UTMB Day 1

Monday 12 September 2022

Today we started our 6 day run around Mt Blanc! Woohoo!

(UTMB is ultra trail Mt Blanc, which is both the 170km trail and the name of the famous race around Mt Blanc).

We had checked into our great hotel last night and met the Run The Wild team (Simon, Karen and Bruno) and the other client runners:

Hannah, Dave h, Neil, Mark, George, Catherine and brother George, Anna, Jonne and sister Kristen, Jason, Celine.

Joining us for the first day was also Hayden Hawks, a properly elite trail and ultra runner. (We all chatted to him a lot and learnt heaps from him)

Hannah and I 

Running

The day started slowly, with lots of admin and organisational details.

Finally we started from the famous church in Chamonix.

The trail was easy flat running for an hour, with views of the northern side of the Mt Blanc massif. (Which this photo isn't).

We dropped down into Les Houches and filled up our water bottles.

A river and suspension bridge.

Did I mention the weather? It was simply stunning all day. 

Initially I ran conservatively at the rear of the field, but we split into two groups and I was feeling fine to go into the faster group led by Simon.

We climbed up a tough 600m climb to the Col de Tricot. 

From here we had a really hard fast descent on very rocky loose ground.

This was both technically and physically challenging, but my (only moderately frightening) pace kept me fairly close to the leaders.

Eventually we pulled into our first night's hotel in Les Contamines. 

I was really happy with how my body held out - knees fine, quads tired but fine, left ankle a bit achy but fine.

So, an epic day of running. The best I've ever had. Very friendly people, no pressure to exceed my limits, and super super trails, weather and views.