The UTMB races are under way and there is more to come, with the OCC, CCC and UTMB, and I think that asks for some congratulations. Already? Yes already, because it’s a hell of a job to make it to the starting line.
Okay, that may sound strange. I’m sure every runner here wants to make it to the finish. Preferably in one piece and preferably in a good time. But the race is just a snapshot. A couple of hours, a day, maybe two. That’s all. The race is just the last percent of months and months of training. Months of sacrifice, months of denying ourselves the pleasures in life.
Humanly impossible
Making it to the UTMB, no matter if you’re running 50, 100 or 160 kilometres, is hard. We will all be cheering for Jon Albon, Toni McCann, Hau Ha Thi, Katie Schide, Dan Jones and all those other amazing athletes. What they do defies what is humanly possible.
And yet, walking around here, in Chamonix, I can’t help thinking of all the sacrifices the non-elite athletes have made. All the hours they’ve put in, in the last couple of months. The holidays they have sacrificed to be able to train in the mountains. All those late nights and early mornings they have been running in the dark, no matter if it rained, snowed or froze.
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They did that, with a fulltime job. Resting their legs underneath their desk at work. Or worse, changing their running clothes for their workers clothes, and standing a whole day on their feet, in a shop or construction yard.
Non-elite heroes
We, the non-elites, have no physiotherapist looking after us. No nutritionist advising us, no professional coach watching over our training. We can’t close our eyes in the afternoon. We can’t rest our legs after a heavy interval session. We have to figure everything out ourselves. Often the hard way.
So, that’s why, if you made it to the UTMB, it’s worth a congratulations. It means you’ve survived all those long, easy pace running sessions. You’ve survived all those Fartlek sessions. You’ve stumbled through your strength training sessions. You’ve put your running above friends and family. You’ve overcome tiredness, injuries and being cranky because of a lack of sleep and long, late night running. You’ve done all the work. Now it’s time to enjoy yourself, to celebrate, with one last, long run.
Last dance
If you make it or not, it doesn’t matter. You’ve done all the hard work, done all the sacrifices. You made it to the starting line. Congratulations and just enjoy that last one percent. That last dance.
Keep on running,
John
Photo: UTMB
