The North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc®

August 2009

August 24, 2009

Just one short week and a few hours...

Alone, in the clear air and searching sunlight, we are afoot with the quiet gods, and men can know each other and themselves for what they are.
A.F. MUMMERY

Just one short week and a few hours …. we will be standing together in the Place du Triangle de l’Amitie in the centre of Chamonix. Together and yet each alone. Alone with our own thoughts - our own hopes, expectations, fears and doubts. Excited and yet trepidatious.

People ask how time passes in a long race, but it does. The running becomes almost a moving meditation helping you through the times when you feel great and the times when you feel like you can’t go on. There are moments of camaraderie with your supporters and fellow runners. But there are moments of feeling entirely alone.

In many ways we will be alone up there in the clear air and searching sunlight. Alone in the sense that it is only us that can make our race. No-one but ourselves. That is why in some ways the race is like life. The hours ahead will bring us to know ourselves deeper, to know ourselves for what we are.

Whatever may come, whatever the hours ahead will bring, there is something to remember - race or no race, there is no victory except the joy you are living while you are ‘dancing’ your run. (Fred Rohe in ‘The Zen of Running’)

Run … and find that joy. In the race … and in your life.

- Elizabeth Hawker

August 06, 2009

Running is an art...

The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.
EMILE ZOLA

Running is an art ….. So maybe we need a little bit of a gift …. But even when we have the gift, we need to do a little bit of work …

Endurance - it’s more than just competing in ultra distance races - it is more than simply running. It’s the lifestyle of never looking for the easy way out. It’s finding opportunities whatever the situation. It is a freedom, if you have the courage to seize that freedom. It’s an exploration towards the edge. For each of us this ‘edge’ will be in a different place. And that place will be constantly changing. It is the journey to find that edge which maybe teaches us more about ourselves.

But back to the moment … Another weekend, another race - 78km in the Graubunden. I’ll make the start-line, but with cracked ribs and sore grazes from the last race - I’ve come to an edge before I even start. And the last race - less than two weeks ago - the IAU World Trail Championships (68km and ±3500m) - Bronze Medal for Great Britain. Just a little bit of the magic seemed to come back …. until my head forgot to race, and I fell, and I fell again!

So for now my work is to allow things just to flow, just to be what they will … and to run for the love of it. One step at a time.

- Elizabeth Hawker

August 01, 2009

Motivation


If you are tired of training:
- Look forward to the exceptional and overwhelming atmosphere in Chamonix!!!
- Have a look on the website and the wonderful pictures of the Mont Blanc
- The more you are training in advance the less pain you will have during the race!

If you are tired of running during the race:
- You will have to face situations where you don’t want to stay on the track anymore - then you can motivate yourself with the next check point! The check points often offer delicious cheese and other motivation boosters!
- Think on the finish - you can do it! Think on the extraordinary feeling to cross the finish line in Chamonix - goose skin…. I can promise: you will never forget your finsih - crossing the finish line will give you reward for all pain and trouble!

- Elke Streicher

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