Chamonix- TDS 75 mile Ultramarathon Race

Hayden’s TDS race and UTMB weekend

What is TDS?

We were able to get things worked out with a Visa  and get back to Chamonix for the race Hayden had been training for, TDS. TDS is a 120km, 75 mile race with 24,000ft of elevation gain in the Alps that starts in Courmeyer, Italy and goes throughout the Alps in Italy and France and ends in Chamonix, France. It is known for being the hardest and most technical race in the UTMB series. The UTMB series contains four races. OCC (50k), CCC(100k, the one Hayden won last year), TDS(120km. 75 miles), and UTMB (100 miles). 

Who came

Checking out the Ice Caves at Mer de Glace

Levi (Hayden's brother) ended up being able to be there along with a lot of our other friends that we have met throughout the years that are involved in ultra running. My parents came to watch the race and help crew which was super fun!

Crosby and his cousins!

This time we left Crosby home because we would only be there 10 days and last time, having a time change of 8 hrs took him about a week to get used to. So we’d get there, and by the time Crosby would adjust to the time change, it would be time to go home. Luckily, my wonderful older sister and mother-in-law jumped in and offered their help. It was probably a good thing he was home because he ended up getting sick and had a tooth come in. He had a good time with his cousins and Grandma and we were able to have a nice time out there as well. We were sure excited to see him though!

The line kept going!!

Update:  Oh, the travel Woes!!! There was super bad thunderstorms in Chicago where our last layover was and our flight

got canceled, so we had to fly out the next morning. There were tons of people stranded in the airport, so it was a bit crazy. We grabbed a hotel in Chicago for the night. The silver lining was that it would have really been awful for a teething baby to deal with that long of a delay, so it was a blessing he was home with his Grandma. We also have beaten a bunch of levels on Candy Crush with all of the extra time we had.

The Atmosphere

Imagine going to Disneyland on a holiday weekend and that is what Chamonix is like during the whole UTMB weekend. Quite a drastic change from when we lived there earlier in the summer. You would get onto the trails and there would be 100s of runners just training and enjoying the trails. You would go into downtown and the streets were so packed that it was hard to get through. Not to mention, Hayden is too popular over in Europe, and being the winner of CCC last year, so many people wanted his picture and wanted to talk to him. Walking down the street took twice as long haha!! It was pretty cool to see that though! There were a lot of signings, dinners, and media interviews that Hayden was involved in with his sponsors HOKA ONE ONE, NATHAN, UNIVED, and others. Not only is this one of the biggest races in the world, but it is one of the best races for exposure with brands. 

Now what you've all been waiting for.....The Race Recap!

               TDS!!

This was the first race I have crewed for Hayden since Crosby was born and I was excited to be a big part of it again. Crewing is fun because you feel like you are a big part of their success and you get to see parts of the course no one else gets to. It can be a bit long sometimes as you are spending lots of time waiting around. My parents, Levi, and I were the ones crewing this day. Things got started in Courmeyeur with a very intense start. My mom said that it made her feel like she wanted to jump in and race even though she isn't a long distance runner haha! In Europe, the races including the start and finish line are pretty intense and hyped up. It is cool to see so many people get excited about a race.

Bourg St Maurice

 Hayden left and then we left to go drive through the mountains in Courmeyeur, Italy to the next aid station in  Bourg St. Maurice, France, which was about 50k into the race. Hayden was in great shape, but deep down in my gut I felt something might go wrong. He had been dealing with some gluteus medius pain off and on for the last 2 months. I was hoping that he would be ok and he told me he hadn't felt it in a week. We kept track of him and he was sitting in top 3 running with Dylan Bowman and Dmitry Mityaev from Russia. Good! He's ok and feeling good!

We were waiting at Bourg St. Maurice for Hayden and the 1st place guy came in, then the 2nd, 3rd....15th. I knew something was wrong. Finally, Hayden came hobbling in around 16th place. He was clearly hurting and he said he had to walk the steep downhill (5,000ft drop) into Bourg St. Maurice because his gluteus medius locked up on him. He was trying to decide whether to continue the remaining 45 miles of the race or not. Hayden had never DNF'd (did not finish) and he didn't want to. He talked to me, Robbie, and Levi and we all decided it would be better to stop because clearly he was really hurt.
In races we never fail but we learn and become better athletes! This was one of those learning races where Hayden learned to not race when injured and to maybe do less 100k+ races a year. It all comes down to choosing how we react. We can get down on ourselves or we patch up an injury, learn and move on to the next race. He could've been really upset because we flew all the way back out to Europe to run, but instead he decided to learn from the race and then enjoy the time that him and I could spend alone up in the beautiful mountains of Chamonix.

Tune in next Monday for a recap of my first road half marathon, Cedar City Half.