Boondock Puffins

Signing up for a 45km marathon with 2500 meters of ascent while living in an alpine town 2100m up, knowing that you will have to train through the winter months, was possibly not the wisest decision we have ever made. However, it has been one that has forced us to get up and out (and then up again!) on the coldest of days. These runs have treated us to some epic sunrises and sunsets; we have run up and down slopes that are meant for skier, been waved at by piste-bashers and cheered on by snowboarders. Really, there is no better feeling than standing at the top of a ski lift 2 hours before the slopes open, feeling the first sun rays of the day warm up your frozen skin and seeing the town start to wake up several hundred meters below.

On the way up, hip flexors, calves and glutes scream to stop, and the thought of reaching the top and beginning a descent seems both so far away and so positive. Once the top is reached, the view admired and the next downward slope embarked on, it’s the turn of knees, quads and pretty much all other joints to start making their pain known. And then the next ascent is reached and the physical and psychological torture begins all over again!

So, why do we do this? Aside from the views and the solitude, there is nothing that can beat the sense of accomplishment from knowing that you’ve been out on your feet for over three hours and that your legs (and arms, if you’ve been using poles in the snow or on the trail) have carried you all that way. The sweat and exhaustion is worth it. As is the pain au chocolat that we inevitably pick up on the final hundred meters before home.

There have been days when neither of us have wanted to run, where limbs are heavy, lungs feel as though they fill only half way, and our mindset is wholeheartedly negative. These are the days where making it out, starting the run, beginning the climb feel like the hardest thing to do, but the feeling of satisfaction when we get back home, shower and sit down to work again is the ultimate reward for getting up and out. On the other hand, there have been days when we’ve both bounced out the door with enthusiasm, felt great throughout the run and returned feeling happy and fit (these days are rarer!).

Lots of people around us think we are crazy, but there is something about being out and about without other people, enjoying the mountains just for ourselves, dealing with the extreme elements, crawling up steep slopes and sliding on our haunches down others that is unbeatable, and will keep us coming back for more for the time we have left in the Alps, regardless of marathon pressures (which do inevitably help to get us out the door for each training run!). Who knows when we will be able to have such easy access to these sorts of high altitude impressive surroundings again?