The sun was shining and the sky was spotted with little fluffy white clouds while the temperature hovered around the 15°C mark. It was ideal race conditions and I was even relaxed about the whole affair.
Laurence and I had arrived at the Guerlédan site just before midday after a 5 hour drive from the outskirts of Paris.I'd been very chivalrous and driven the whole way as we left just after 6am. The sight of Laurence half-asleep in the passenger seat wasn't conducive to her taking the steering wheel anyway. After a non-eventful journey (apart from being stopped and breathalysed by the police at 6:30am), we had arrived safe and sound for the club's trail weekend in Britanny. Over the next couple of hours, we were gradually joined by all the other members of St Germain over for the weekend: Nick and Anne, Gérald, Régis, Delphine, Philippe and Catherine, Stéphane and Claire to name but a few. There were 40 of us in all for 3 events: 13km trail, 23km trail and the last - the 58km trail. 3 of us had signed up for the "défi" or the challenge. This involved running the 13km trail on Saturday and then the 58km trail on Sunday morning with the winner based on the combined times over both races. Gérald, Stéphane and myself had signed up as our own personal challenge with Stéphane, a seasoned trailer, using it as preparation for the Tour des Glaciers de la Vanoise (TGV).
I had looked at the results of the défi last year and thought that a 1:15 run for the short trail and then 6:30 run for the long trail was possible and that this would put me in the first 6 or 7 runners. A podium might even be possible but this would obviously depend on the quality of the field, the weather conditions and my shape on the day. Gérald was looking to compete with me, but never having run a trail before or run further than a marathon, he was going into unknown territory. We agreed however that the défi would be won or lost on the long trail and that we shouldn't burn ourselves out on the 13km race, so we could run together. With this in mind, we lined up together on the start line.
The gun went and we set off together at what felt a reasonable pace. The Garmin indicated the first kilometre along the flat and beside the river in 3:58. I told Gérald this and that we were running easily. The nice flat section suddenly took a turn for the worse and we ran the next kilometre up the road gaining 120metres in the process (12% average slope for you non-mathematicians!) - Garmin beeped again, only this time showing 6:00 ! Gérald looked easy and could have run on, but I found this hard not being a natural hill-runner. He looked around and slowed down a little, waiting for me to catch up the 5 metres that separated us. The course flattened out a little now and I followed Gérald, letting him set the speed along the track as we left the road behind us. Another short uphill section and then a long steep downhill and I was pushing Gérald and then passing him as he used more caution in his descents.
We went through the 3 kilometre marker and then a steep uphill section again past 4 then 5km. The track was now too steep to run and we walked as quickly as possible trying to maintain our places amongst the other runners. Gérald walks quicker uphill too and he gained another 10 metres on me here as he outstrode me up the slopes. I quickly caught this up as we went downhill again and he told me to press on. Years of reckless scree running paid off now as I descended quickly, passing a couple of runners in the process. We went through 6 kilometres and then out onto the road near the start having completed a small circuit to the east of the start.
We set off westwards now to complete the circuit with a loop in the forest on the other side of the start. This firstly involved an uphill section in a sort of natural half-pipe. The leaves had settled in the bottom of this gulley and were covered in moss. As we ran up this, I had the impression that we were running on a sort of natural bouncy castle; and the going wasn't easy. Gérald caught me up again here and we ran together for a while with another runner before we hit another downhill section and I pulled ahead again. Another uphill, then downhill and Gérald and I continued our cat and mouse game until we reached a long downhill section and I pulled ahead determinedly. We hit a flatter section and I looked behind to slow down and wait for Gérald. I saw the colours of our third runner and decided that although we had agreed to run together, I wasn't going to lose a place now waiting and so I pushed on.
Apart from the uphill sections, I didn't have the impression that I'd been racing flat out. I was relaxed and not in the same frame of mind as say a 10km road-race. I followed the forest track and saw a runner ahead of me for the first time in a long time in the race, as the trees and forest meant that the head of the field was never visible. I decided not to push it and to just run easily but I was steadily pulling him in. I had just run past 11km now and a marshal told me that there was 2.8km to go. So the 13km race was actually 13.8km and I still had a chance to catch him. The 200m that separated us slowly reduced to 100m and then 50m. I figured that we had about 500m to run now and when we hit the last road section, I was so determined to catch the guy that I really picked the pace up and began to fly. I'd underestimated the distance to run though and my sprint lasted a lot longer than I'd first thought was necessary. To make it worse, we had a stream to wade through, a bank to climb and then 100m to run through the grass to the finish. Having overtaken the guy, I wasn't going to let this get me down now and I ran this last kilometre in 3:36 (stream, grass and all!).
I finished in 30 place, having completed the 13.8km course in 1:10:22 or an average of 5:05 per km. The Garmin shows almost 500m of uphill over the course, which is a little optimistic, but I think that 350m would be fairly close. I was pleased with my performance and also to see Gérald finish just behind me in 32 position and 1:11:02. So now I had a full 40 second advantage for the trail the next day, but would that be sufficient...
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