Watching

I spent much of yesterday evening and today dipping in and out of watching the UTMB or Ultra Tour Du Mont Blanc.  Essentially it's a race around Mont Blanc, over 110 miles long, it involves more ascent than the height of Everest and only half of the 2300 starters finish.  The fastest runner this year completed the course in just 19 hours having run non-stop through the night.  

I walked the TMB route about 8 years ago and just walking it was challenging.  It's not so much the ascents but the descents - it is over 1000m continuously downhill on numerous places on the route, which seriously stresses your legs and knees.

As I'm writing this the race has been going on for over 29 hours. It's now getting to the stage where there are runners finishing every few minutes, many of them accompanied by their families for the last few hundred metres.  The centre of Chamonix is crowded with spectators.  And the best thing - they are giving everyone, regardless of their nationality, the same noisy welcome that they gave the first finisher over 10 hours ago.  And based on previous years that will continue until the last finisher crosses the line around 1630 tomorrow afternoon.

Today's running: 

Total distance:  10.27 miles
Elevation gained:  335 metres

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