When I was a child my Nain (Grandmother in Welsh) would tell me the tale of a mountain nestled in the heart of Snowdonia. Under the mountain was a sleeping elephant she would tell me, covered in rock and grass. I would listen; wide eyed and naively enthralled as my young heart fell in love with the story she spun...
The downhill was short-lived and soon as soon as we left the bustling town of Wengen, we were climbing again but I now found myself pushing forwards instead of falling backwards. Within a few kilometres we had climbed up into the cloud line and away from civilisation. The world became small and damp as you could only see a few meters ahead of you, with only the briefest of glimpses at the immense mountains standing sentinel above...
There is a quote by Greg Child about climbing and looking back at the second half of the Jungfrau Marathon it works for running a mountain marathon too: "Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery why we climb"
To put it lightly the Jungfrau Marathon isn’t any ordinary marathon. Regularly picked in the top ten best races in the world, the marathon winds its way up steep inclines in stunning Swiss scenery. Climbing almost 2,000 meters in the shadow of the legendary Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau mountains, reaching its highest point at 2320 metres this race isn’t just a marathon, it’s an expedition and a test of mental fortitude with chocolate at the end...
I feel like I should start with a massive apology; it has taken me so long to write up my London Marathon experience that the ballot results for next years has now been announced and I'm really sorry for that. I'll explain why it has taken so long in the next post but for the meantime here is what went down at the 2019 London Marathon...
Before this race even started, I contemplated quitting...
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