.heart of the unicorn

“Où sont tes héros aux corps d’athlètes, et tes idoles mal rasées, bien habillées”

Running. It is addictive. It has been 2 months again since I ran my last race. Way too long. Yesterday was the 42k Trail des Bosses marathon. I almost never do pre-race research, so always let it come and see what happens. I only knew it was in a forest near Brain-le-Comte and it had 1000 positive vertical meters.

Compared to well organised city marathons, trail runs always lack a bit of guidance and instructions. Changing rooms are somewhere ‘overthere’ and the start is more or less around the corner. But nobody really cares. And neither do I. The laid back attitude is something you can use at the always stressy start.

Start was normally at 11h00, but I think we eventually departed around 11h15. Relax. No stress. A few days before I was still struggling with a fever, so I knew this was going to be a hard one. I decided to take it really easy and let my friends run in front of me. Apart from the relaxed organisation, I must admit the check-points were really good. There were only 2 of them, but the first one was in an old farm, with fresh drinks and food, the heating was on, you just want to crash down in one of the couches in the livingroom. But no time for that. Stayed 3 minutes, no more I think. On  to the next 21k.

Note to self: fill your camelbag again when there are only 2 or less checkpoints, I ran out of water around 38k, which basically sucks when you have still 4k to go to the finish.

The scenery was beautiful, a bit like Forêt de Soignes, but add the horses and medieval villages. Time really stood still here. I never felt a 100% during the race, so I didn’t push myself to finish in a record time. I was suprised I caught up with my friends around 25km, they were having a hard time too. Nevertheless, I was happy I finished in 5h17, hot soup and drinks at the finish. Shower, food and movie waiting at home. Good times. Always on the run.