UTMB hadn't been on my radar until I already had the 15 necessary points needed to qualify for the race. From 2014 when I dipped my toes in the ultra scene with a back-of-the-pack Beacon Rock 50k finish to my Kodiak 100 finish in 2017, I had amassed eight 100 miler finishes and four 50k finishes. I decided that in 2018, I would focus on marathon performance at the Boston marathon and Tunnel marathon, but that I would also complete the most difficult 100 miler of my life. The most difficult 100 milers thus far have been Bighorn 100 and Kodiak 100. Well--UTMB would be almost twice as much elevation gain as Bighorn and Kodiak.
Being the first time I applied for UTMB, I knew I had less than a 40% chance of being selected, and maybe more like 20% on the first try. In January, 2018 however, I got that special email saying I was accepted into UTMB! Being excited I quickly told my family of the adventure ahead, and they jumped on board to go with me for our first Europe trip ever.
The logistics of getting ready for UTMB were quite cumbersome, but were nonetheless necessary. For the required equipment, I used a UD AK Mountain vest, iPhone 7, sea to summit cup (for a cup-less race), standard survival blanket, Ace elastic bandage from the Fred Meyer, UD Ultrajacket V1, Adidas running pants, buff, fleece cap, baseball hat, Nike running long sleeve shirt, Seirus waterproof gloves from Amazon, UD Deluge pants, two Black Diamond Spot headlights with spare batteries, thick Columbia fleece jacket, Black Diamond trekking poles, and Altra Olympus 2.5 running shoes. These supplies and much more including a passport were stuffed into my pack which was to weigh 10-15 lbs.
I flew from the US to Geneva, Switzerland 10 days before the race to get over jet lag, have a little altitude acclimation, and to vacation a little before the UTMB race.
On the Monday before the race, I arrived in Chamonix, France and stayed in a vacation rental house, which would be home base for the next week before I would return to the US. On Tuesday, I ran up from Le Bois to Montenvers and back down. I was surprised to see no other runners on this interesting trail in the early morning when I saw several chamois. Later that day, my family and I took the cable car to Plan de L'Aguille du Midi. The second cable car was closed (due to a failed recent inspection) so we didn't make it all of the way to Aiguille du Midi.
On Wednesday afternoon, I took my pack in to get a gear check completed and to pick up my race bib. The line was very long and this took about 2 hours to complete, with most of it waiting in line. Next time I would take an extra large plastic back to put all of my supplies in, because I had to unpack my pack and then try to stuff it back in while picking up my bib and shirt and everything.
On Thursday, I ran along the river from Le Bois to Chamonix and back and saw many, many runners. The only elite runner I recognized along the river trail that week was Timothy Olson. Chamonix felt like a trail runner's Mecca with somebody running at all times during the day. There were more runners out than non runners, it seemed. What a great place to encourage physical fitness!
My plan on race week was to try to gradually sleep in more and more so that by race day I would be able to sleep in till almost noon, an thus limit my sleepiness during the race. Unfortunately though, I kept waking up between 6 and 7 am each morning, and eventually I decided that I would wake up normally on Friday if it happened, but then try to catnap on Friday afternoon before the race.
On Friday, race day, I woke up at 7 am as expected, ate a breakfast of corn flakes with soy milk, a banana, and maybe a croissant. For lunch I boiled potatoes and ate it with gravy. I tried to sleep that afternoon, but only managed to pretend sleep for 1 hour with my eyes closed. I was too well rested and too excited to start the UTMB adventure.
At 2:00 pm I got a text from UTMB HQ saying that the cold weather kit was activated, so I would have to add a fleece jacket and extra long sleeve to my already full pack! So much for special kits being activated before bib pickup on Wednesday! Oh well, I was just glad they were looking out for us.
At 4:30 pm I went to the gymnasium to drop off my one and only drop bag for Courmayeur. It had been raining all afternoon, and there were many puddles on the ground. I was wearing my rain jacket already and walked over to the start area around 5:00 pm. By 5:30 pm, approximately 2600 runners were lined up in the rain. I was between the middle and back of the pack since I expected to be in this general place (being bib 1683/3000) during the race. I had also read from other's race reports that the front is a made rush with pace way too fast, not unlike a bull stampede. Every 5 minutes or so there would be announcements in French and English.
At the start there was inspiring loud music, people clapping and waving. We were crammed together so tight that we moved like sardines in a can, or Worthington linkets in a can (if you are vegetarian like me). It took almost 2 minutes to cross the start line and even then, I was hardly even walking. I was trying not to trip on other people around me. I took several more minutes before I could start running. Even at that point, it was a shuffle and eventually a jog. This first 8 km is a relatively flat rolling stroll along a river and through town towards Les Houches, France. One interesting thing of note here was that the runners would see a muddy area on the trail and go way around it, even waiting in a long line to go around the mud. I was amazed. At Bighorn 100 in Wyoming, all of us would just go right through the mud, without a second thought. But here, its like people were afraid to get muddy or something. Nevertheless, I went straight through the mud here and passed many people up.
Before I reached Les Houches, I had to take off my warm jacket and gloves due to warming up too much. This dropped me back in the pack a little, but it was early in the race and I didn't worry too much about it. The rain thad stopped by the time we left Chamonix, and the trail gradually started to dry out.
The first major climb goes up over 820m to Le Delevret, which slowed me down to a power hike with poles. I started to notice all of the different countries represented at this race (80-90): UK, France, Italy, Switzerland, China, Japan, US, Spain, etc. When I spotted a US or UK runner I would try to say something in English. When I spotted someone from another country I would try to stick to French since it was our common language now.
At Le Delevret, I was in 2010th place. Sunset was coming, so I took out my headlight and floated down to hill towards Saint Gervais. The downhill was quite steep in sections and technical. The trail was very crowded which made passing others difficult. I just sat back and enjoyed the time in easy effort mode. At Saint Gervais (21km) at 9:15 pm, I grabbed some food at the aid station and headed off in 1843rd place, 45 minutes ahead of the cutoff.
From Saint Gervais to Les Contamines, it is a gradual uphill in a rolling fashion. I made nice progress and was in 1673rd place by Les Contamines (31 km) at 11 pm at night, 1 hour ahead of the cutoff. I refueled and was on my way. I was starting to get into a nice rhythm with the aid stations. I would fill up my bottles with one having water and the other overtime, an electrolyte drink. Then I would start with three squares of dark chocolate (amazing energy boost), eat crackers and bananas, and also eat baguettes, and soup broth with rice added in. The cool cloudy night was enjoyable and I was neither too hot or too cold, neither too wet or too dry.
From Les Contamines to La Balme, the trail heads uphill first gradually then more steeply. I didn't pass many people on this section and was in 1681st place at La Balme (39km) at 1 am. From La Balme, the trail heads steeply up through rocky trails with trail-side snow patches until Col Du Bonhomme is reached which is at 2329m. At Croix du Bonhomme, I was in 1662nd place at 2:48am. During this climb I looked back down the trail and saw a conga line of headlights snaking upon the trail for miles at 1-2 in the morning. "Crazy" I thought. "What a silly thing for all of these people to be doing at 1-2am!" I was one of them which made me chuckle even more. From Croix du Bonhomme to Les Chapieux, the trail descends sharply in the dark to the 50km point. I reached Les Chapieux at 4:08 am in 1634 place. Apparently I was happy sitting back in the conga line all of the way down the hill.
At Les Chapieux, again I refueled and got ready for a big climb. Although it was still cloudy, the night air was chilly. I felt really good going up to Col de la Seigne and passed many people up power hiking with poles. I even ran uphill a little. At the top, frost was everywhere along side the trail. By Col de la Seigne, I was in 1522th place, and it was 6:32am. Sunrise was here, and Oh was it a nice one! Welcome to Italy! The Italian Alps were amazing and the views of the glaciers and canyons were incredible. The descent into Lac Combal was fun and I was able to run quite a bit and the runners started to thin out some. The air was chilly with a cold north wind. I reached Lac Combal at 7:12 am in 1456th place. I had advanced 178 places since Les Chapieux in only 17 km! This must have been my first wind. I drank some soup broth with rice, and some crackers before heading on my way.
The climb to Arete du Mont Favre was difficult so I stopped a few times to admire the views. The cool temps helped keep me going and I reached the top at 8:35am in 1447th place at 71 km. From here it was all downhill, and I ran very quickly down to Col Checkout Maison Vieille. Here they had fresh penne pasta with marinara sauce! I had two cups of it before continuing on the descent into Courmayeur.
As I descended into Courmayeur, I ran rather quickly and nearly sprinted at times until I reached the aid station. This was the half way point. After refueling a little and barely using my drop bag, I pressed on in 1249th place at mile 80 at 11 am. It had taken me 17 hours for the first half.
From Courmayeur, the trail heads steeply up to Refuge Bertone, but the elevation is still low at this point, so it's not as hard as other climbs on the course. For some reason the rolling hills from Refuge Bertone to Refuge Bonatti were harder and longer than I had imagined, and I got somewhat discouraged here. I refueled here and proceeded on towards Arnouvaz at 95 km. I reached this point around 2:55 pm in 1155th place. For some reason, this aid station was very small and very crowded. I imagined it was crowded because I was in the middle of the pack now. Yet when I refilled by bottles, I was informed that all runners leaving Arnouvaz had to wear running pants. I asked if the waterproof or warm pants were required, and the volunteer said "either one." Therefore I put on my warm pants, thinking about the cold cloudy windy weather. I ate a little food here but when I tried to exit the aid station, the volunteers said I had to have waterproof paints on, "not warm pants." So I had to go back and change my pants again. This whole changing my pants twice and repacking my gear must have taken 30 extra minutes.
Apparently at Grand Col Ferret, the wind chill was -10 C with rain. Therefore I donned my waterproof jacket, pants and gloves. I didn't know what I was heading into, but it didn't sound enjoyable. I headed up the 4.6 km to Grand Col Ferret. The high altitude and fatigue of prior climbs were wearing on me. Some runners were sleeping alongside the trail in the icy weather. Others were trudging up the hill. I trudged along too but had to stop time and again to catch my breath. As I got higher and higher, I had to stop more frequently. It was getting chilly. Many runners were passing me now. Even with poles and a power-hike I felt like I was barely moving. "Should I head back down and call it quits? I thought. Or should I press on, like I had in all but one of my previous 9 100 miler races." That one Bighorn DNF in 2015 was because I was fatigued and energy depleted and was getting too close to the cutoffs to be able to finish.
I was carrying two watches and both weren't working. I had no idea what time is was or how close to the cutoffs I was. One watch got water in it and stopped. The other was my GPS watch which stopped at Courmayeur because the battery ran out. I decided to press on even though I was bonking and not feeling well. By the top of Grand Col Ferret above 2400m, it was 5:13 pm, and I was now in Switzerland. It had taken me over 2 hours to climb those 4.6 km! The wind chill was incredibly cold and I knew I had to trudge on down the hill, as waiting to catch my breath would have been disastrous. Just 1/2 mile down the hill, my stomach rebelled and I stopped alongside the trail to dry heave 10 times. Nothing was left in my stomach, so nothing came out other than secretions. Runners continued passing me in droves. One asked me if I was ok. I replied saying, "I'm just have some nausea." I knew that slowing down and descending were what I needed, so I did just that. I would head down into Switzerland at La Fouly and reassess how I was doing and if I had gotten too close to the cutoffs.
La Fouly (109km) came, and to my surprise I was about 2:50 ahead of the cutoff. I hadn't lost much time because the cutoffs get more generous as the race goes on. I still had a chance at finishing! Not only this but I was in 1220th place, having lost only 65 places since Arnouvaz.
The trail meanders down from La Fouly towards Champex Lac with some road miles thrown in. By Champex Lac (123 km) it was 11:16 pm, and I was in 1184th place. I refueled well here knowing that I still had 3 more climbs to go. I put my head down for 2 minutes on a table and closed my eyes but didn't sleep. I left here and started up towards La Giete.
I found myself power hiking up a steep, steep slope in a conga line. I stayed behind several people all of the way up. The person at the head of the line was going very slow, but at a perfect speed for me such that I didn't have to stop to rest at all. I met a couple of runners from the UK in this line, one of which had run this race before. At La Giete, there was a small aid station, which had a few potatoes wedges and potato chips. It seemed though that most of the supplies here were gone and eaten up. At La Giete I was very tired at 2:11am and was in 1076th place. I had gained 108 places in 11 km, probably partially because I had a quick aid station stop!
From La Giete, I trudged down the trail in the dark steeply to Trient. I didn't run very much but just followed people ahead of me. At 4:01 am, I came into Trient. Darkness still settled upon the wilderness. I was very tired. I didn't try to sleep at all, as I was getting really close to the finish. I was at 140 km in 1061st place. I only had 31 km to go to the finish. From Trient to Les Tseppes, its 5 km but it climbs up 826m! This was going to be one of the steepest or the steepest climbs of the course.
Now, after being awake for nearly 45 hours, I was at my lowest point in the race. Maybe I wasn't cut out to run for two days straight. Maybe I would have to be helicoptered out of here because I couldn't stay awake. UTMB does require us to have international evacuation insurance for a good reason. Maybe everyone else could use Coca-Cola to their advantage, while I never drink sodas or coffee. Maybe I would be known as the runner who fell asleep going up the steepest climb on the course and took out 10 runners with him when he fell. Would I be THAT guy? I decided I must go on. I took many breaks going up that hill. Eventually I reached the top at Les Steppes and sauntered down a mile or so into France. I was so tired though that I stopped right beside the trail, sat on a rock and put my head between my knees and closed my eyes for 5 minutes. I sensed many other runners looking and wondering at me as I tried to rest. I didn't sleep, but somehow I started to wake up at the sunrise warmed up the alpine meadows.
I rose to my feet and took a few steps. I then hopped a couple of times and started to trot down that trail that winds down towards Vallorcine, which is the next to the last aid station on the course. As the trail headed down I started to run first slowly, but then faster, and faster. I was seemingly leaping through the air eating up large chunks of trail, passing up all of the runners who had passed me up on this section, and passing up runners I hadn't seen before. I was running on the downhills and flats and power hiking on the uphills. I ran into Vallorcine aid station as a revived person.
I was finally awake in the early morning. I refueled really well. I was for the first time in the top 1000 runners--in 999th place at 7:16 am. I then headed up towards the last of two climbs. Descending from the top of the first climb, I ran crazily fast downhill hopping over rocks and roots, passing up all runners in my path. When the final climb to La Flegere came, I slowed down quite a bit, allowing those I had passed to pass me up. I didn't worry at all about this though because this I was running my own race, my own adventure. I knew the last downhill was coming, and I was saving everything I had for this. I stopped for 10 minutes at one point to take off my warm clothes as the sun was making the climb very hot. At La Flegere, I was now in 916th place. I habitually refilled my bottles even though I knew I likely would need all that much fluid for the descent.
From Le Flegere, I leaped onto the trail with all of my energy. I only had 8 km to go. I ran down the steep technical trails as fast as I could, with the energy and bounce of an elite runner. I was going two or three times as fast as most of the other runners, passing many, many runners along the way, all of which I hadn't seen before. I was going so fast in fact that I missed a turn and had to back track up a steep hill which lost me 5 minutes or so. I felt as though I had fresh legs and could run for miles that way. Once I entered Chamonix, I had to run some tough flat stretches including two long flights of stairs.
Only one person caught up with me briefly on this section, before I dashed ahead. Just before the finish line, I glanced over to see my wife eagerly dash out of the crowd to run the last few paces with me, which was really fun for her and me!
After 40 hours 59 minutes and 35 seconds, I had gotten to run the UTMB race. I finished in 856th place out of 1778 finishers, with a seeded bib# of 1683! Out of 2600 starters, I was in the top 1/3 of runners. My place steadily improved throughout the race.
UTMB was my 10th 100 miler race, my 9th finish, and my 8th finish in a row.
UTMB gave me many firsts:
--First time no chafing at all in a 100 miler
--First time ran over 30,000 ft elevation gain in a race
--First time running for 40+ hours straight, happened at age 40
--First time being awake for almost 55 hours straight
--First time I haven't fallen down in a 100 miler race
--First time I haven't tried to pass up many other runners early on in a 100 miler
--First time no significant GI issues
--First time I felt fresh in the last 14 miles of a 100 miler
My favorite aid station foods were: dark chocolate, broth with rice, baguette, crackers, bananas
My darkest points: Grand Col Ferret mile 60, and Les Steppes mile 86
My second, third and fourth winds: Running downhill into Courmayeur, Vallorcine and Chamonix
What I didn't use in my pack: gels, extra batteries, extra long sleeve
What is the finisher's prize: A Gilet (sleeveless jacket), no buckle or medal
So what went well for my UTMB race?
--fueling strategy, eating mostly at aid stations
--consistent slow minimum pace
--clothing choices, change when necessary to avoid overheating or overcooling
--sleep plan to limit time wasted
--cool cloudy weather was optimal for running, with exception of rain at start and at Grand Col Ferret
--semi-autonomy logistics worked well for me, so that I didn't need a crew
--helpful volunteers at aid stations, with many speaking broken english
--beautiful landscape helped with motivation
--prior experience
--excellent long training runs with Elk-Kings traverses South Sister Double and Triple, Timberline Trail circumnavigation, Munson peak climbs, and Ultramook 50K for speedwork
Some ways I could have performed even better:
--more calorie intake between aid stations
--standing at aid stations rather than sitting to save time
--more fake naps at key points
--starting more towards front of pack
--more uphill running
--using dual light source at night to help with speed at night
After the race, I felt probably the best I have felt after a 100 mile race. My leg muscles were not sore at all, and there was no chafing. My shoulders were sore from the heavy pack and I had two sore toenails, but no significant blisters. My left foot sole was sore probably from minimal proximal plantar fasciitis/spur inflammation, but that didn't last long.
Looking back on the data from the first half of the race, my avg heart rate was 134 ppm which is nice and slow (fat burning), and explains why I was able to progressively improve as the race went on. Most of the race was in zone 3, followed by zone 2, zone 4 and finally zone 1.
An interesting side note is that this year's course was shortened by about 4 km as two peaks were not included in the course. Col Des Pyramides Calcaires was not included due to the -10C wind chill and cold weather. La Tete aux vents was not included because a rock fall had recently killed a hiker on that trail!
The world's best ultrarunners were here for the world' most famous ultramarathon. UTMB is like the Boston marathon, Tour-De-France and Olympics of ultra running. UTMB attracts many of the world's top elite ultrarunners and many more qualifying amateur ultrarunners who aspire to run one of the most scenic ultra marathons in the World.
Many elites and amateurs did not finish for various reasons (approximately 29%). While top-10 finishers have accomplished something amazing with sub-30 hr finish times, I think all finishers, including those who took the full 46.5 hrs have accomplished something incredibly difficult. They have endured extreme sleep deprivation, two full nights, and many long slow miles. Each runners' journey can be seen as a showdown on a person's fitness, planning, strategy, and ultimately determination. At the same time, each runner is highly dependent upon other people helping along the way--volunteers, other runners, friends, family, spectators, race organizers, communities, and search and rescue personnel.
Course Map
UTMB Elevation Profile
