Off to the SwissAlpine Ultramarathon!! Took an evening flight from Galway to London as my flight to Zurich left early in the AM. Unfortunately the hotel had a fire alarm at 1:30 and people were evacuating the hotel. I watched from the window and waited for the hotel manager to come out and tell everyone it was a false alarm. The funny thing was when the fire alarm went off I though it was the alarm on my ipod and was trying to turn if off for a few minutes until I realized that my ipod alarm wasn’t so deafening. What an idiot. So back to bed at 2am and laid awake until it was time to get up at 4. Brutal.

Got to Zurich and found my train to Davos (just a couple of switches). The train system here really is unreal. The access to high mountain towns is unbelievable and the huge windows let you take in the huge vistas. Got into Davos, dropped my bags off at the hotel then went searching for the bike shop to pick up my bike. All the lifts in the summer are included in your hotel stay and it's only 10chf for all day bike access.

Had an awesome day downhilling until I went ass-over-teakettle into the rocks. Now I realize why I wear armor when riding at home. The fact that the other riders were armored up should have given me a clue to mellow out my trail choices. So anyway I ended up bloodied and bruised with a knee double it’s usual size. SHIT!! I had huge fears that all my training for the run was going to be in vain because I could barely walk. I iced and elevated (and moped) for the rest of that day.

Woke up on Friday and the swelling had gone down a little bit. I changed my start time to 6am to give myself a couple of extra hours (now a 14hr time limit) if I was able to limp around the 78km. My original goal was that I’d be happy with under 11hrs and over the moon with under 10hrs but with my new outlook on the situation finishing in 14hrs was going to be very acceptable. After some walking around town (and eating 2 lunches: pasta and Rösti) I went back to the hotel to lay on the patio and more ice and elevation. (The hotel chef made me a mountain of spaghetti for dinner, I think he figured I needed all the help I could get)

Saturday, the alarm goes off at 4:15am for the race. Knee and legs are really stiff but get prepared to go anyway.

Have some breakfast and make my way to the Davos Sportsplatz (also the site of the Spengler Cup) for the start. It had been a clear night so the temperature at the start was a balmy 3 degrees.

The first 15km were horrible. The soreness in my knee and the stiffness in my legs from lack of stretching and movement over the past 36hrs made for some really slow going. Once we got out of town and onto the trails things started to improve though, we gained some elevation and the views over town and of the frosty meadows were good for the head. After the first 15km (and some moderate climbing) there was a nice, long gradual downhill through the forest that allowed my legs to loosen up and get into a bit more of a comfort zone. By now the sun was up, the ibuprofen had kicked in and I was feeling back to normal and could pick up the pace a little.

There were supporters everywhere!!

Now to start climbing…

At Bergun, we had our halfway bags so a wardrobe change was welcome. This was also the start of the full marathon which hadn’t started yet so all the runners and their supporters lined the streets.

When you think of Switzerland’s commodities you think of mountains, banks, cheese, and chocolate. By far, the best thing about Switzerland is its people. I met so many volunteers, supporters, and well-wishers that were sincerely concerned for my experience in their country. (This includes the hotel owners Alfred and Heinke, and Ruedi the chef who all provided me with lots of ice and bandages for my knee) There was even a young boy who saw that I was from Canada, realized I spoke "Nein Deutsch", and proceeded to talk to me (in German) about his love of hockey. (I caught a few "Crosbys", "Penguins" and he was demonstrating his dekes and slapshots)

Once at the top of the Kachutte Pass, we had our first downhill running in a couple of hours. The high alpine environment and technical downhill made for the best running of the day. (although it was here where both my little toenails decided that they’d had enough and committed to abandoning Team Chris) 8km of running above 2600m, perfect!

Climb up to the Scalletta Pass, the final big climb of the day. Once at the top we were facing a 19km/-1100m downhill. It was at this point that I realized that I could possibly finish in under 10hrs if I could make up some time on this downhill. After a km or so my big-toenail decided to join the mutiny and I knew that this was the end of our relationship; another ibuprofen and the traitor was ignored.

Goodbye big toenail.

Dudes playing alphorns!!!

It had been my intention to bring my camera and try to snap a few pictures during the race. I started with it in my hand and planned to carry it in my backpack but then realized that once it was in my bag, I wasn’t going to want to stop and take it out at every photo op. So….I ran the entire race with a 1kg digital SLR in my hand. 78km. 10hours. In one hand. I was ready to f*%# it into the bushes around the 70km mark but figured I might as well keep it around until the finish. Needless to say, I got a ton of funny looks, especially from the race photographers.

78km, +/- 4000m, 9 hours, 56 minutes, and 5 toenails.

Sunday was another beautiful day. Being so close to great mountain biking as got me reevaluating the status of my feet and legs. I was able to cram my feet into my bike shoes with only a little pressure on my big (black) toe and figured I could put up with the discomfort for the rewards of a half-day of MTBing. Except there are no bike shops open today!!! None! Nowhere I can rent a bike! The lifts are running, the sky is blue, and I can’t find a bike anywhere! Aaaaarrrrgggghhh.

So what do you do when you can’t lift-access mountain bike? Lift-access beer drink! Other racers had the same idea so the vibe was really nice on the 2700m patio. You could see a lot of the ultra trail across the valley so scanning your pain from the previous day was a treat.

This was all fine and dandy until I went to catch the next lift down so I could make my massage appointment that Kelly had booked for me. As I approached the lift, the lifty told me they were stopping the lift for lunch!! My massage was in an hour and I was 1100m and 5km away. Oh jeez. So…. in my flip-flops and 3 pints deep I start to run down. (have I mentioned that every time I walk my feet start to ooze puss from my toes? And yeah, my legs are flipping stiff from yesterday) I barely make the bus at the bottom and arrived at my massage in the nick of time.

Masssage = Heaven/Hell combined in an hour. Tender!

Then what? There’s a lake here! To the lake! Might as well spend the rest of this gorgeous afternoon swimming and lounging around (seeing as there’s no bikes to be had)

August 1st was Swiss National Day (celebrating the first agreement between 3 cantons in 1291) It was such a special night. From about 4pm onward you could hear firecrackers all through town, Like being in Canada for Canada Day, the States for the 4th of July, or Ireland for Paddy's Day. Everybody from town made there way to the central park for an evening of food and music. There was a horn band playing while we ate bratwurst and soup. Around 10pm the lights went out and classical music started playing over speakers around the park. Then the show really started. A huge fireworks display, synched with the music, had ash raining down on the crowd. It was the perfect finale to a wonderful Swiss trip.