TransAlpine Run 2016 – Stage 6

• • Race Reports, Travel

This is part 9 of a series detailing my experiences travelling to Europe and completing the Gore-tex TransAlpine Run. The TransAlpine Run is a 7-day stage race from southern Germany across Austria and into northern Italy boasting a distance of 250 km and elevation gain of 15000 m. Eight of us traveled there together as Team Ultra Crazy to attempt this huge goal.

I participated in the race in September 2016 but am just finished up the last few posts finally in June 2018. Accuracy is not guaranteed.

St. Leonhard in Passeier to Sarnthein

33.6 km | 2440 m ascent | 2153 m descent | 9 hour cut off

You may have noticed there aren’t a lot of photos during the first half (or the “up” portion) of the day for my TransAlpine posts. When starting this race, I quickly learned not to take many photos until descending because I desperately needed all the precious minutes and seconds to make the cutoffs. I’m not sure why I took a few this day, but it could have been a disastrous mistake. I remember this was an awesome but difficult day with the last cut off being really tight!

There was lots of beautiful and scenic climbing as per usual. We had to get up over the ridge, down some steep, technical, rocky terrain, through the alpine for a while, and then straight down into town. We saw more cows of course, by this point I was getting a little less nervous around them.

You may have noticed there aren’t a lot of photos during the first half (or the “up” portion) of the day for my TransAlpine posts. When starting this race, I quickly learned not to take many photos until descending because I desperately needed all the precious minutes and seconds to make the cutoffs. I’m not sure why I took a few this day, but it could have been a disastrous mistake. I remember this was an awesome but difficult day with the last cut off being really tight!

There was lots of beautiful and scenic climbing as per usual. We had to get up over the ridge, down some steep, technical, rocky terrain, through the alpine for a while, and then straight down into town. We saw more cows of course, by this point I was getting a little less nervous around them.

Chris stuck very close by me the whole race but ran off ahead a bit as we descended through farm land. It’s easier for him to run as his pace down than putting on the breaks to slow down to mine. Every so often he’d wait for me to catch up. So of course this is when I bailed.

I had been running down this weird cobblestone trail near a German lady when she fell. I stopped to make sure she was alright, although we didn’t speak the same language. She managed to continue on. Moments later I fell and cut my hand open on a rock. It wasn’t a big deal, however, I always feel a little off when I lose blood. I wrapped my Buff around it to stop the bleeding and caught up with Chris.

The next aid station was in sight below so I saw a first aid attendant there. He washed it out a bit, wrapped it in a ton of gauze and told me to get it checked out again at the finish line. Chris got me some sugary snacks while I sat and shook off my lightheadedness for a few minutes.

We finished this stage in 8 hours and 18 minutes. I believe we stayed at Hotel Alpenblick that night which was a short drive from the finish line. I remember ordering a three course meal which was heavily cheese and the salad bar was amazing!

More in the series:

TransAlpine Run 2016 – Stage 5

• • Race Reports, Travel

This is part 8 of a series detailing my experiences travelling to Europe and completing the Gore-tex TransAlpine Run. The TransAlpine Run is a 7-day stage race from southern Germany across Austria and into northern Italy boasting a distance of 250 km and elevation gain of 15000 m. Eight of us traveled there together as Team Ultra Crazy to attempt this huge goal.

I participated in the race in September 2016 but am just finished up the last few posts finally in June 2018. Accuracy is not guaranteed.

Solden to St. Leonhard in Passeier

33.3 km | 1453 m ascent | 2111 m descent | 8 hour cut off

It’s a year and a half since this amazing event and I am embarrassed to say I never finished my series of blog posts. I had basically accepted that I might never complete this task until I was recently contacted by Team RunRun. One of their coaches had been reading my first-hand experiences to provide information to their runners. Their interest renewed my drive to finish this series in the hopes that it can help those already registered for the race or spark an interest in those looking for an epic event to do.

My memory is terrible so these last few posts will be short and sweet. And hopefully accurate, but no promises!

I remember this route was just what we needed after a really tough couple days. It was such a relief. The trails were more runnable, the views were great, and the cutoffs were more obtainable. It felt like a really, really long (let’s face it, it was still 33 km) recovery day.

At some point we crossed the border into northern Italy. The towns had a little different style to them but German was still the popular language. Along the trails were little shrines, especially closer to towns but also in more remote locations.

The downhill near the end as we travelled closer and closer to the finish was simply breathtaking. Towns and houses sat up high on the mountainsides. As I GoPro’d a section through a little town descending rapidly on the windy road, we missed a turn. We were SO lucky that someone behind us saw and called out. Otherwise we would have had an epic hike ahead of us back up the road when we eventually realized.

There was a neat section running on metal structures built into canyon cliffs.

We finished in just over 6 hours.

After probably the most terrifying drive of my life (apparently the lines mean nothing on their super windy, narrow roads), we arrived at our hotel, Gasthof Platterwirt. We were back up in one of the mountain towns and the views were incredible. The food and beer was not bad either!

More in the series:

Babymoon in France

• • Travel

First off, for those who are wondering …

ba·by·moon

/ˈbābēˌmo͞on/
noun

  1. a relaxing or romantic vacation taken by parents-to-be before their baby is born.
    “on the eve of my third trimester, we boarded a plane for a week-long babymoon among the quiet canals of Amsterdam”

Just a few short weeks after moving into our new home, Jesse and I flew to France for a friend’s wedding. I was squarely in the second trimester and would hit the 20 week / halfway milestone while there. Perfect time for a babymoon!

I’m not going to lie, basically a full day of travel each way driving to the airport, two flights, and a train was not fun. I did, however, get to see an amazing lightning show from my window seat.

Our itinerary started with a few days in Paris, then off to the Chateau for several days of the wedding and surrounding events, followed by a mini but aggressive road trip to southern France, the west coast, the Normandy region towards the north.

  • May 19-22: Paris
  • May 22-26: Chateau La Durantie
  • May 25-27: Carcassonne
  • May 27-28: Biarritz
  • May 28-29: Azay-le-Rideau
  • May 28-30: Mont St-Michel

This was Jesse’s first trip to Europe and my second, after having gone to Germany, Austria, and Italy for the TransAlpine Run last September.

More details to come!