A Normal Runners Antics: It All Comes Down To This

Wednesday 29 August 2012

It All Comes Down To This

Well the big day is almost here. I ended up doing a little 40 minute run on Sat morning before work and then an hour and a half on Sunday lunchtime along from the Mid Station to Montenvers and back down to Chamonix. Today I went and ran the final 5km of the race from Flegere down to Chamonix just to stretch the legs.

I have pretty much just been sorting out my kit bag that my support team will be carrying for me with all my spare clothes and food. I have also been working out the food I need to carry for the first 54km until I re stock at Champex. Coconut Power Bars , Energy Gels , Mars Bars , Tuna Sandwiches , Dried Mango and of course Fizzy Cola Bottles look like my fuel. Along with some Banana Chocolate Cake I found in a tub that has a whopping 72% Carbs in it , perfect for the morning of the race and also to nibble on at halfway. Its called Gatosport and is well worth trying ,comes in a ton of flavours as well. My hydration bladder will be just plain and simple water but I will also carry a 500ml bottle with Electrolyte drink in it and carry some extra sachets to mix en route.

It aint cheap to be a runner

My team is assembled and Laurent being the only one off work(in fact he has been off work all summer) is going to meet me at Champex with my change of clothes and trainers , then at Trient will be Laurent and Dorian and possibly Ally if he is not doing a transfer and then to Vallorcine where Laurent again is kindly going to support along with Dorian. I am super happy and appreciate every bit of help I can get , its a long long time for people to hang around and wait for me but it will make a massive difference mentally for me to see people from 54km hopefully to the end. I have informed everyone that helps though that they will be rewarded with copious amounts of alcohol when I recover and go for a beer.

I really have no idea when I may finish , it could be 4am it could be 11am on Saturday , I just don’t know how it is going to turn out. Finishing early would be great but I would kind of like to finish a bit later on when there are people in the street to greet me back to Chamonix at around 7am onwards. Coming in at 4am would be a great time but everyone will be in bed , that is only a minor thing though. Getting over that finish line is what matters to me.

Right you can follow me on the UTMB website http://utmb.livetrail.net/coureurentete.php and stick in my number 7083 and this will update as I pass checkpoints. I have also set up a Twitter account , to be honest I have no idea how it works but I know I can text messages to it during the race which will be fun as I can take my mind off the pain. Go on Twitter and follow me. Funnily enough my name on it is Colin Thornton (colinthornton1). Some people have had problems finding me on it for some reason but I am there , I guess just search for 'colin thornton' and I will be there somewhere.

So that’s me just collected my Number and had my bag checked (there was some extremely small packs that I have no idea how they have all the kit and on the other side there were some huge bags I would take climbing) , pretty excited now although the latest forecast for Friday Day and Night is not looking good. Rain and Snow above 2000m , up to 6cm and 60km/h winds in places , temperature up high between -5 / -10. Not good at all , I wouldn’t be surprised if it got cancelled or delayed were it to get any worse! Saturday is looking a good day but I should be finished early that morning. I overheard one organiser speaking to a concerned runner about the conditions ahead and she said “if you have walked in Scotland then you will be fine” I am hoping she is right as the forecast is terrible , rain doesn’t bother me but the strong winds and bitter cold could be a nightmare. Booked on the 8am bus to Italy on Friday morning , we set off at 10am.