My running goal for 2017 is the Great Escape, which will
be my first 100-miler. Organized by Legends Trail, following the Eisleck and
Lee Trails for 160k and 7000 meters elevation from Ettelbrück (Lux) to Maboge
(BE)… Sounds pretty good!
To get
ready for this, I wanted to do a few races around 100k to know I can get at
least that far. The remaining 60k will be uncharted territory until then. In July I
participated in the Eiger Trail, 100k and 6700m elevation with great mountain
views. In August, there was Trail des Fantômes, organized by Sportevents.
The route passes through the same region as the last part of the Great Escape.
Luckily for me, this was the year the 100k also took place (which is only every
three years), so the perfect opportunity to test everything I can.
The start
of the race was scheduled at 4am on Saturday, so I went to campsite Benelux at La
Roche Friday evening, where I met fellow runner Frank again. The campsite should have been
quiet at 11pm, but so crowded and noisy I could only fall asleep at 1.30am. Just
enough time to get the full 30min of sleep before crawling out of my sleeping
bag, have some breakfast, pick up the race bib and get to the starting line.
At the same
moment, there were 14.000 people participating in the Dodentocht-walk in Bornem,
which is also 100k. But here, in La Roche-en-Ardenne, there were only 80.
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| Start at 4am |
Frank
and me started about halfway in the crowd, but after 20k we discussed dropping
the pace a bit. Good thing the next part was more technical, with lots of tree
roots and short scrambles, so we needed to slow down anyway. The rain of the last
few days and the constant drizzle made the trail pretty slippery, so I
was glad I had my poles with me to prevent some falls.
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| Frank climbing |
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| Crossing the river |
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| Taking shelter from the rain |
With this amount of participants, and this distance, there were long stretches where we didn’t see other participants, so Frank and me kept each other company during the whole trail, discussing races, trail-food, socks, foot lotion and other interesting stuff. Whilst we're at the subject of food, at the aid stations every 20k the basics were covered with water, coke, oranges, bananas and salted crackers. There was no hot meal provided however, so I prepared some burritos (sweet potato, black beans, tomato, rice and red pepper), which turned out to be an excellent idea.
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| Burrito's! |
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| Frank descending |
Am I ready for the Great Escape? I honestly don't know if I'll be able to finish it, as there are just so many things which can go wrong. But I do have the feeling I have prepared what I can.
