#lavaredoultratrail

It’s coming up to 8am. I’ve now been awake for 24 hours and in just 14 hours I’ll be heading off into the mountains with the prospect of another 30-hour sleepless stint as I run through two nights and attempt to conquer The North Face Lavaredo Ultra Trail.

In a few hours I’ll head to a darkened room and sleep most of the day, waking up around 6pm for my breakfast-dinner. The idea here is that I’ll go into the race charged on sleep rather than tired. But right now this feels optimistic.

Staying awake all night sitting on  sofa in a hotel room, it turns out, is not that easy. And it’s definitely not that exciting. I’ve spent much of it pratting about with my kit. Some of it pacing up and down. A tiny bit of it cutting my toe nails. The good news is that all my prep is done. All I have to do is sleep, eat and get my kit on.

Now that race day is finally here, how am I feeling about being back on the starting line for the only race I’ve failed to finish? Well, I’m nervous. I know what this course has in store and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t intimidated by it. It’s going to hurt. That said I’m in a much better place this year than I was last year. I’m in better shape physically. I’ve had a better build up with no flight delays and no cold to contend with in the week before coming here. I’m mentally stronger too, thanks to the Centurion Running Thames Path 100 miler and the Whole Earth Man v Horse. 

I've refined my kit, I’ve improved my race nutrition and I’m running with company this year. My confidence is higher for sure. However, I’m not taking this lightly at all and the weather is going to throw some new curveballs at me. If yesterday is anything to go by we’re looking at a fresh first night, followed by a very hot morning, before thunderstorms and torrential rain just after lunch and the possibility of some heavy downpours into the second night. 

The hailstones that hammered down on Cortina D’ampezzo last night weren’t quite golf balls but they were big enough to be something I’d rather not run in. With a few days rain already dropped, the course is definitely going to be boggy and sloppy in places already but that was the case last year as well. Good decision making to keep salt levels up and to stay dry and warm when the temperature drops will be important. This is as much a race of the head as it is the legs.

Whatever happens I’ll be using everything I have in both departments with a healthy dose of heart to try and get this one done.