The Nelsons: France: Part Deux

Race Day Morning.

We hear rumors and then it's confirmed.

The UTMB race will be held only in France.

No longer is it a 100 mile race, but a 110K.

Snow and blizzard like conditions on mountain passes.

Sad.

(Luke has a race report on his Blog here)

The race start began at 7:00 PM

It was a night race, in the rain and snow

Welcome to France

Krissy and Luke

LUke, Krissy, and Topher

Blurry sorry. THe crazy Race Starting Line.

(Photo: Peter Gaylord)

I'd never seen anything like this. The streets were lined with people over a mile long. THe racers would run through the streets between the crowd.

We timed the racers and it took over 10 min for all 2300 racers to run past us, crazy!

The first aid station I met Luke at.

Again huge and crazy.

You'd of thought this was an olympic event

Luke leaving aid station with Gore-tex coat. Heading high into the snow

Me waiting in the rain. I have on my rain coat, ultra-light down coat, and three layers underneath that.

Still cold.

So because the race was all night....The photos I took were super crappy. Luke finished in the morning, YEah. He came in 32nd out of 2300 racers. Way to Go

(Photo: Peter Gaylord)

Topher and Luke after Finishing

Krissy Finishing

Krissy, Luke, and Mike

Toph and Luke's muddy feet after running in rain, snow, and mud all night

Post-race feet

Post race shoes

After the snow storm, the mountains in Chamonix looked amazing. These were taken the morning

of the race. (a few hours after luke had finished)

After the race we decided to get waffles. It was slightly strange to run all night and then have a whole day to recover. To tame our hunger we opted for waffles.

THis little waffle shop was below our hotel.

from 2:00-7:00 it smelled amazing

This little one thought the waffles were great.

ANd they WERE.

This was one of my favorite flowers growing around town

After the race, the chalets from the race expo turn over into a artisan and craft fair. Luke was drawn to the handmade wooden skiis. They were gorgeous

The Farmers Marked also opened up on Sat morning. It was the best

food I had ever seen at a Farmers Market.

Bread

Strawberries

Cherry Tomatoes

Salami

Cheese

This was taken the Day we had to leave. Our last photos from our amazing deck.

Saying good by.

On Monday Morning we got things packed

Said Good By to our UltrAspire Friends

as they headed towards home

and Luke, Krissy, Jon and I headed to

Italy.

We drove through this tunnel for 12 min. You start in france and pop out in Italy!

ITALY

Courmayeur

This town is on the back side of Mont Blanc

Looking back at the mountain we drove through

Yoga stretching in the Hall of our hotel.

Jon and Luke hanging out while Krissy and I were window Shopping.

Eating Pizza at Marcos.

One of our favorite Italian Meals.

Thanks Jon!

This Dessert was Heaven.

Chocolate Gelato with coconut cream and Hot Chocolate Syrup.

After getting into Courmayeur we planned a run. Since the race did not enter into Italy we thought that we should go run part of the trail. I am so glad we did. It was incredible. The views amazing. It wasn't until seeing this side of the mountain range that I was super bummed that race stayed in France. Luke would have been getting into this area around sunrise and we would have had amazing views....

After running this section, it was determined that we would go back.

Any friends willing to join us and Hike the TMB trail?

These photos don't even do this area justice...

We only had 1 1/2 days in Courmayeur, but had a break in the weather and saw amazing mountains, Totally worth it.

That next day we said good by to Krissy and Jon as they headed home (sadly) and Luke and I headed to Annesy to meet up with a friend.

Annesy.

France.

Paris....

Eiffel Tower

Second floor. (from here we took the elevator to the top and had amazing views of the city)

The Louvre

We spent nearly a whole day at the Louvre. It was overwhelming to see all that it contained. Luke and I were able to see just about everything. It was neat to see painting and statues that I'd always seen in photos...but to see them up close and personal way very cool.

Here are a few things that you usually don't see...

I thought this was awesome. Ancient Egyptian Zig Zag Tile