The Ultra Trail the Mount Blanc and finding meaning in Running, Training and Life.

End of August is traditionally a very exciting week in the Trail Running World. 

Trail Runners from all over the world compete against each other and most of all against themselves in one of the most famous long distance Mountain race on the planet. The Ultra Trail The Mount Blanc.

Watching the race always brings me back to all the emotions, memories, ups and downs of running this exceptional race.

The Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc or UTMB is a 170k race that loops around the Mont-Blanc Massif. It's mainly run on trails, crosses 3 countries, it has 10,000 meters of positive elevation and you only have 46 hours to make it to the finish line. 

Every year there's only about 55% of starters that finish the race. In my first participation, I was one of the 45% that didn’t make it to the finish. From the moment I read about this race, I was excited and amazed that people could run for such a long distance without sleep. 

Also, a little seed was planted, and all I wanted was to run this race. 

The longest I've ever run was a road marathon so a lot of work had to be done. I started to train more and I started to gather some information about training, about exercise, about strengthening the body, about nutrition, about sleep, the list goes on. Passion became a little bit an obsession. But four years later I was able to start the UTMB.

Unfortunately, not all luck was on my side, and with only 29km to go I had to stop the race. I had a chest infection and difficulties breathing. 

I didn't want to put my health in danger and after 12 hours of suffering, I made the decision to give up.It was a very hard decision, but it was the best decision at the time. 

Training started again and I enrolled in different races, gained more experience, had some fun along the way and two years later I was able to finish the dream.

All together it took six years but in those six years, I learned so much about myself, about different ways of training, about breathing, recovery, nutrition, visualisation and more.

The motivation came easy because I had a clear goal in mind. I had a clear goal, I wanted to run this race. 

Because of this goal, I had meaning and purpose to train, to plan and to handle setbacks. Fully engaged and motivated, the journey becomes equally important as the goal.

What drives you to run? Why are you running?

Perhaps you’re aiming for a personal bast or run for a distance that would exhaust even an experienced cyclist. Maybe your goals are health-related: shedding pounds or building strength. After a long day in the office, you might seek to clear your minds and break free from routine. Some of us cherish the connection with nature, blending into our surroundings. Or perhaps you’re being chased by playful children armed with water guns. 

Maybe you're a runner that don't really have a goal and you run for health or social experience or just for fun and that's good.

Whatever the reason, it helps you to create the athlete mindset. The athlete mindset and the motivation will help you to figure out how to get the most out of your run 

Do you feel tense in the morning and can do with a few more stretches? 

Are you easily out of breath? 

Do you have aching knees when running downhill or do you simply want to be able to keep running into old age?

Take your time to think about this. Why not think about this during your next run?

Find the why in your running, find your own challenge, improve to way you run, the way you breathe and change the way how you feel and perform. And don’t forget to have some fun along the way! :)