The race started at 4 am from central Chamonix and as my hotel
literally was 50 yards from the starting line I had set the alarm for 3:15. As
always before a morning race I woke up earlier, but still felt quite rested.
This was my first “shorter” race in a while after Tor des Geants in 2013 and
Petite Trotte a Leon in 2014 and mistake number 2 was probably that I really
tried to stuff myself full with food and fluids before the race and ate as much
as I could both before I went to bed and immediately when I woke up. What about
mistake number 1? Well, I woke up with a slight headache and realized that my
first mistake was that did not arrive in Chamonix until late afternoon the day
before the race and therefore had no time to adjust better to the altitude and
surroundings. Still it was great to be back in the Alps and listening to the same speaker voice as when starting PTL last fall.
Early morning start in Chamonix |
Mistake number 3 was that I decided to wear a technical
compression T-shirt from Compressport – certainly looked really cool, but as it
turned out a risky, and probably not the best, choice as I paradoxically both
got really hot in it and at the same time got really cold over my stomach due
to the sweat. Mistake number 4 was a
real beginner mistake, a mistake mentioned as the first one in Joe Uhan’s excellent listing of “Six Things That Elite Ultrarunners Are Doing That You Are Not” – not running slow enough during the first ascent up to Brevent. It felt
as I was hiking slowly, but as I climbed the 1426 meters up to Brevent at 2461
meters altitude in less than two hours and was among the first 200 runners out
of 1000, when I normally starts much slower and is somewhere in the middle of
the field, I am certain I started too aggressively. It felt great, however, and
even more so during the first descent down to the first food control when
watching to sun rise over the Mont Blanc massif.
Sunrise from Brevent over the Mont Blanc Massif on the other side of the valley |
When stopping at the control to eat and drink something I realized
suddenly that I was quite nauseous. I tried to eat some bread, only to almost
get it up immediately, so the only thing I could tolerate was some coke and
orange wedges. I was not too worried and decided to continue the descent to
Flegere to see if I felt better at a lower altitude. I still tried to keep a
good pace and was just thinking how fun and technical this path was when I fell
headlong off the trail. Luckily, I fell on some stones and could arrest myself
with my hands before falling down the slope into the forest below the trail. I
got an adrenaline rush and was up and running in less than a second as I was
not even passed by the runners just behind me and did not realize until some
minutes later that I was bleeding quite profusely from my right hand and left
knee. As I had full moments in both the hand and knee and it did not hurt too
much I just continued running.
When the adrenaline left the body I felt very
weak, however, and slowed down my pace when starting the small ascent to Tete
Aux Vents. Here I also took one of the liquid Enervit gels I was carrying – I
was happy to be able to tolerate those and should probably have carried more
than 5, my planning had been to have one at each major climb, and mistake
number 5 was too not have more of those with me. It was really frustrating to
feel strong and lively in the legs and muscles, while at the same time very
weak and nauseous and not able to go run as normal. I still hoped it would get
better coming to the second major food control in Buet after 26 km, but during
this time I was started to get passed by more and more runners and this is
never good for the morale, in particular as I normally is almost never passed
when ascending. Still, I was among the first 300 runners when reaching Buet
after 4 hours and 37 minutes.
Descending worked fine all day, except when I fell |
Heavy feet while ascending |
Rather quickly during the ascent up to Col de la Terrasse I definitely realized that I would not meet my target time and that this would be a very long day even though I still I hoped to be able to arrive in Chamonix in time for a late dinner. I was now so weak that I had to stop frequently to rest, something not entirely bad as I then could enjoy the view more and the passage up to the Col at the highest point of the race at 2645 meters through the glacier was really spectacular. If it would have been a cold day it would have been impossible without crampons, but now the snow was almost too soft even for holding the steps that had been formed.
Ascent through the glacier up to Col de la Terrasse. Felt almost like being in a lemmel migration with all runners sometimes |
![]() |
Mountain guides babysitting runners at Col de la Terrasse |
![]() |
The descent through snow fields requiring glissading skills |
Rescue helicopter picking up an unfortunate runner |
Looking surprisingly strong - finally with a new T-shirt and finally having been able to tolerate some soup. |
The descent from Emosson down to Chatelard was really fun and not too slow, it was a quite technical descent through the forest with several sections with chains as aids for the steepest parts and I could easily just keep my place in the single-track line that had formed of runners waiting for those in front of them. Too always have other runners around me was a new experience for me after TDG and PTL and quite frustrating sometimes, in particular as I throughout the day only was passed by others and almost never passed another runner. In Chatelard village, at the lowest altitude during the race so far of 1155 meters, there was a check of the mandatory equipment – a good thing I have not experienced in other races before.
It was now mid-afternoon and over 30°C (high 80s in Fahrenheit) in the
shadow, but as the descent to Chatelard and the first part of the ascent up to
Les Jeurs went through quite dense forest it was not too bad. However, as soon
as the meadows started during the ascent it became incredibly hot. The water in
my ear had also returned and I had now in addition to feeling quite dizzy also
got quite bad tinnitus and when I was greeted by another runner at the next
food station I could barely hear that he was speaking Danish (which is similar
to Swedish and thus at least partly understood by Swedes) and complaining of
the heat. He must also have been suffering horrendously this day as I passed
him in the climb up to Catogne and Tête de l'Arolette and then did not see him
further despite my crawling pace. At Les Jeurs I again had some broth soup,
Coke and oranges – trying to eat some more just made me sick again and I left
in the heat without any new energy. The few afternoon hours I spent in going up
the relatively gentle slopes to Tête de l'Arolette at the, for the Alps at
least, moderate altitude of 2322 meters, were some of the longest in my life. I
was completely exhausted and had to focus in order to take each and every step
in order to not stumble of the trail. I also had to focus on my breathing as
exhaling through partly closed lips was the only way I could somewhat quieten
the storm in my ears. I have never experienced anything similar and when
searching for similar experiences in the literature or the net I do not find
much.
It was somewhere during this climb that I finally made my decision to
not finish the race. It was not an easy decision as it would be my first DNF in
an ultramarathon and I have previously written a blog post about the negative things of a DNF. One contributing factor to the DNF was that I had to
leave Chamonix already 6 am the next morning for a job conference in Salzburg,
and I realized that I with the current pace would finish sometime during the
early morning hours – more than 6 hours slower than my target finishing time.
This was clearly mistake number 10 - I will never again compete in a longer
mountain ultramarathon trail race without having proper recovery time after a
race and having to think about finishing before the cut-off time just too be
able to recover sufficiently. Nevertheless, this was not what made me decide to
quit the race at the next aid station. I think it was a combination of
realizing: 1) that the experiences I would miss by not running the last 25
kilometers of the trail during the evening and night were not worth the
suffering I felt due to the weakness, nausea and tinnitus; 2) that I already
had missed my target finishing time and that for this shorter race a good
finishing time was actually more important from a personal competitive
standpoint than just finishing – I had nothing to prove to myself just by
finishing the race and I did not need any UTMB points or anything else by just
finishing; 3) that my medical condition was actually quite bad and that I
should have been taken off the course if there only had been a medical check-up
during the race; and 4) that I would not risk a scary descent in a dark forest down
to Chamonix during the night similar to the experience I and Otto had during
PTL last year. So, immediately when I made the decision just before reaching Tête
de l'Arolette I knew it was the right one and it still feels so three weeks
after the race.
Everything felt much easier as well after making the decision to DNF,
like a heavy burden had left my shoulders, and I could actually enjoy the
stunning passage on the ridge over to Tete de Balme and the passage of Col des
Posettes up to Ardoisieres with beautiful views over the Chamonix valley in the
afternoon sun.
I took good time to descend, but now the field of runners was
finally more spread out and I could run long parts alone down to Le Tour. When
I stopped I had completed 4713 D+ meters out of a total 6077 and it was only
one major climb left so it still had been a fairly long day.
![]() |
The ridge between Tête de l'Arolette and Tete de Balme |
When I said I would stop at Le Tour I thought that there would be some
kind of transport to the finish line, or at least some medical check-up, but I
soon realized I was in France and unless you are dying you will not receive any
attention. I was told that there was a public bus stop 500 meters away where there might be buses going down to
Chamonix and that I could go for free if I just showed my race bib. I had to wait
30 minutes for the bus and then that took another 30 minutes down to Chamonix
center. During the waiting time and the bus ride I had felt quite fine, but as
soon as I stepped out of the bus it was like my body finally erupted. I barely
had time to reach a waste basket in a park before I started to vomit and found
myself standing there doing that for the next 20 minutes. Quite painful, as I
already after 5 minutes had nothing else to empty, but it would not stop
despite that and I could not leave. When the attacks started to thin out some I
managed to walk to the hotel, only to continue vomiting and spending the night
in a miserable state continuing to vomit all I tried to drink or eat. On the
good side, I had no chaffing despite the heat and was very happy with the
Salomon S-Lab Sense Shorts in that respect. I had neither any blisters or pain
in my Achilles tendons or calves and extremely satisfied with running this race
in Salomon S-Lab Sense 4 Ultra shoes and Dry Max Trail Socks.
Was it worth it? Yes, the time when I jogged from Tête de l'Arolette to
Col des Posettes, when I knew I was going to finish there, was actually one of
my best “running” (my speed was really too slow to be called running)
experiences. I could not have sunk deeper than I did physically and mentally
during the previous climb and that probably made the experience so much
stronger.
Could I have avoided the DNF and the disastrous outcome of this race?
I do not know, but probably my biggest mistake, mistake number 11, was done
already long before I was standing on the starting line in that I had not
accumulated enough running miles during the spring. I was probably in my best
ever shape for 10 km, I had in a training run the weekend before the race, after
a large dinner with coffee and cognac, fairly easy run 10 km in low 38, but
that was probably not worth much for a race like this. I should have spent more
time logging miles and doing hill repeats as previous seasons I guess. The only
thing I regret is that I in the aftermath of the race got a strange pain in the
upper part of my right calf – it came five days after the race and lasted for
almost two weeks and it is just the last week I have been able to start running
again. This prevented me from starting in Ice Trail Tarentaise, the race I most
had wanted to run this year. If I do not regret the DNF in Mont Blanc 80 km, I
certainly regret the DNS in ITT and mistake number 12 was to not plan my race
schedule for the year better. I will now have to think carefully about what
races to run during the rest of the summer.
![]() |
This view made it worth it and why I would recommend this race |