Stage 19 - Seeg (pic)

Approaching Reutte, Austria.

These flat, traffic-free, hard-to-get-lost-on bike trails are the very best.

Stage 19 - Seeg (Germany!)

Today's 44 mile stage started with a long, cold, traffic-heavy climb up and over the Fernpass (the place where, apparently, Hannibal's elephant concept went horribly wrong). By 8am though, we had reached the summit, and were able to enjoy a more restful and sunny descent through the towns of Lermoos and Reutte.

Somewhere around mile 30, we passed into Germany. Not a sign, flag, or anything to indicate our arrival...except...and I kid you not...the world's largest wheelbarrow. I was too busy looking for a border sign and forgot to snap the wheelbarrow. Oh well, you'll have to take my word for it. Just imagine a very big wheelbarrow, and there you have it.

So then we passed through the lovely old town of Füssen, where people actually cheered for us, and then on to the finish at the village of Seeg. A wonderful Bavarian reception awaited us, with cheering at the finish line, that lederhosen dancing thing, sausages and rolls, and requests from star-struck kids for autographs. Now that's more like it!

The day was filled with beautiful blue skies (i.e., hot) and stunning views. Another 40 miler tomorrow, then three 50+ miles days after that which should prove, um, challenging. But one day at a time.

Stage 18 - Nassereith

"Only" a 38 mile day today, but dominated by a 7 mile climb over the Reissepass. Here's a photo of second place runner René Strossny actually running up it! At a brisk walk, it took the rest of us mere mortals 2 hours to get to the summit at over 5000 ft.

Several quicker folks had issues today with shin splints - very painful swelling in the shins - caused by the long, steep descents. My cautious pace downhill has helped me avoid them completely. Now if only I could get rid of this cold...

Tomorrow we reach Germany, and pass through beautiful places like Füssen that Claire and I have visited before. But 30 more Austrian miles to go before we reach the border.

Stage 17 - Pfunds (pic)

The apple blossom in the foreground is amazing right now, and covers miles of fields. Villages and mountains beyond are each more beautiful than the next.

Stage 17 - Pfunds (Austria!)

I'm very pleased to have arrived in Austria. Italy was a long and at times very difficult struggle, but 59 of the original 68 starters have made it.

The middle section of today's stage - before we hit the border - involved some long, serious uphills. As an analog, imagine running for 15 miles, then spending 3 hours at the gym on a stair stepper, then running another 15 miles. Oh, and at 35 degrees and into biting northerly headwinds. (See, I don't want to make this sound easy!) To compensate, the scenery was again beyond superlatives.

The most dangerous part of the entire race so far was a 3-mile stretch of unlit tunnels, which we had to share with cars and 18-wheelers. We were thoughtfully issued with reflective jackets before entering - nice touch, eh? The stuff of nightmares - but I think everyone made it.

Stage 16 - Schlanders (pics)

Covered bridges, castles, rivers, mountains, all accessible by apparently endless cycle paths. This is a cool place indeed.

Stage 16 - Schlanders (pics)

Littered with beautiful schlosses, I've been very impressed by this Süd Tyrol region of Italy.

Stage 16 - Schlanders

Today went very well. The hills were not of the up, up, up variety, except in two places. The weather was ideal - cloudy & cool. The scenery was out of this world. And my mojo at least partially returned, as nothing really hurt too badly, and I was finally happy with my running.

Austria tomorrow! If only I could get rid of this hacking cough...

Injury treatment

People get desperate! Here Shiro from Japan is practicing moxibustion (okyu in Japanese) on Frenchman Christophe Midelet's leg injuries. It involves setting little incense-like cones on fire at acupuncture points on the skin. Ouch!

Sorry to report that Christophe is still struggling each day.

Stage 15 - San Michele

Whew! Not as bad as & thought ... except for the last 5 miles, but we'll get to that.



So last night I finally managed some good quality sleep, after my fish and salami sandwiches (no, NOT mixed together...ugh). I also experimented successfully with taping anti-inflammatory pads to my feet, which helped to reduce footfall pain, so this morning it looked more like I was running than hobbling.



The first 40 miles continued along the bike paths by the Adige river. No car traffic, but Sunday cyclists everywhere. Headwinds were less, but the afternoon was hot - in the mid-eighties - so nice for the cyclists, but not ideal for us.



The last 5 miles into San Michele were up, up, up. Not exactly what the doctor ordered, but good preparation for the next two stages, which I think will be equally hilly.



One interesting point of note is that this part of Italy is German-speaking. Every sign is a mélange of German, Italian and English. Tomorrow we head to Schlanders (still in Italy - see what I mean?) before hitting Austria on Stage 17.

Stage 14 - Nomi

Most of the day was spent on bike paths on the Adige river, as we headed north upstream towards Austria. Traffic was either light or non-existent, but headwinds made much of the day uncomfortable. Cyclists looked at us strangely, but were interested to hear about our route.

Stage 14 - Nomi

The scenery was spectacular - vines in the foreground, medieval town and castle behind, all framed by beautiful Alpine geology.

Stage 14 - Nomi

A very tough day for me today...but let's start with positives:

We're two weeks done, and we've run an outrageous 575 miles;
We're only two days from Austria;
The weather today was sunny and very warm;
My blisters are healing, and I have no achilles or shin splint problems (quite rare here);
The scenery is spectacular - I'll try and post a couple of photos later.

OK, for the negatives:
My feet were really horribly painful today, especially my left one;
There was a fierce headwind for much of our 43 miles today - that gets very draining;
Tomorrow's stage is at least 5 miles longer, and way hillier. Given that I took over 10 hours to complete today, tomorrow could be as much as 13 hours - ouch!

So tonight I skipped the restaurant dinner so I could spend more time elevating and resting my feet. I've kept the protein and calories coming with salami and fish sandwiches, washed down with copious quantities of yoghurt. Like I always say, a glamorous life! And in 9 short hours, the fun begins again.

Stage 13 - Pescantina

Jan the medic (known affectionately now as Mister Blister) worked his magic on my feet this morning, and I made some judicious, last-minute shoe and sock modifications. The net result was my most pain-free day on the road so far. I ran 42 miles in up to 84 degree heat, most of it with my Swiss friend, Christian Marti. We finished in a little over 9 hours, and saved plenty for the hills, which start tomorrow.

As it's May Day here in Europe, truck traffic was blissfully light. I really don't enjoy running as a contact sport.

We are now level with the south shore of Lake Garda, to its east. Tomorrow will be spent working our way 43 miles to the north end of the lake. We have only 3 days left in Italy, before moving on to Austria. Tomorrow's our official two week anniversary! Now I've got my "flatland" legs working again, it'll be interesting to see how they respond to hills, which they haven't seen in days.

Too much pasta, too little time

It will be many years before I'll be able to face rigatoni again! Meals tend to be interminable (when all you want is sleep) and uninspiring (seems like all the caterers have heard that stuff about runners "carbo-loading" - there's never an ounce of protein - or flavor - in sight!).

Sorry for bitching.

Race versus journey

My Trans Europe experience is very much a journey, not a race. I know that if I pushed for good times and obsessed over my classification (which I think is currently somewhere around 40th), then I would end up injured and abandoning. So my "strategy" is paying off thus far. But what's happening in the race up front?

One great feature of the race is that the first 12 finishers from the previous stage get to start 1 hour later at 7am. Because of that, we get to see them scream past us sometime between 3 and 4 hours after our start. It is amazing to see how consistently hard they can work.

The leaders are currently Rainer and René, both from Germany. Today - for the first time - I actually saw them working together, rather than trying to run each other into the ground. They are running 3hr30 marathon pace...the whole way! Japanese and Scandinavians make up the next few places.

On the women's side, Hiroko for Japan is dominant, but Ria from Holland is having a great race too. Japanese and Germans make up the other leader places.

These are amazing, humble people I am privileged to have gotten to know. I hope they are enjoying the journey as much as me.

Stage 12 - Ostiglia

An amazing day! It started inauspiciously; cold, windy and rainy. I was very tired at first from yesterday, and just slogged through the first 15 miles. Then, suddenly, the course headed onto a bridge...which turned out to be across the River Po. A truly dramatic sight - at least 3/4 mile wide, and extremely flooded. Water and flotsam was flying downstream beneath us. But it got even better.

Our course took us along the towpath on the other bank for about 5 miles. There, suddenly, off on the horizon, were unmistakably snow-capped Alps. After nearly two weeks of toil getting to this point, it suddenly all seemed worth it! I got quite choked up. I know it'll take us a couple more days before we start climbing, but if I was Hannibal, I'd be putting in the elephant order now!

I was done running before 1pm, so had plenty of time for miserably cold showers, laundry, and a walk to town for a kebab (well, not too veggie, but I really need protein). Today's 31 miles were much nicer than tomorrow's 43!

Stage 11 - Alberone

Today was, simply put, exhausting. We ran 54 miles - more than two marathons - and lots of people looked very much the worse for wear over dinner.

The course was quite flat, as we're crossing what is I guess the Po delta, a huge expanse of very fertile farmland which was once under water. The weather for the "first" marathon was nice - cool and cloudy - but severe thunderstorms built up in time for the "second". Let's just say that it rained a great deal, and very quickly. It also left the narrow, two-lane roads covered in huge, muddy puddles, which compounded traffic problems.

Tonight I'm sleeping in a church - the hall was full by the time I crossed the finish line a full 12 hours after our 6am start. A strange feeling, but I could honestly sleep anywhere at this point.

Tomorrow is a much kinder 30 miles - more of a sprint, really! One piece of trivia I worked out on the road - today I completed my 50th Ultra run (i.e., greater than a 26.2 mile marathon). Shame I'm too tired to celebrate!

Stage 10 - Lugo

Stage numbers finally in double digits - woohoo! (Sorry for the delayed posting - many tasks after
running today, including a long walk from the town square finish to the gym, an MRI, medical tests, and laundry.)

Today's 43 miles was blighted by 3 "police on scene" car wrecks. The first one included 3 cars, a truck, and three fatalities. Horrible. I thought the race might get shut down, but they directed us right through the middle of the carnage. It put our lives and adventures into perspective.

The course was long, flat, sunny, and very dangerous. One or two more have abandoned today for both physical and mental reasons. It's never easy finding the right words to say to folks who are devastated by quitting. A big preoccupation is tomorrow's monster 54 mile stage, which most of us are silently dreading.

I just had my medical measurements taken. Unfortunately, I've gained a lot of weight (5kgs, or 11lbs). This happened to me in Germany too. I have to work with the doctors to quickly figure out how to reduce my "water weight". Extra salt & bananas haven't been doing the trick.

OK, on to dinner. It'll be Jenny Craig for me soon at this rate!

Stage 9 - Bellaria

Today's 45 miles was in two distinct and completely different halves - the first was very hilly, through some spectacular scenery just inland from the rocky coastline, and the second was a gale force windy half along the mainly deserted seafront, including the resort town of Rimini. Both were draining in their own way.

For our efforts, we were greeted at the finish by cold showers for the first time. But at least we're staying in a modern volleyball gym tonight.

Consecutive long days and hills are causing lots of shin splint issues, even amongst some of the leaders. I actually overtook one of the top ten guys in the final miles today, as he hobbled cursing to the finish. At least one more competitor has abandoned today, and I'm expecting more over the next two long stages.

I continue to eat well. Sore feet are my only real complaint. I'm going to experiment with a different pair in the morning, but will leave my current shoes with the 20k aid station folks, in case I need to switch back.

We leave the coast tomorrow - goodbye Adriatic! And after 9 stages, we're actually one seventh done. Good thoughts.