Lina & Sanna

GORETEX TRANSALPINERUN 2018

Packing is done. Bodies are fine. Minds are nervous. Trails are waiting. Twins are READY to ROCK!

 

Exactly as last year, I imagine myself to sit by the computer every evening and write a little summary about each stage. Do you think I did that?

Nope. Well, anyhow, for GORE WEAR we wrote a little text how we felt, so that helped me now when I’m writing a little race report of the busy week that just flew away. Here we go:

We arrived late due to delayed flights. But manage to get some food and sleep after repacking in new bags. This time we were alone though, in a hotel room. Compared to last year in the gymnastic halls with the other campers. Messy and loud I remembered it, but still fun to see how others organized their stuff, and chat with some other runners before the start.

 Really energized and jittery we warmed up, crissed cross over the expo area. We felt fresh from the start and kept a good pace and running spirit the whole course. It went so fast, even though with  Sadly a bit cloudy, otherwise perfect day!

 

 

After this stage we got to wear the Leader t-shirts. 

The second day it wasn’t much of a view either, but so much fun on the trails together. I was very excited and started a bit too fast, and suffered on lactic acid the first kilometers. Kept on moving and finally found the energy again later on.  Roller Coaster on the energy level. And we missed some higher course points over the tree line, hopefully rest of the week will include that.

We fought to keep Jamie and Eva) behind us (who’s the leading mixed team, and in our GORE team. That was quite funny. They caught us in a long technical decent, and we chat for a bit, then the race mode begun, and we increased the speed and really push like it was the last part of the race, and could feel them disappear behind us. Though feeling chased the whole bit, but it was fun too, to have a great pace and just RUN!

 

 

It was time for stage 3, We ran 51k, a bit longer than A-plan, so less elevation. Which means, more roads, gravel and two not so happy twins. They had to change the course due to stone falls.. Though we had a good speed anyway and trotted as much as we could in the rolling switch backs. When the trails finally came we had some 'runners high' moments and couldn't stop smiling, we didn't want to decend into the valley. The nature felt like Norway or Sweden with soft trails and blueberry bushed beside the trails. And we had some time picking free energy too. SOO DELICOUS! Legs are starting to feel stiff and sore, but that's a part of TAR. We kept on running and really looked forward to the glacier and hopefully beautiful views of stage 4, cause at the finish line of this day we were surrounded by some impressive mountains!

 

Mum and dad, that had been with us, cheering the first days were now heading home.. We were so glad that they could experience some of the stages and feeling of Trans Alpine Run.

Maybe we had needed their support one more day. Lina had her toughest day, her body empty of energy, and a knee that hurt severe in the downhill. Tough it was really our kind of trails and mountains. Steep and technical uphills, a bit of snow and WOW, what a scenery!

We felt that we by this time had been racing for 4days!  Some lack of energy made us slow down, and letting teams pass that we had been ahead of before. But, overall we had a really good day. At the finish we enjoy our own food, and great weather.

 

 

Waking up to not so good sky was of course not what we had expect. Misty and foggy, bur still very beautiful. The pretty valleys we ran through gave us strength even though both of us struggled with much pain in knees and hamstrings. This time Zac and Amanda, who now was in the leading mixed team, and also a part of our GORE team, caught up with us, and tried to pass.  We changed position with master one much of the whole course, and they were ahead of us the last part, but we caught into them meter by meter, and manage to run fast the last kilometers with so much adrenaline, and couldn’t feel the pain, it ended up with a sprint fight with them! Guess who won? 😉

 

As every evening it’s pasta party and ceremonies, in the end they went out draining us of energy. But we enjoy the company of all the other runners and seeing the pictures and films from the day.

Both of us felt very stiff and had pain in our knees in the morning of stage 6. We started carefully and slowly, and runners were amazed that they could finally run some parts with us. But after an hour or so, about 15 km in, we were kind of warmed-up and could run pretty fast on the rolling trails. It was super fun, and magical, what happened? Rest of the race was a blast! We felt unstoppable! For sure the best day!

 

Oh shit, LAST STAGE!?

 

It was sad that we were already on the last day. This year had been so much easier than last year, because we weren’t in same amount of pain. 2017 Our legs and feet were indescribably swollen and injured. We had inflammations, blisters and blue nails. This year, a completely different shape! We had been lucky.  And it was so strange, because this very last stage felt as one of the first ones. Our energy was good, our legs, sure they were stiff, but not too hurt. We was in totalt 10 hours ahead of next women team, but still we had been racing as if they were in our heels. We like to compete, so we measured us together with some men teams and the mixed ones. 

It’s hard to re-describe what landscaped we ran through. But imagine the alps, running on all kinds of ground, seeing views that fill your body with joy, and share this with hundreds of people with same kind of passions, then you know Trans Alpine Run. Fighting until the end, rising when falling, pushing even though it hurts, crossing the finish line in tears and smiles. The summarize of 2018 TAR is a lot of Joy, incredible trails and views, and a bunch of new friends, and we’ve realized that we are really competitive!

Here's a movie of us from parts of the week: 

https://www.facebook.com/GORETEXeu/videos/1909250442474030/

 

 

 

Greatest feeling is to wins something togehter. 

 

Pictures taken by GORE TEX TRANSALPINE photographers: Philipp Reiter, Tom Schegel, Andi Frank, XcRunDe and Harald Wisthaler. 

Thanks!

Sanna and Lina