DNF in Mont Blanc

To protect my body I have a rule of thumb in races. I will never continue in an event if I feel I could be potentially permanently damaging a body part. Despite being highly goal oriented, I respect my body and am constantly amazed at what it will let my mind coerce it into doing.

So when at 80K into the 158k brutal Tour du Mont Blanc Trail Ultra I felt my chronically bogus Achilles tendon start to yell, "This is now BAD PAIN - I'm not messing around any more!" I figured I better assess my options.

As an athlete it’s vital to learn the difference between "good" pain and "bad" pain. Bad pain could turn into an irreparable situation and potentially alter one's athletic life. The good pain is the kind we deal with daily in training.

I've experienced enough good pain in various volumes to last a few lifetimes. Good pain is something I am comfortable in – it’s a familiar and potent teacher and we can reap huge lessons from her if we listen well.

Pushing through bad pain is not a courageous act as our society would like to emphasize. Bad pain is plain stupid.

When I made choice to drop out today I knew I made the right call in the grand scheme of my athletic life. But I still sat down in a meadow near a small mountain hut in the shadows of the storybook picturesque Alps and cried. Grieving loss is healthy and not completing this amazing course feels like a big loss.

I've made my way back to Chamonix and the finish line to watch runners coming in. It seemed important for me to feel the celebration and to remind myself that to have more finish lines like this one I needed to make the decision I did today. There's always another race if we choose.

The Tour du Mont Blanc Trail Ultra in an impressive event. Though I felt like I was racing through Braille with the language barrier, I was impressed with their organization and execution on all levels. Definitely a world class event.

That said, the course is purely brutal. This event makes Western States 100 look like a walk in the woods. Our first big climb of the race was about 4500 feet steep, unrelentingly straight up to 8000 feet in the cold mountain air. It took me about two+ hours to complete this ascent and that doesn't include the knee breaking descent straight down the mountain on slippery rocks and dirt. This was the first of eight climbs similar in difficulty. It was huge with an unprecedented view. Excellent combo. Huge.

I feel privileged to have experienced even a taste of this race and Chamonix has definitely taken a piece of my heart.

Back at you from home,
Terri