#utmb

DAY #2

Alpine Mountain views - UTMB course recon, August 2024

photo by: nature-hiking

UTMB Wild - 110 km, 6,600m D+

It's been two weeks and I still don't really know what to say about this one. My first formal ultra and so much more than that.

I had this in the back of my mind all year through my injury comeback but didn't sign up until the very last minute. It just felt like such a reach only nine months back into running. But once I have something on my mind like that, something that inspires me, I often can't let it go. This was no exception.

The weeks leading up to it were full of doubt. Can I really do those crazy numbers? Will my ankle hold up? I've never run through a whole night let alone two, how will I feel with the 10 pm start?

In the final few days, all of that fell away and I just felt excited to go spend a long day in these mountains I love so much. I was so emotional on the startline simply because I'd made it there. Appreciating every moment that led up to it, the incredible mountain summer I had in part thanks to training for this race. I carried the whole process in my heart all day.

I only made it to the end of the first night before hitting my lowest point. When I could barely put one foot in front of the other on the third climb I mentally called my race done.

And then. Something shifted. It was like I snapped back into my body mid morning and suddenly found myself in this gorgeous place in perfect weather and wondered what I'd even been struggling with. Knowing the best of the course was yet to come, I suddenly wanted to keep running just to see it. And just like that, my mindset shifted from "have to finish" to "make it to the next stop so you can what's next". I've rarely been so in the moment - my mind is very good at spinning in circles. After a longer break at the halfway point aid station I felt incredible and continued to make up time on the dreaded cut offs. Before I knew it the next climb was done and I was chatting to Em on the phone on the downhill, who had asked if I wanted to share my misery and instead got me waffling about how amazing the course was and how good I felt.

I carried that high all the way to the final climb. Halfway through that the sun set and the wind picked up, and seeing where all the headtorches above me were going did not spark excitement, but eventually I too made it to Wildstrubelhütte, the high point of the whole course.

From there, it was all downhill and not just in the literal sense. Focus slipping after 40 hours awake, aching feet, the dreaded injury flare up. But at that point I knew I'd make it somehow, and I did, crossing the finish line around three in the morning to total collapse.

20 min daily

2/?

MAIN: @inkyu

Back | Start | Next | Interval

- ALT - EPIC: WOAH BRUH REALLY!? EPIC: THAT'S SO COOL!!! EPIC: and also concerning BUT COOL!!! MOONLIGHT: I suppose to yes MOONLIGHT: And lucky for asker here they were knocked to us because you are a very high ranking officer, or... knight MOONLIGHT: whatever your group is called here MOONLIGHT: At least ???Verse's legal forces had a name... MOONLIGHT: And don't worry about getting into LEGAL trouble MOONLIGHT: The Blueberry in my home MAU revealed a lot of legal stuff to them MOONLIGHT: Oops- I'm acting like you know who that is againMOONLIGHT: Sometimes I forget you have a Swap not a Blueberry... EPIC: Wait... EPIC: If these askers gain information just from asking people then... EPIC: Maybe... EPIC: Oh my bruh.

- IDK - I'll answer another ask (very quick/one image) after this post because I don't wanna leave the ask hanging/this one's been sitting in my inbox for a while and I felt bad :( but immediately after I'll answer this again (Because my answer for this is... pretty friggin long, but not THAT long like the |S| Page...)

Also you guys get to see more world building!? woah!? (the askers/creators heheheh)