From Thomas, "I just got back from my trip to Europe to race at the 2nd IAU Trail World Cup held in Le Monetier in the French Alps. The course was way harder then I imagined in my wildest dreams and not a course suited to my running style but I am proud of the fact that I finished and placed 25th place at the World Cup. Not too many people get to go and represent their country at this level of sports competition. Here’s the longer story:

After a flight from SF to Frankfurt, I got picked up by my brother, then made the drive to my sister’s home in Germany. I stayed there for a couple of days before leaving for the French Alps, 8 hours of driving from Germany through Switzerland and into France. We arrived in Le Monetier, checked out the village, and met up with my teammates from the German National team. We checked in for the race and then drove to the hotel. After breakfast Saturday morning, we went to explore parts of the course. We drove up the famous "Tour de France" mountain climb of Col de Gallibier. What we saw of the course looked challenging and rugged but not too bad. As I realized during the race, what we saw was by far the easiest portion. After a nap in the afternoon, dinner, and the technical meeting, we went to bed early to be ready to wake up at 3:30 for the 5:00 AM start.

There was a lot of energy at the start with almost a thousand starters total between the World Championships and the open race, tons of spectators, media, flashlights, cameras, etc. at the start in the dark. The race began and people started out like it was a road marathon. I told myself to take it easy until the daylight and the first climb. At mile 3, it seemed like there had to be a hundred people in front of me. I tried to follow someone with a headlamp and ran about 8:30 pace on the first flat part of the course. The first climb was great for me with the right grade and good footing. I passed at least 30-40 people on that climb and felt good. At the top the first aid station, I filled my bottles and went on. From here, they made us go to the top of the "Col de Gallibier". This part was so steep and slippery with sand and gravel that sometimes I had to move almost on all fours and pretty much crawl. Needless to say, I did not enjoy this part. From the top we had the steepest downhill I have ever gone down, way too many rocks and gravel for me. Sometimes it did not even follow a trail, it was just straight down the hill via the shortest way. Here is where I started to feel not that great. I was about 2.5 hours into the race - too early to feel bad.

The next climb up to the "Col de Rochilles" started out ok but then, instead of staying on the gravel switchbacks, they had us go up on a steep single trail. Here is where I started to get really tired. Next was a steep descent to the 2nd aid station at mile 23. I was about 1.5 hours behind my schedule and figured the adjusted goal is just to finish. At this aid station I talked with our team manager and he said he was not sure if I had dropped out since I was so far behind schedule. I told him that I was determined to make it to the finish. On the next climb I wished I had not said that since it was the steepest climb I have ever gone up, including hiking trips with almost 3000 feet of uphill on hard packed sand, rocks, and gravel. At the end, we had to free climb some parts and then at the beginning of the descent, we had to hang on to ropes. I was really destroyed by the end of this climb. I started slowly running downhill to reach the 3rd and last aid station. One more climb, one more descent over the next 10 miles, and I will be done. I filled up my bottles and told my team manager that I will make it to the finish. One more long climb and then an enjoyable flat stretch along the river. Finally I arrived at the "Col de Buffere" and I had made it to the top of the final climb! I got into the groove a bit and was running again at 8 minute pace, passing people on this part. It still seemed like it was never ending, especially since you could see the finish from the top of the mountain when you still had 3 miles left to go. Finally, I was inside the village and on the home stretch. I MADE IT! I was so happy to be finished and done. I found out that one of my teammates had the race of his life and came in 3rd, winning the bronze medal. I went to the hotel to shower and change and then back to the awards ceremony to see my friend get the bronze medal. Overall it was a great experience to represent my country, race at the World Cup, and get 25th place. It was just very hard getting there. And so it’s to the next race."