It was a well organised race, typical of the Swiss they'd thought about everything. The aid stations were well stocked with water, electrolyte drinks, gels, bananas, coke, and sometimes cheese, bread and cold meats. It wasn't a buffet but not far off! I would come in, drink some water, grab a gel or two, refill my bottle and back out within 3 or 4 minutes. The biggest climb of the day was to the top of Faulhorn at 8796 feet. Starting from approximately 3000 feet it took every ounce of energy I had to power up. By now the sun was beating down and it was hot in the 80s. A quick refuel and it was a long steep downhill for over 20km. At 51km, the erstwhile midpoint of the race I took time to load up on pasta, change my now saturated top and change socks and shoes. Many dropped out of the race here, including my friend Chris. I went into the medical tent and found him on the stretcher as one of the medical staff worked on his ankle. She shook her head when I asked how he was. He'd suffered a fall and badly sprained his ankle while jumping off a rock to avoid a hiker coming in the opposite direction. He wanted to continue on but the doctor thought it was unwise. The doc finally said "you can do it but if it were me I would not continue". The ankle was swollen to the size of a small orange. Under the circumstances there was no option but to drop.
I soldiered on, it was 4pm when I left the midpoint aid station and I'd been there 20 minutes. The rest helped but i was stiff and it took a while to really move properly. To pass the time I thought I'd pop on my head phones and listen to music. Somehow I missed the trail marking pointing right and went straight on. A while later I realised there was no one in front or behind me and no markings to be seen anywhere. Oops! That was it as far as listening to music, I ripped out the head phone and doubled back. Luckily I'd only been off by about one km. Within minutes the skies darkened and the rain came down in buckets accompanied by lightening and its close companion thunder. Other than the very real risk of being struck by lightening i was actually glad for rain because it cooled me down. One other piece of drama happened shortly after this. As I marched slowly up to Mannlichen (7317 ft) I saw a bunch of guys running back down. In broken English they explained that the trail was closed because of bad weather and the danger of slippery rocks on the narrow ledges and we had to go back down to Wengen where a cable car would take us back up to rejoin the trail at the top. Having already climbed three quarters of the way to the top at Mannlichen I did not relish going back down on beaten up and sore legs. There was no one to argue with so I joined the group going down. 15 or so of us were herded into a cable car that took us up to Mannlichen. I still can't figure out why the trail was considered unsafe to hike/run up but it was perfectly safe to be deposited on top. I guess the race organisers know their mountains and you have to give them the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps further up there are exposed areas where a fall would land you 7000 feet into the valley below.
By 10pm and after 17 hours on the move I'd had enough. I wanted it to end, lay my head down and sleep, sleep, glorious sleep. At the last aid station I asked a volunteer how much farther to go, not long he said "just a 400 meter hill, no too difficult and then down into Grindelwald". With spirits lifted by this good news I set off at a steady trot. The 400 meter hill that sounded so benign was in fact 400 meters VERTICAL climb to Pfinstegg. That's not far off half the height of Snowdon, the highest mountain in the British Isles outside Scotland. Nothing to do now but keep going. It was the middle of the night and we had our head torches on. Like wounded soldiers, in ones and sometimes groups of 2, shuffling downhill trying to ignore the shooting pains and achy limbs with every juddering step. Finally, at 12.22am I ran into Grindelwald and across the finish line. Chris was there with his sister Jody to cheer me in. I sensed his deep disappointment that he didn't finish, but that is the nature of this sport. When you start there is no guarantee you will finish, but if you can hang on, stay mentally strong and with a bit of luck, you will make it to the end with a smile on your face. A bit like life really.
