Étoile Verte d’Éguzon - halfway done

After three seriously hilly days, Claire has run nearly 100 French miles, in both high temperatures yesterday and pouring rain today. Despite some toe blisters and knee twinges, she seems to be in remarkably good shape. She has two more long stages plus a trail race of “only” 18 miles to go, and she will be done with this great race in central France, courtesy of race director and long-time friend Jean-Benoît Jaouen and his super team of volunteers.

I couldn’t be prouder. It is remarkable to see Claire’s perseverance, work ethic, and sensible pacing alongside nearly 50 other extremely experienced runners. To have participated in this very tough event with training severely limited by injury this year makes it all the more impressive on her part.

Étoile Verte d’Éguzon

 

Tomorrow morning, Claire and I drive to central France, to the beautiful Limousin region. Plenty of cows; very little traffic; and thankfully no longer sitting under sweltering heatwave conditions like a month ago. This is our first post-Covid stage race adventure since Schwarzwaldlauf in 2018.

On Sunday, Stage 1 of 6 daily stages totalling 300km (186 miles) begins, heading northwards along the Creuse Valley. Claire is running; I am her faithful Sherpa! We stay at a leisure centre in Éguzon, and she’ll run different loops from there each day.

She is in decent shape for this race, despite an assortment of back and knee issues. She has swum plenty in 2022, which helps with overall fitness, but running mileage has been limited. I’ve run the last couple of training runs with her, and she looked really strong and healthy, so I’m my usual optimistic self that she’ll make it through.

We’re looking forward to seeing our 70 or so French and German friends who run or volunteer in Éguzon. It is a great group of people under the always exceptional race direction of Jean-Benoît Jaouen, a great friend for the last 17 years.