CCC - All Over

Well here its my summary of the CCC. Sorry if its a touch long but trying to explain a race of over 80km in a paragraph would be hard.

As I said in previous blogs I was not feeling my greatest the days running up to the race , luckily on the morning of it I felt good and ready to go. Pretty sure it was just a load of nerves causing me to feel a bit weird but thankfully on Friday morning when I woke at 6.30am I was feeling good. After some cups of tea and cornflakes I walked down to the bus. Passing by what would end up being my finish line. Ally and Susan were kind enough to see me off on the bus and Ally being Ally decides to shout out my name extremely loud just as I am queueing for the bus , as I turn around to him and everyone looking at me the little bugger yells out “its okay mate don’t worry about it , your way better than all these guys” it certainly made me smile.

The Finish Line at 7am

The bus journey to Italy is not long and as we left a pouring Chamonix we then appeared out of the tunnel to a sunny Italy , this however did not last long and 30 mins before the start the rain made its way to us. I ate a load of my carb cake just before the start and at 10am the race began but in 2 waves so I didn’t actually cross the start until 10.15am. The atmosphere was amazing with Courmayeur packed with spectators and AC/DC at full volume blasting out the PA system. It was obviously a very slow start but we kept moving in a big bunch.

The Start - Miles back

That morning we had received txt messages to inform us that the course had been slightly changed due to the terrible weather. We were now missing the first climb to Tete De La Tronche and going directly up to the Bertone Hut and also near the end we would be skipping the ascent to Flegere and going direct Vallorcine to Argentiere to Chamonix. There is no official figures out yet but the course ended up being a bit shorter between 85-93km and about 5000m of ascent instead of 6000m.

Refuge Bertone

All went well up to Refuge Bertone at 2000m , it was a busy trail and difficult to pass people but this was only the first few km of the race so no need to try and go fast. From Bertone it was an awesome 7km run to the Bonatti hut staying at around 2000m all the way along , it was getting windy by this stage and the snow began once I hit the Bonatti and the jacket went on. Then another relatively flat 5km was easily run before an awful mudfest of a descent to Arnuva at 1770m. Arnuva was the first main stop and inside the tent I downed a quick bowl of soup as the climb up to the Col Ferret was next. We had been warned about the weather at the top of the Col , so I wrapped up and set off. To be honest the climb up to 2537m was not bad at all , the pace was not fast but I just plodded away on up and was pleasantly surprised when I was greeted by the woman at the top to beep me through the checkpoint. It was cold and snowing but it was not as bad as described. Then it was a long long descent of 10km down to the village of La Fouly where more soup was downed.

Grand Col Ferret

I was now just 14km from Champex and a change of clothes. This section though was the worst for me. I was not in any pain but it was just boring and a lot of it was on road and I am always wary of running on roads as last time I ran a long road section on an Ultra I ended up with Tendinitis and I did not want this again so the pace here was slow until the last 4km where we left the road and made our way up a difficult 400m climb on trails to Champex.

Changing at Champex

As I entered Champex(50km) at around 6.30pm ,8hrs on the go Laurent was waiting there for me and it was a great sight to see a friend. We both got in the tent and it was out with all my new clothes and a complete change of everything including shoes. It was now approaching night time so I wrapped up and stuck my head torch on my head to save hunting for it later which ended up being a stroke of genius. I was stopped in Champex for nearly an hour changing and eating. I left the tent and was then on familiar ground. I knew it all the way from here. I jogged along the short road section then onto the trails again and ran for 6km before taking the pace down for the climb up to Bovine at 2049m , a 750m climb. This time the ipod went on and it was head down and march on up. Again this climb went fine , the head torch was soon on and I managed to pass a few who had to stop a hunt in the dark for their torches in their bags. About 100m from the top the weather began to worsen , it was dumping with snow , cold and windy , I knew we were not far from a small shelter so moved fast. The shelter was tiny and it was quickly in to again register at the checkpoint and again down a bowl of soup and for a brief second I looked out the door and as I heard the howling wind and could see snowing dumping down I for a brief second did not want to go back out in it. There was no point stopping for a rest as I would have just got cold , some had stopped and they just sat in the corner shivering. I knew the trail from here was just 6km and 700m down to Trient and another major checkpoint where more friends and dry clothes were waiting. The descent was pretty horrible , cold , wet and very very slippy and I ran most of it alone which is quite daunting in such bad weather. The course however was very well marked with fluorescent flags on trees and fences etc..

It wasn’t long and I was in Trient and was greeted by Dorian and Laurent who again nursed me by helping me change and fuel up. I stopped again for a while but I was well within the checkpoint times so I didn’t see a need to rush as I didn’t want to burn out. I was by this stage at around 65km and was feeling fine! No pain , no cramps. I was just a little tired when I sat down but my legs and engine were all good. After being so cold at the top of Bovine I made sure I wasn’t going to get cold again as now was another big climb of 5km from 1300m up to 2027m then a 5km descent to Vallorcine and more clothes. So my plan was , wrap up and pretty much cook all the way up and over the pass and change again once down and it was a relatively flat 15km from Vallorcine to Chamonix. Dorian was amazed I was putting on so many clothes(2 baselayers , a primaloft jacket and a hardshell) but it all worked and I never got cold. The climb again went fine but at the top it was very very wintery , loads of snow but I ran the top section alongside a girl to the checkpoint so neither of us got lost as due to the snow the markers were getting a bit tricky to see. We got to a tiny hut at 2037m and beeped through again. This had no hot drinks , it was just a medical tent with a checkpoint. I thanked the doctors for being up there all day to which they replied “we are fine , we are not the ones running in this ,and besides we have wine!” Only in France. It was then a long 5km descent to Vallorcine and the worst descent yet. Extremely dangerous and slippy. The trails were flowing with mud ,it was getting pretty mental but I knew once down then that was the worst over.

Hellish Descent

I was greeted in Vallorcine this time by Dorian , Jo , Ally and Susan , this was at 2am and they were all super chatty and just as excited to see me as I was to see them. I again changed everything and Ally handed me a can of Irn Bru which I destroyed in about 3 seconds. Again I felt fine , tired but no muscle pain at all. My toes had got slightly FREEZING coming down so I had to warm them as Dorian handed me a pair of neoprene waterproof socks (LEGEND!)

Allys gift

Warming them up

Vallorcine - My Beautiful Team

I was not far from Chamonix now. I made fast work of Vallorcine to Argentiere where there was the final checkpoint which I didn’t stop at and just went through. The final stage to Cham was a trail I know blindfolded but I hate it , it just always seems to go on forever. It was an amazing feeling as I popped out of the trees and started running along by the river towards the centre. As I approached the town I crossed the final Km marker which tells the finish line who will be arriving next. I was then greeted by Dorian , Ally , Jo , Susan and Graham who all joined me for the final section down the main street (an awesome feeling and great of them to do it) they then peeled off from me about 300 metres from the end to let me go solo up a mobbed Chamonix Centre (it was so busy as the winner of the big race was due in in a few minutes after me so the crowd wasnt for me but worked out rather well). Ally stuck his arm out with a Scottish Flag which I gladly grabbed from him and ran up and over the finish line. It was hugs all around and I was even asked to do an interview for French TV as soon as I crossed the line and happily accepted.

1km to go!

Me with my Flag

I finished at 5.30am on the Saturday morning. On the go for 19 hours and 11mins. Around 350 pulled out of the race and half of that was after the horrible Bovine section so I guess they descended to Trient and with no clothing change thought enoughs enough and packed it in. 1900 started. I finished around 700^th (some stats say I was 702 others 800) and out of the 800 in my age group I was halfway at around 400^th.

The next day I was a little stiff but nothing crazy. The main thing I was and still am is a little tired.

Big Hugs - Soooo Happy

I have learnt so much from the race. I seemed to just get it spot on with food and drink and pace. Remember I was not interested in a time , I wanted to finish and I did that and to be honest crossed the line and I knew I could have kept going. For how long now I dont know but I had plenty left in the legs. I do wonder what would have happened if I had started to up my pace at halfway but who knows. I could have been faster or I could have just burnt out and struggled badly the last 20km. As it turned out I was fine. Yeah a few niggles at stages here and there in my knee or back but never once did my legs get heavy or did I have a sniff of cramp creeping up on me. I was worried before due to bad experience on the Scottish Ultra and the Cham Marathon as during and after them I was in a lot of pain. This however I just done it right. I also got my mental strength and focus back and for hours on end I was able to just switch off completely. Honestly at times , hours on end I was thinking of absolutely nothing , I just switched off. I worked hard for this and feel I deserved it. I dedicated a lot of my summer to this , stopped drinking any alcohol at all for 2 months and really watched what I ate.

Crossing the Line

Another factor that got me to the end was my mates. Laurent waited for me for 3 hours before I arrived at Champex just so he knew he would be there to help me out. Dorian finished work at 7.30pm on Friday night and followed and helped me right up until I crossed the line at 5.30am on Saturday and then he went to work at 8.30am! Also Jo , Ally and Susan who were with me from 2am and were always smiling and never looked liked they were bored. If it wasnt for them then I would not have got through it. I owe them all big time. Also a big shout out to everyone on Facebook. Only the day after when I logged on did I see all the amazing messages from so many friends who were following me during the race. It was really quite touching reading them all. Oh and I cant forget Scott , dude those text messages over the course of the day were just awesome.

Fresh as ever

It is now a little bit of rest and maybe a wee drink is needed. I am however now looking for the next step. I will report back soon but for now I am due some folk a shot or 10.