The day began at 4:15 am. Silvia and Lorenz were already up and getting things together for the trip to the race. I grabbed a cup of coffee and checked to make sure I had everything I needed for the race. I put on my race gear and a light hoodie. I then grabbed something small to eat before we began the 3 hour drive to Simmental. We packed up the car and a little after 5:00 am we were on our way. The trip itself did not feel long at all since we were going through mountain passes and I was getting to see the beauty that Switzerland had to offer. We stopped a few times to take pictures and just give ourselves a rest. We went through the mountain village of Andermatt and I watched as the military soldiers were preparing to go home for the weekend. Silvia and Lorenz were giving me pieces of information about each location that we passed. Before I knew it, we arrived at the location of the race.
After getting out of the vehicle and having something small to eat again, Silvia and I made out way to the packet pick up location. At this point, it still had not hit me that I was about to run a race on foreign soil. But the reality of the situation definitely hit me once we got into the crowds of people. I did all of my pre race stretching and warming up about 20 minutes before the race was set to began.
Silvia and I took a photo together and we went to line up at the start. I got up to the front and Silvia gave me some last encouraging words. I could not understand the announcer as he was speaking another language but I did identify when he was starting to countdown. And then, Bang! We were off! Everyone shot out like a cannon and I did not let myself get caught up in the excitement. I had a strategy going in and I was not going to stray away from it.
We took the first turn which took us up a slight hill and then we turned into the village. Once we were in the village, we were mostly running on road and everyone was moving pretty fast. The villagers were cheering us on and felt like a big celebration. I heard people lined up among the course cheering us along in German,Italian, French, and other languages. We hit two hills in the village and then the course turned into a mix of grass and rocky surface. This is where my strategy kicked in. I began to conserve my energy and cut down on my pace. The elevation was starting to increase and the ground we were running on was uneven and slippery. As we were making our way toward the trail, it felt I was running sideways and it took a lot of energy to stop myself from slipping and falling over. The guy in front of me did not have as much luck as he fell down and I helped him back up.
Now we were in the trail, and it was so beautiful. It was like we were running on a cliff as the trail was narrow and if you looked to the right, you would see the edge which would lead to a pretty nice fall down. The trail had a few uphills but it was nothing different than what I was used to. After we got out of the trail, the path turned rocky and grassy again, but not for long. Soon we hit the road again and this is where the fun began. We began to climb, and climb, and climb. The road kept going uphill and did not stop. With each turn, I was hoping that the road would even out for a little bit, but it didn't. As I made each turn, there was just another hill waiting for me. I could hear every runner around breathing hard and struggling. The elevation was getting higher and higher, which made breathing that much harder as well.
Around the 10k mark, we finally hit a downhill portion, and it was a big relief! I was able to turn my pace back up and and let my body recover a little from all the climbing. The downhill portion did not last long though, as we began to climb, climb, and climb again. The road just snaked up the mountain with each turn leading to another hill, and another hill, and another hill. It was at this point that I was fighting myself. My body wanted to quit so badly, but I would not let it. We eventually got to some steep rocky steps that went straight up. This was one of the hardest parts of the course. The rocks were slippery and I almost fell a few times. My calf muscles felt like they were on fire as I took each step up. This continued for over half a mile before we finally reached the road again. Once we did, it was the final stretch home. We continued up the road until we got to the lake, which was mainly downhill and straight. Once I got pass the lake, it was more climbing up a rocky path again.
Once I cleared that uphill after the lake, I hit the next to last aid station. I made sure to grab plenty of fluids here. And now, I was at the last mile. The last mile, was the hardest one of all. It was a hike up to the finish line.We were climbing 1,000 feet up and it took so much out of me to keep going. Every step forward was an effort. At times, I could feel my ears popping and it was getting harder to breathe. That last mile must have taken over 20 minutes just to clear. But I made the last turn up the path and there was the finish line! I sprinted toward it with everything I had left and crossed! My finish time was 2 hours and 31 minutes! I received my shirt and I have to say, out off all the race shirts I have collected, this one was the most treasured! I earned this shirt!
I walked away from the finish line and found Lorenz and Leilani waiting near the restaurant on top of Stockhorn. "I didn't die!" were the first words out of my mouth. Lorenz laughed and said "It was tough huh?" "Yes! it was intense!" I said sitting down. And the first thing I wanted more than anything was a nice cold beer. And Lorenz was generous enough to get one for me. I have to say, there is nothing better than a cold beer after a grueling race. It tastes like heaven! Silvia finished the race a little over 30 minutes later and we enjoyed the sights around the top of the mountain before we took the lift back down to the vehicle.
This race was the hardest I have run so far. The 5,700 feet of elevation and constant uphills were a true challenge for me mentally and physically. I refused to give up, even though doubt creeped into my head many times. I was not going to let myself down. I went in with one goal, to conquer a mountain. And I did just that!
Brandon-1 Stockhorn-0
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