Jungfrau Marathon 2012

On Sunday I ran the Jungfrau Marathon in Switzerland for the second time.  The first time was in 2002 when I finished in 3:56 and I was hoping to match or beat that.

Here's the course...

The Jungfrau Marathon course

...and here's the profile

It was a fabulous day in Interlaken.  Steve, Will, Ali and I met up in good time at the start.

Me, Steve, Ali and Will at the start

The atmosphere was humming.  The competition was not your average diverse and assorted bunch of runners - the ladies and the over-50 men had run the day before, and there was a definite air of the assured marathon runner in the participants - very few 'have-a-go' entrants here.
 

The main valley, south of Lauterbrunnen

We started at 9am sharp.  The route took us around Interlaken for a while and then north towards the mountains, but still very much in the valley.  The route was almost flat for the first 10km and then reasonably gentle till km 25.  The valley scenery in the morning light was breathtaking.  I kept at a steady pace of 4:15 to 4:30 per km.


From Lauterbrunnen everything changed.  You suddenly find yourself at the base of a monstrously steep slope which goes on and on up hairpin bends.  Forget running - this required a steady walk, pushing my hands on to my thighs, panting madly.

On the hairpin bends, looking down to Lauterbrunnen

From then on it was a more moderate slope up through Wengen and beyond.  I knew that the finish was well above the tree line and so it was a little daunting to stare up at the mass of forest above.

I felt strong, and was becoming increasingly confident of coming in ahead of 3:56.  I passed the 34.5k marker at 3 hours.  8km in 55 minutes?  Easy, surely!?

First proper mountain view, beyond Wengen

When the tough gets going...

Ah, if only.  At some point after 38.5k the gradient steepened and the terrain became infinitely more difficult, with roots and rocks everywhere.  I gasped, I staggered, and then started to see the final ascent coming into view.  I had to fight harder and harder to keep the pace going and less and less able to marvel the mind-blowing scenery as we climbed onto the spine of a huge coll.  There were bagpipers and Alpine hornblowers but I couldn't really pay attention.  At one point I felt very lightheaded and almost tripped down the rocky slope.

...even the tough are reduced to a walk

And the suddenly I reached a pass and was over the peak and into descent.  More woozy lightheadedness, jagged rocks everywhere and I thought I was going to fall - but instead managed to career downwards.  There was still almost a km left to go and the anticipation was unbearable as I went past a lake and then flat-out downwards and downwards and over the finish line in 4:01:21.  I found myself making awful groaning noises.  I collapsed on the side and recorded an almost incoherent video clip (see below).

It was a good race - I felt the pacing went well and I gave everything I could.  I really had forgotten since 2002 how tough that last bit was.  I was a tiny bit disappointed at losing 5 minutes in the intervening decade.  If there is a single cause it must be the lack of sustained hill training.  Last time I ran the Dorset Doddle 3 weeks beforehand and I think that it must have helped a lot.  This time, I think I was fit for the distance more than the climb.

The finish at Kleine Scheidegg

Enough introspection.  I loved it.  The scenery is just fabulous - this is nature at a vast scale and it doesn't get much better.  It's humbling to be in such a magnificent setting and a real privilege to be able to run there.

Steve finishing, in a much better state than me

Here is the GPS/heartrate data.  I forgot to press Stop when I finished so it's a little over the actual time but the charts tell the story.  Interesting that although the net elevation gain is around 1600m, the actual gross ascent is 2200m.  That's a long way up!

Here are the results for the 45-50 men's category.  I'm there in 34th place.

Will (plus support), Steve and I with the Eiger behind

I took the little Ixus camera with me to take some snapshots en route, but I ended up with an improvised video diary.  Some short clips follow:

1 - Great support through the town of Wengen

2 - One of the many fabulous brass bands

 
3 - Commentary at 34.5km, 3 hours in

4 - 38.5km commentary (just before the final steep ascent)

5 - Some barely-comprehensible commentary from me just seconds after the finish, looking utterly dreadful

6 - And finally, having recovered - a brief view of the mountain range