And so it begins......

So tomorrow I begin the long drive back to Scotland. With a stop off in England I will be home Friday afternoon and ready to prep for the 80km Hoka Highland Fling the following morning. It's going to be a bit of a tough one due to the travelling and having to wake up at 4am on Saturday to head to the start of the race but as long as I get some good sleeps between now and then I hope I will be okay.

After work scramble/run

Training has been going great but yet again no long runs. I have been out everyday after work doing some great loops and also getting destroyed on some up hills and descents from Guillem and his friends who are super strong going up and frighteningly fast on the descents and I admit I struggle to keep pace on the downs but on the ups and flats I hang in there just fine. It has actually been really good for me to get out and be pushed a little more than I would normally go on my own.

Some interesting wee moves

The Catalan dream team and one ordinary Scotsman

Last week we went for a Ski Tour up Gran Paradiso and decided to do it in one go. Normally done over two days with the first day a stay at the refuge and the second a climb to the summit and then a ski all the way down. We left Chamonix at 2am for the drive to the car park and left the car at 4am. It was a mix of walking and skinning for the first two hours until we got to the refuge. It was time for some tea and a warm up before heading off again for the summit. It's 1300m from hut to summit so a fair old way. It took us around 4hrs from the hut to get to the summit with a mix of walking and skinning due to some of the track being blue ice and safer to walk in crampons than go up with skis on. The view from the summit(4040m) was incredible and just went on and on as far as you could see. It was then ski time and in around 30mins we were back down at the car! So long to go up yet so fast to get down. Super glad I managed to squeeze this in before the race. It's 2100m from car park to summit which is a great bit of exercise plus the altitude training will have helped me heaps.

Final summit slope

Summit of Gran Paradiso

Great way to end my ski season

Since then it has been running in the evenings and I am feeling strong over short distances so I just hope I can somehow manage to avoid the pain on Saturday for as long as possible. I will be taking it very very easy from the start and just get to halfway and see how I am feeling. No idea of times yet. I would like to get under 10 hours but I cannot say I am aiming for that. If I finish and it is sub 10 then I will be very very happy but over 10 won't bother me in the slightest. Usual thinking for first race of the summer as always is to finish , don't get injured and enjoy. The race is meant to be run unsupported so at the checkpoints there is really only water so it is up to me to carry my own stuff but drop bags are also allowed and there are 5 stages I can put bags so I will make use of that with supplies along the route. It is a pretty big field of about 800 runners and I really hope it spreads out early on as I hate running in packs for such a long distance. Lauren is going to be there to help me out if need be but due to traffic problems we will need to study the maps and find places out with checkpoints she can meet me along the route to throw me some much needed words of encouragement. I would be lying if I said I was super confident about the race but I guess I say that before every race I do but really this time I am pretty nervous about this one for various reasons that all seem a bit silly. The main ones are that I have not covered that great a distance in any training run plus I will be travelling for a few days and straight into the race. It might all seem a bit far fetched but I would have liked a full day of rest before the race to sort out drop bags and kit but I will just do the best I can and get on with it. On the plus side of things I cannot wait to get back to Scotland and just enjoy the trail skirting the banks of Loch Lomond and further up near Beinglas Farm where I remember the trail being awesome when I was there a few years ago. Being Scotland I am pretty sure it is going to be pouring with rain but I guess that's just part of running back home.

So here goes to my first race of what is hopefully going to be an amazing summer.