Fraser Darcy

Good start to the day by reading this one from Marcus Aurelius. Better get out and get my work done for the day by checking out the Kreuzjoch section again. I picked up my official accreditation yesterday arvo which meant I now had free access to public transport and the cable car up to the 36km Aid Station at Kreuzjoch.

Today’s weather has been the poorest of my six full days here. Drizzle and no sun. But there is work to be done so we press on. It could rain in the race as well so I must learn to adapt to running in the alps through the rain although it really is no different to back home. I do have a new lightweight spiffy jacket I splurged on to protect me too. The lightweight option is much better than my heavy bushwalking jacket. Grams count in this stuff.

A bus and a tram connection took me to the town of Fulpmes, for where I strolled up to the bottom of the cable car, looking up at it as they racked on the cars for the morning. My timing meant I was actually the first athlete to arrive for the day which was cool but they don’t hand out medals for that sort of stuff.

At the top I made a quick change into my running gear then stored the warm clothes away in a locker. No big lumpy vest today for me, I was free as a bird. Off on the goat tracks I went, feeling pretty comfortable and relaxed and knowing where I was going. The uphills from Thursday felt a lot shorter and I felt very ‘adaptive’ over the rocks and snow obstacles. Being alone on the trails, in the clouds and rain felt very cool. Like I was back home in the Flinders for a second I felt that comfortable. I even had visions of Moonarie flooding through my mind’s eye. The Brodie and Fraser train used to get up early and get the send on up at Moonarie long before others arrived up top. Today felt similar to that and hence I felt good.

I caught up with the Spanish team as they were heading out for a course reccy too. It was their first time on the course so, sticking with the climbing world as I often do, I was happy to share some beta. I asked if the terrain was similar to anywhere in Spain and they said no which surprised me. Must check out the Pyrenees one day to confirm or deny. At the end of my run I stopped the watch and got waved at by some random’s sipping coffees at the restaurant. Australian team mates! Some of the males in the team had popped up for a look around and it was great to chat with them and pass on more beta to some of the others doing that section of the course (it is now also in the long course as well due to the long course being re-routed to avoid lots of snow). Adding to this a couple of the females appeared as I was about to head down so we all got an impromptu group photo as per below.

Back down into town I went on my Pat Malone though, grabbed a loaf of bread and a bun from the shops in Fulpmes and then caught two buses back to Gotzens. Almost don’t need Google Maps anymore to tell me the bus timetable I’m that familiar with it.

My stay in Gotzen’s is winding up sadly so this arvo was spent doing the washing, watching the rain, listening to the tennis and trying to rest. The sleep stats I alluded to a day or so ago are trending in the right direction as seen in the very very right hand edge of the first picture on the left below. The other markers I look to on my Suunto app are also tracking nicely down and will continue to from here as today was my last ‘hilly’ run I have planned. A couple of easy jog’s to keep the legs fresh, some strides and plenty of stretches and then I’ll be right for race day. Only punches I have to roll with are the opening ceremony and getting used to the catering/accomodation regime at the Team Hotel.

In exciting news as well friend of the blog Aaron Keen and my parents are flying in tomorrow to Innsbruck so it could be a big day social wise! Plus the opening ceremony. Mightn’t crack out a blog but we’ll see. Priorities are to rest then race, socialise and enjoy the present then blog. To ensure I don’t get too frazzled by all the expected hullaballoo as the excitement builds I will be channeling the well known ‘whatever’ approach of friend of the blog Rob Stillwell. When the weather’s good on Goose Island, the laissez-faire ‘whatever’ approach works a treat and I think also mirrors that of how I hear and see East African’s approach running races. All laid back, all relacky (relaxed) up until it’s time to dance. No point wasting energy fretting about stuff out of control until it’s race time. So yeah, whatever, I guess.

Danke schon.