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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!)
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| Allys gift |
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| Warming them up |
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| 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.
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| 1km to go! |
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| 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 700th
(some stats say I was 702 others 800) and out of the 800 in my age
group I was halfway at around 400th.
The next day I was a little stiff but nothing
crazy. The main thing I was and still am is a little tired.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
