Upper Middle Rheinsteig hike

The Rhein

After spending a week in Chamonix, France hiking, running and enjoying all the UTMB festivities, Dad, Stephanee, John and I headed to Germany to hike the upper middle section of the Rheinsteig. I was a little nervous about the hike because only a day earlier I had run the CCC, but we DNF'd 55km in, so my legs weren't totally destroyed.

Girls Gone CCC

At the start

It started with a surprise Christmas gift. Ann informed me that she had payed 50 euros each to put us into the lottery for the smaller sibling of the most famous—and infamous— trail ultra in the world. At 101 km, Courmayeur-Champex Lac-Chamonix (CCC) is a distance we’ve done before, much less daunting than the 170 km of the original Ultra-Trail du Mount Blanc(UTMB). Best of all, the course is set in the Alps, a circumnavigation through three countries of the tallest mountain in Europe, renowned for outdoor enthusiasts and some of the most beautiful views I’ve only seen in photos.

This whimsical gift took a turn about a month later when we discovered that we both got picked in the lottery to run. All of the races we had planned for the year had to be reevaluated. Peterson Ridge 40 miler was still a good way to get our base miles up early, but our big race for the year—the Fat Dog 70 miler—wouldn’t work since it was two weeks before CCC. We cancelled and forfeited the money. 

Running the wrong way

the skyline tavern - empty at 8am 

Six days after getting back from Europe I was finally adjusted back to the Pacific timezone and decided I wanted to get a good run in, but I had been experiencing minor back pains since the flight back and didn't want to over do it. I decided to run 17 miles but was being a little lazy about creating a route. Drinking a cup of coffee and staring at my Forest Park map, I realized that running from the Skyline Tavern to my house is just a little over 17 miles. If I was smart I would of waited until later in the afternoon and ran from my house to the Skyline Tavern and enjoyed a beer while I waited for John to pick me up. But instead I had him drop me off at 8 am and I ran home, I wish could blame it on jetlag. Next time.... 

Waterline - the trail from Skyline that connect to mile 24 on Wildwood

Crazy water tower that looks like something out of Lost

Running selfie - so happy to be running and not in pain!