Life is an ultramarathon

In a bit more than a week, I'll take part in the Marathon des Alpes-Maritimes. For various reasons I'm not running much at the moment and I don't feel generally very fit. My longest run lately was a modest 25km, that I finished with my head rather than my legs. Although the split times and slowing-down coefficient would suggest a 3:31 time on the marathon, it doesn't leave me über-confident for the actual race.

I think I'll try to enjoy the seafront while meditating on Barney 2:15

You don't train for a marathon, you just run it!

This passage of the scriptures is summarised here.

Ultra unprepared

I haven't got too much else to add other than I really want to try it again! It seems like an amazing adventure. But a well-bonded team must be built beforehand. There is already too much uncertainty in the finishing equation, we can't afford to add some more. I certainly don't want to go there and risk a frustrating DNF again. So maybe in 2010 with Leo, although it seems quite late already to find a third runner. Maybe in 2011 with Jon?

Reading some blog reports, it appears that runners among the fastest teams, such as Occitanie Sport Adventure osa and Mord'fin, used a rope to pull each other in the ascents. Or more precisely the strongest climber pulled the weakest one. I'm wondering whether we should consider that in the future as well.

Great pictures from Sven's Finnish adoptive team mate here. Subjective first person video of one of the fastest team, the Belgian "Esneutois Célestes" here. It gives you an idea how the start feels like .

The official results are out. The fastest team finished in 86 hours 25 minutes and the slowest in 113 hours 55 minutes, with an average time of 105 hours 02 minutes for complete teams. There are some mistakes (for example Sven finished with the "2 be 3" team just under 102 hours and is reported to have finished in 109 hours). There is a half-surprise as well: a team got disqualified (search 'PTL' in the UTMB forum for more details).
Although it was supposed to be run in teams, it was messy in practice. Some runners withdrew, leaving two runners carry on. Some individual runners joined other teams after their two team mates dropped out (such as Sven). Even weirder, a runner finished without his otherwise finishing team (the 3^rd runner of Sven adoptive team). Moreover, some teams finished a partial the loop using sections of the UTMB. A table to summarise all that:

	full team	2 runners	1 runner	overall
full loop	19	12	6	52.7%
partial loop	8	3	2	19.4%
disqualified	1

Post-race interview available on Wanarun.

Ultra post-race thoughts.

I always feel a bit apprehensive when going for a run for the first time in a foreign country, as it might not necessarily be well received. With Japan ranking very high in ultramarathon (especially in 24 hours races, but they also managed to put 3 runners in the UTMB's top 8 this year!), I was hoping it wouldn't be too bad. And indeed, quite a few people are running in the streets on along the river.

A path follows the Kamo River for about 10km, offering a great opportunity to run a nearly car-free 23km this afternoon. Maps along the path show you how many bridges are left to go and what's the distance to the next one. Great for time splits! Bonus: there is a water point about half-way on the stretch.



The path actually lies in the river bed, as the banks are actually designed to be flooded at times. Otherwise, the water level is relatively low, with lots of aquatic vegetation popping out of the water, and making it a great hunting place for herons. They are everywhere! A few fords also allow to cross the river without climbing up the bridges.


It's a shame I didn't have time to go to the nearby mountains. Looks like there are quite a few opportunities there too...

As I had low blood sugar and was fairly dehydrated on my return, I bought the first sweet drink I could find, which appended to be a lemonade. Or at least a can with a drawing of a lemon and the word "LEMON" printed. After drinking it in a few seconds, I tried to figure out how many calories I had drank, just to realise that the only other English word on the can was "Alc. 6%"... Great, I don't know if you've ever drunk alcohol when dehydrated, but the head doesn't like that too much...

Ultra most eastern run so far