Running the trails in Chamonix at UTMB

During UTMB after eating some pasta.

It’s dark, the sky above me is a litter of glistening stars. I’m running one of the most competitive and famous 100 mile ultramarathon’s in the world, the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc “UTMB”.

This race is a loop of the French, Swiss and Italian Alp’s covering a distance of over 100 miles and gaining and losing 10,000 meters elevation in the process.

I’ve just eaten some pasta at one of the aid stations along the route, I feel full of energy and ready to tackle the next section. I’m descending a mountain that I just spent almost 2 hours climbing, I used poles on the climb but have now put them away and I’m running free on the downhill.

The moon creates a silhouette of mountains around me, the beauty is so extensive it touches the very the core of my heart. Its times like this I am truly thankful to be alive and part of this fantastic universe.

It’s hasn’t been all roses, earlier on in the race I had some stomach issues causing me to slow down and even sleep in a medical tent for one hour but this is all far behind me now.

I run down as if on a mission to pass as many runners as possible currently nobody is ahead of me which makes me smile racing against only myself.

To enter this race you must’ve qualified with points gained from running at other races. Only the best of the best ultrarunners can stand on the start line of the UTMB.

Its more than I could ever have imagined to be in the mountains amongst over a 1000 other runners but yeah right now I’m all alone with the stars, moon and mountains as my companions.

Thanks UTMB.