DNF - A first time for everything

Bit of hard one to write about as you can imagine. Let me begin by thanking everyone so much for all your support for this race, both pre and post. The notes and emails that I continue to receive has been a bit overwhelming. I had no idea how many people were following this Italian epic that I chose to undertake, I hope you enjoyed the progress as much as I enjoyed the pain J

The story goes like this………

My original race calendar this year had me racing in Bolivia at a multi day staged TCC race. With the cancellation of that race plus my achilles issues during the summer, I needed to replace some runs and get back out there. This race caught my attention many months ago – it looked like pure adventure, a huge beast to tackle. When the opportunity from Salomon came up to participate, how could I resist. I had never been to Italy and so true to my reason for racing, this would be a great way to see the Alps!

Fair enough, the Aosta region did not disappoint. I can see what makes Chamonix so famous, Mont Blanc so spectacular. These are HUGE mountains, rugged, majestic and extremely difficult. The trails systems is complex and so unique. Hut to hut you can run/hike, drop down into villages, re-supply and then continue on your way.

It was a dream come true for the event organizers to put on this race so a huge congratulations to them. They had designed a 330km circuit that would start and finish in Courmayeur. 7 sections that we would tackle non-stop, sleep when we wanted to and thus control our own pace. Sleep deprivation and strategy was the name of the game for the Tour des Geants and I was stoked to be on the start line of the very first one.

So, I arrived to Italy and realized instantly that this was going to be the toughest challenge that I had ever faced. It was like the Hardrock of Ultras x 2. We would climb over 2,700m approx 25 times. Each ascent was followed almost equally with a descent of the same distance. To sum it up, this race had NO flats, it was UP or DOWN or UP or DOWN! You do the math – it was a hell of a lot of climbing. It was relying on your quadriceps to not fail you and to not blow them out early in the race either.

The race began Sunday morning at 10am. Italian enthusiasm in the town square was so awesome! These people love to cheer! Oh and lets not forget to mention, there was over 1,200 volunteers to support us 350 runners – HOW COOL IS THAT!!!!!! Almost immediately from the start, we were into climb #1. I took the lead for the women to start but at about 2hrs in, my fellow Salomon team mate Julia from Germany passed as did Corrine from Italy. I let them go and just settled into my own pace. This was not a race where staying on someone’s heels would be critical. I was content to just move steady, eat and hydrate. Now most of the race becomes a blurr to be honest. There were so many climbs, checkpoints, great views for photo’s and converstations with other racers in broke down English or French. Weather was great, never super hot just perfect for regulating body temperature. I was using trekking poles too and this helped my achilles significantly. I had no issues with it on the race course. I just paid close attention to it on all those climbs and used the guide step to go up.

For the 3 first sections I drifted between 2^nd and 4^th place. Us ladies were ever only about 1.5hrs apart. I was content with my positioning and pace. Now here is where I think I ran into issues. During stage 3, we hit one summit at around 3,300m (approx 10,000ft) and it was clear skies, freezing temperatures and snow on the ground. I was in shorts and short sleeve with just my jacket over top. I climbed this mountain through the early morning hours and hit the top around 5am. I was frozen the entire time. Ann-Marie had fallen asleep on the trail (she would eventually go onto win the race for the females) and as I went by her, she woke up and tagged on. Fine I thought, still along way too go. We then descended together, and I realized “yikes”, these women know how to hammer the downhill’s! I was impressed!

After hours of descending, we reached the town at the bottom. Ann-Marie decided to sleep an I decided to go on in order to maximize daylight hours. Off I went and 30mins out of the base, I went into what felt like a full on heart attack! My heart was pumping, and I couldn’t breathe. Each step upwards was pure pain, like someone was tightening a rope around my chest. I thought it was asthma and so super slowly, pressed on. Ann Marie passed me easily as I crawled my way up. I slept at the next hut and upon laying down horizontally, I began to choke up dark green flem from so deep in my stomach. I couldn’t control the coughs. They were deep and they hurt.

And that is how the rest of my race went. I finished section 3, went onto section 4 and 5 and just really took it easy and slow on the UPS. Any sleeps were matched with coughing and wheezing. At the end of 5 I saw a doctor who advised me to not go on. I struggled with this. I was sitting in 3^rd position. I knew that I had given 100% butI had not give 110% as I always promise to do. Bruce Grant from Canada had caught up at this point and he could see I was in trouble. He said he would stay with me and I could use his inhaler. So with that, on we went into section 6, chatting and moving steady but slowly. As night came and the cold set in and the rain came and we went high again, I began to really think that I was doing damage. I couldn’t breathe! With hours to think about it, I decided to make the call and quit.

However, I still had 8hrs to hike out to a place where I could finish! It was a long 8hrs and I quietly ran with my Belgium friend Cedric and Bruce. I was battling inside my head as to quit or not, and pretty much, how sucky this was!!!! I was loving every moment of Italy. I was racing MY race, doing everything right and really just having a great time! I couldn’t believe that Italy would end like this. I felt like I was letting everyone down. So many people back home following, Salomon and all my friends and family who believed in me so much. This is the hardest thing to wrap my head around.

I know that I made a good choice to end my race. I had given it 100%, it was just not my race to be had. I am recovering well now and feeling good. I will re-look at how I handle elevation combined with cold for future races and adventures so that this does not happen again! Congrats to everyone who started the race and to those who finished – awesome!!!!!

Thank you all for SO much support!!!!! It means more to me than I can explain. I learned a lot from this experience, perhaps even more had I finished! I DNF’d in a beautiful place, I had a great time, I will be BACK FOR MORE ADVENTURES!!!!!!