Day 8 to the finish

So here we are, the start of the eighth and last day of the 2010 Gore-Tex Transalpine Run. There has been an incredibly high attrition rate in the race, with there being only about 160 of the original 280 teams left in the race. Given that everyone knows what the race is about, and it was fully booked four months ago, it just demonstrates how tough the race has been. However, judging by the amount of medical tape covering most competitors legs, maybe it's not so surprising. There was a carnival atmosphere for the 8.00 start. We started with a 12km slow ascent into the rising sun, along a bike path towards the Dolomites and our last big climb. We adopted our prudent walk/jog strategy.

The first drink station at 12km was reached after 1hr 30mins, set beside a beautiful mountain lake.

We knew the last hill was about to start...but we had the psychological boost of passing the 25km to go marker, little more than a half marathon.

We were accompanied for a good stretch of this climb by a herd of cattle. They were very friendly, and seemed to enjoy the jog along the path, although their cowbells were pretty noisy!

The scenery was returning to classic Dolomites, with white rock peaks towering above us.

That's where we were off to as the climbing continued...

...with no let up, but the gradient just continuing to increase.

Looking back down the valley we had come up provided another beautiful alpine view.

We finally reached the top of the ascent and were greeted with a full panoramic view, for which no picture can provide justice, but here's an inkling...the three peaks are known as the Drei Zinnen, or Three Peaks (the one on the left is Little Peak, the one in the middle is Big Peak and the one on the right is Western Peak - I'm sure they could find some more original names!) and are the most famous peaks in the Dolomites, if not the Alps.

Despite the view, we did actually have a final 2km of ascending before we finally got to the top of our last ascent in the race. Boy were we pleased.

We were now off on our last 12 km of descent to the finish line at Sexten. The first marker was the 10km to go marker, just 6 miles left! It shouldn't take long, especially as it's all downhill.

However, tired legs and some sore muscles did not hasten our fastest descent, although we knew that everyone was suffering, and most more than us, so we continued to be faster than most around us on this descent, and the scenery remained awesome.

Finally, the finishing town of Sexten came into view.

We passed the 5, 4, 3, 2km to go markers and took our final picture during the race at 1km to go.

Finally we made it across the line, with a great cheer home on the finishing straight. Here are two very relieved and worn out runners. I had felt exhausted over the final 5km, and while Chris had suffered earlier on the descent with a calf muscle telling him he'd done enough, he was now finding the pace to get to the finish.

On the line, we raised the Union Jack above our heads and we received our finisher's medals. That is definitely a medal to savour for a long time.

You can also quite clearly see the bears with big grins on their faces. They had made it too! It was now time to party, with Smoothies (as always) and some beer and Champagne, which had been out of our diets for far too long.

Our position on day 8 was 27th in the Master's Category in a time of 4Hr 40mins (the winning time was 2Hr 48mins today!). This gave our total time over the 8 days of 47Hours 36 mins on the trails, leaving us 96th overall and 29th in the Master Category - significantly better than either of us had expected.

We have raised 26,000 Euros so far (I use Euros as I am in Europe as I write this and the locals understand it!). We are delighted by the support we have received and the money still keeps coming in.

We saw Uta, the race organiser at the finish and she was delighted by the amount of charitable fundraising we have achieved. She even gave us a hug!

I must also say how essential for me was my daily physio massage. It lasted between 20 and 40 minutes (longer if we finished earlier and I could get to the massage team when they were still quiet!). My calves got tighter during the weak, especially the left one. My right ITB (muscle from knee to hip) was tight throughout, and the muscles down either sides of the shin on both legs became more sore as the week wore on. The team did a great job in holding me together and easing the sore muscles each day.

The worst moment was when, on the penultimate day, the physio was working on my left calf (the normally painful one) and I said, "Oh, that's better, it's not painful any more." She replied "I am just warming the muscle. I haven't started yet!" She was right and it was still painful, in fact more so than on other days. She may have just been proving the point though!

Here's the whole team, with my main phsio's being the first and second on the left and second and third from the right. We are now off to the finishing party and a few more beers no doubt!

I will write another blog tomorrow to reflect on the race and have some pictures of tonight's party.