side had about 3 people in it, the supported side was packed yet the grumpy man would allow anyone to sit at the wrong side. this was the pint Dave Troman caught up with me and his friend Clare was there, I didn't remember at the time but I think I met her at Lakeland. she had brought a bottle of coke and it tasted like nectar, thank you Clare!

Going into a second night of running was a new experience for me, I wasn't really feeling sore or even that tired but I just wanted it to be over. I had no doubt throughout the whole race that I could finish, but I just felt right I know I can do it now so can it just be over. I think this came about after the 2/3ish point what I tried to push on a bit and couldn't. I was able to pass loads of people on the up hills but every single person that I passed would pass me again on the down hills. I had saved my quads but but something just wouldn't let me go. looking back on it now it is simple, I just didn't eat enough. Not being able to go down hill was my brains way of saying eat more and you can go. the Third place Annette and Co met me was in Vallorcine and they had brought me 2 slices of pizza and I have to it was the best thing I have ever tasted, it may have been the low blood sugar talking.

Leaving Vallorcine we were on to the last massive climb looking up you can see lights in the sky, is that a bird? is that a plane? no its runners head torches and they are not even at the top yet. climb was brutal so steep after a while it started to switchback just because you couldn't climb that steep. near the top it got to a point where I was holding my poles in one had (too much effort to put them away) having to climb up on boulders. when you look down all you could see was darkness and little dots of light several thousand feed down. When you have been up for around 40 hours and running for 30 of them you haven't eaten enough this is not a great place to be. Then the strangest thing happened when I got to the top I knew exactly where I was at least it looked exactly like somewhere I had been before. I knew exactly which way to go but I didn't understand it. It wasn't just my state or mind at the time because I still remember it now, I just don't know how I could have been there before. we hadn't gone that far in our walk the other day. It wasn't long before I was on ground that we had walked the other days but only for about 3 miles. La Flégère  there was loads of people hanging about in the checkpoint I couldn't understand why there was only 7km to go and it was all down hill, I checked in and got out of there as quick as I could.

Only 7km and down Hill, HA! it was the longest 7km I have ever run it was like the decent into Kinlochleaven the destination never gets any closer. I could see Chamonix but it didn't matter how far I went I just didn't get any closer. when the town finally came I knew where I was going down the streets I had been walking for the past week. I could see a few people in front of me and a few more behind. At this stage I didn't care if I was going to be  few more minutes so I let the people behind me over take, I had a plan I wanted the finish chute to myself. I had seen all the videos of the streets begin lines with cheering fans, and high fives, I wanted me moment in the spotlight. I run round grabbed my flag from Annette then she run round the quick way as I had to run round the building. What I hadn't taken into consideration was it was 4 in the morning and there was hardly anyone there. I still milked it and high five'd anyone that was there even if they didn't stick out their hand.

Finish in 34hour 17min. 256th

 

Duggan had a rental car that they had used to get to the remote checkpoints so I had the luxury of a taxi home. quick shower to get all the mud off and then a well deserved bed. 6 hour later I was awake. wide awake. Annette wasn't to impressed, she slept for a lots longer than I did. I wore compression sock on the flight home, apparently that the thing to do if you are a runner, but as soon as we gained hight one of my ankles started to hurt after while I could take it, I stood up and moved around and the pain eased, as soon as I stopped moving the pain came back. after the plane landed the pain was still there I took off the sock and instantly my ankle was back to normal. lesson learned don't wear them again.

Lessons learned from the race:
Compressions socks for a flight are not always what you need.
Eat for living as well as running when you are on the go for that length of time. 
I think I was under trained for the race,  after the great glen I left sore and took some rest, the training i did after the race was all about time on feet I think more hill work was needed.
If I was to have a Goal like that again doing big races like the DC110 and the Great Glen are probably a bad idea.
i loved every second of the race, but probably around 10% of it I hated and that could have been avoided if I had eaten more.
For now anyway, I probably wouldnt do the race again, not because i didnt enjoy it but because I cant committ the time required to do a good job of it. Box ticked, job done. I might go and do the TDS or the CCC at some point.

I would recommend the race to anyone that thinks they are capable, remember you are talking around double your west highland way time due to the hills.
If you are serious about aiming for a time the you have to train out there for months. I was just aiming to finish and I am happy that I did it. Many better runners than me aimed for a time and DNF'ed, Tim Olson DNF'ed at 110km.

After the race I forced my self to take 3 weeks rest, I didn't feel like I needed it, I think this was due to there being so much walking involved, but it could also be because I wasn't pushing (my brain wouldn't let me). Once the 3 weeks were up I just couldn't be bothered, I didn't have anything to train for and the slightest reason, to clod, to wet, the cat need fed I didn't run. UTMB stole my mojo. I read someone's blog the other days and they were describing a similar thing the end of the season was here and they just couldn't be bothered any more. there solution was to take a break rest more. I have gone the other way, sign up for a race and train more. 2 weeks again I signed up for a race and ever since I have been back running again. it feels like I have a purpose to get out again.

So the next run is only 3 weeks away and it might just be on the same scale as UTMB.
Bring on The HILL!!!