Sarnerseelauf
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2 Sept 2024 - Schweiz
2:00:30 - just like Prague! Although it strikes me that my first thought after realizing just how close I came to my two hour goal is not so bad. That was a great trip and a great race, just like yesterday's. I started of the morning with my usual routine of waking up every hour worried that I'd overslept. At 4 and 5 and 6 and then 6:20, when I just gave up and turned off my 7AM alarm. A quick shower and some raspberries later and I was out the hotel door. I stayed in Horw, which is a 20 minute train ride from Sarnen where the race started. The train was completely full of runners. Then at the Sarnen station there were mimes guiding us to the bib pickup and garderobe. I grabbed my bib and t-shirt and then sat down to read the latest Economist magazine while waiting for the race to start at 9AM. When the hour drew near I popped my bag into the garderobe and headed off to the startline. There was alphorn and accordion music to rev up the twenty-five hundred or so of us before the race. Then they played the Swiss national anthem. While I'm used to the anthem being played at US sporting events this was the first time, I think, that I've heard it in Switzerland. No one took off their cap or put their hand over their heart, though at the conclusion there was a rousing cheer. Then a couple minutes later we were off. The crunch as the blocks moved through the start line was not unbearable, and several of the people next to me finished the race roughly when I did so I picked the right spot. Around the lake I thought would be flat, but after the town we headed up a light incline that lasted for much of the first few kilometers. At the 6 kilometer mark we hit the woods and I stopped to relieve my bladder. Perhaps I'd done a bit too good of a job hydrating that morning. Then it was up a hill through the woods where many people started to walk as I passed them by. The last few weeks of berglaufs certainly didn't hurt on this part. Eventually we headed downhill and out of the forest into hot sunny fields on the Giswil side of the lake. I probably should mention that a couple of the towns I ran through were called Villain and Evil. Well, the Swiss spell them Wilen and Ewil, but that's how they're pronounced. I feel like they've missed an opportunity there. Circling around Giswil in the hot sun I did my first bit of walking. But I was still not far behind the 1:45 flagbearer and well ahead of the 2:00 one. Running back along the other side of the lake my motivation started to drop around kilometer 15. 75% of the race is the worst part for the mental game. It was also the heat though. I saw other runners stumbling, staggering, and laying on the ground. the past two weekend in the rain I've been spoiled! My first clue (bad math) that I'd had too much of the heat was actually after cooling off in hose sprayed by one of the bystanders just before kilometer 18. Cooled down a bit I realized that I did not, in fact have, 5 kilometers left to run. There were only 3 left! This put a spring in my step that the hot sun soon crushed. Then I passed 19. Then I passed 20. Then I got passed by the 2:00 flagbearer. Realizing my two hour goal was shot I did not push myself hard that last kilometer. Could I have made if I had? Maybe. Could I not have walked in Giswil? Maybe. One can second guess the race forever, but I'm still proud of my time and completing the Cantons. Afterward I rehydrated a bit beforing taking the train back to Horw where I spent the afternoon reading at the Seebadi. Not a bad Sunday.
