Last year, I traveled to Chamonix to cover the UTMB, the world’s most iconic ultra marathon which takes hardy runners on a 106-mile lap around Mont Blanc and through three different countries. We watched the runners take off from the starting line then went to our camp about 10 miles in to the race so we could cheer them as they completed their first climb. Then we enjoyed a celebratory evening of feasting and went to bed.
In the morning, when I woke up and checked in to see how the race was going, I remember having to do some serious mental gymnastics to get my head around the fact that for the entire time I’d been asleep, they’d been running. We went to one of the last aid stations on the course, where some of the front runners looked a bit bedraggled, then sped to the finish line to meet the winner, who in all honesty was looking fairly fresh.
