It's in the Alps, and it's high up.
I thoroughly enjoyed the first stretch -- running out of the village, being cheered on by locals was a very nice start.
I got to the first checkpoint in 45 minutes, just as I planned. Having had two glasses of sports drink, including an ugly blue, I started the ascent.
I couldn't run all the way up the first mountain. It was too steep -- up four hundred meters in about three kilometres. I power walked as best as I could, with occasional bursts of running, and made it to the hut at the top 1 hr 20 mins after the start.
Just before I got there I encountered the first real obstacle: the path was blocked by a cow. It was huge and brown, and it was staring at me. It also had a massive bell round its neck.
Now which end do you overtake a cow? Head or tail? I immediately remembered a story about poor old John Prescott who was nearly trampled to death by a cow just a few weeks earlier.
Very gingerly, I squeezed through at the tail end and soon afterwards, I was enjoying a generous slab of home made muesli bar and a slice of lemon, along with two more cups of sports drink at the second check point.
I thought from now on, it would be a lot easier. I was wrong. I did run down the mountain amazingly fast, even overtaking two runners (yee!) but when I thought I was entering the last stretch of the run to take me back to the village, there was a nasty surprise: the path once again started to incline.
And very steeply, too. And my hands were swelling up. And it was hot. And I had been running for almost two hours. I was getting a bit confused, too. So where on earth was the third checkpoint?
In the end, I found it: strangely, they put it seven minutes before the finish line. I'd thought it would be about twenty minutes from the end, so I had been thinking I was still miles away, when in fact I was getting very near. That slowed me down bit: I was conscious not to run too fast to conserve some energy - not that I had much left at that point!
Anyway, I got a lot of applause when I crossed the finish line. And a medal. And a very nice hot drink. And a certificate which states I came in at tenth among the female runners. Well, there were only 13 of us, but the certificate doesn't say that.
It was hard work, but no torture. In fact, great fun. The locals offering snacks, the mountains, the waterfalls, the forests, the meadows, the bees, the cows. All combine to make it an amazing experience. And relaxing in the swimming pool after the run, watching the sunset over the mountains just conquered in running gear is not a bad thing, either.
I'll be back next year.
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