I don’t consider myself a mountain runner. Yes, I frequently don trail running shoes and head to mountainous areas, but once there, I tend to find a rolling trail that I can lope along at a steady pace. It’s not totally different to road running but the views are better, the traffic mostly bovine and the ground softer and rougher underfoot. If it’s steep stuff I’m after, I’m usually wearing hiking boots.
But I recently was invited on a 40km trail run along the mountain trails around Verbier, Switzerland and thought, why not? Yes, that’s technically a marathon, but I had three days to do it. I lived in the Rocky Mountains for over a decade so I know I respond well to high altitude. I hike and run all the time, I love a challenge and, I mean, Verbier, right?
