Its going to hurt, it might seem impossible, you’ll want to stop and climb out of this moment but this moment is temporary. It’s all temporary
Some time ago, I got a text from Alicia, my youngest daughter. The text contained two links—one was to a Dolomite ultra marathon, and the other to the Seiser Alm half marathon, also in the Dolomites. Her request was, “Can we do one of these, please?” We, actually I, chose the Seiser Alm half, the ultra can wait.
That was it.
Alicia and I trained as we all do, looking forward to the beauty of South Tyrol. There are a few things, though, that Alicia wasn’t all that sure about concerning the race: the fact that it takes place at around 2000 meters, and that there’s a total climb of 600 meters. Every runner knows the feeling of sucking the precious oxygen out of the thin air at altitude, the weary climb up mountain paths while your heart races and your legs groan. These were experiences that, if you haven’t yet been through, are just words on a page.
The long, hot summer started, making training difficult, but I’d like to think that she was pretty well prepared. Oh yeah, prepared. That’s an interesting topic. While we were both mentally and physically ready, we hadn’t read the starting criteria well enough—or had forgotten. We both needed health certificates, fitness tests, and ECG readings from a doctor. I slotted mine in on a busy Friday at my local surgery, the doctor far from impressed that I wanted it done at this late hour. On a bloody Friday!
Despite the number of people waiting for things far more serious than a fitness test, I got seen at some point and was declared fit and healthy. Alicia, on the other hand, was in intense dance preparation at a music festival in Berlin—what we children of the 1970s know as disco, or the ’90s kids have down as raves. In any case, she wasn’t going to get a health certificate quickly. She was also concerned she wouldn’t pass because of all the partying.
Luckily, in a small town in Bavaria, a doctor agreed to run the tests. Despite—or perhaps because of—the raving, discotheque-soaked state of Alicia’s health, she passed with flying colours. Declared super fit and ready to race up the slopes of the Seiser Alm. Partying might not be as unhealthy as we think!
We prepared at some altitude in the Bavarian town of Bernbeuren, where Alicia’s Oma filled us up with food like Käsespätzle and To combat the heat, we drank alcohol-free Weizenbier, which was delicious—but obviously not as delicious as the alcohol-free Kölsch I normally train on back home in the Eifel.
We found lodgings in a small hotel along with a few other Seiser Alm half marathon competitors. The scene was set and the vibe was good.
We registered on the Saturday at the Alm only to find out that we had different starting times! luckily we sorted it and Alicia had to take the number of another runner. We had to cleverly modify her bib so that her name was positioned instead of Stig or whatever the name was of the bloke she was replacing.
The day arrived and we travelled up on to the Alm on the Gondola, that was actually pretty exciting.
Race day
A breakfast of oats and healthy bits of fruit, seeds and I’ve no idea what else but it tasted good! As close as I could get to my staple of porridge. We made our way to the Seiser Alm, hang on what is an alm?
An “Alm” in the Alps refers to a mountain pasture used for grazing livestock during the summer months, often accompanied by buildings such as huts or stables. These areas are essential for traditional farming practices and are typically located at higher elevations where animals can graze on nutritious grass
There we go.
The Seiser Alm is at roughly 2000m and is situated south of the alps in the northern Italian region of Sud Tyröl A bit of Italy that speaks German or as close to it as possible, it’s a dialect close to Bavarian and Austrian and I know the Bavarians and Austrians are going to lynch me for saying that but it sounds pretty close to me!
Is it Italy?
Probably as much as Scotland is English!
Still it’s an incredibly beautiful mountainous part of Italy and the food and people are smashing.
We made our way to the top of the Alm in a Gondola and basked in the views.
Race starts are always places milling with runners and the excitement is hard to keep inside the bottle and Alicia was ready!
As soon as the whistle goes off you go, sprinting like you’re in the school sports 100m, you and Usain Bolt your inner hunter gatherer is out there on the plains running! Sounds great, looks great but …
20 minutes or so later you’re knackered.
And you’ve only another 15km to go!
So what you do is, you chill, you jog around a bit at 2000m and get used to the climate. You ease your body into it and prepare your hunter gatherer self to be crossing the plains for the rest of the morning. So thats what we did. Thanks Mattia Colzada, Italian Ultra legend for that energy saving, keep the adrenalin in the bottle, bit of advice.
There were bits in the race where the terrain, mainly the hills, did get to us.
But we knew it was temporary and that the good times would roll back in.
They did!
What a run this was! full of ups and downs and I don’t just mean the hills. It was a tough mental challenge but the scenery! Man the scenery was just incredible! How many times we did 360 degree turns to suck in the panorama.
At around 20km we could hear the people at the finish, the announcements and the cheers.
So what did Alicia do?
She put on her sprinting clogs and raced away from me! Off I went, wondering what was going on. 500m later though we both slowed down in order to ’look good’ on the final straight
There’s nowt like the finish though
We met Heike and made our way over for some refreshments and alcohol free beer.
Job done.
Next up is the Night Shift Backyard Ultra in Sommerset.