Boondock Puffins

What’s the thing that is most likely to stop you from completing the race you signed up for?

For us, it has to be pretty extreme.

Sadly, however, extreme is exactly what has happened. Tom managed to fall while going along slowly on the flats on his skis and bust his knee. While we waited for this to heal, we completed a lot of gym and enjoyed the Tignes swimming pool. Finally ready to go again, the true problem hit… the weather.

Now don’t get us wrong, the cold temperatures in January were a challenge but one that we managed to embrace. Unfortunately, snow storms with warnings to stay in, sometimes the entire resort shut thanks to high winds and blizzards, and ultimately a run of multiple fatal avalanches in and around the Alps. When faced with a choice between running with a very real and uncontrollable danger, or continuing to gym and wait it out, the course of action is obvious.

As it turns out, this was not the worst decision in multiple ways – the race coincides with Tom’s graduation, but more importantly it clashes with the date that we need to go back to the UK to sort out visa things for next year.

All this to say, while we are very sad about the need to pull out of the race, safety and sense will always have to come first. We will be back to running as soon as we can (i.e. as soon as the weather and snow conditionals permit), and will continue to enjoy the thrill of being up and out without skiers on the slopes. So many more paths should open up as the snow melts, so alpine trails here we come!