26.2 miles across, 5920 feet up... the Jungfrau Marathon

Jungfrau mountain in the backdrop of the finish line

I have come up with a fair number of what I would call "stupid" ideas. I think this one topped them all. About 15 miles into the Jungfrau Marathon and every step after that I was wondering why in the world I thought it would be a good idea to run a marathon that also involved an elevation increase of nearly 6000 feet. But then between every other painful step I remembered why. The view, the experience, the runners around me, there is surely nothing else like it in the world.

Sometime ago in my first few months living in Switzerland while I was still pregnant I heard about the Jungfrau Marathon and decided I was going to do it while we lived there. So I meticulously put dates on the calendar, made sure I didn't miss the registration as the entries were very limited (only 4,000 as the course is very narrow in places), and then it seemed destined to happen as our calendar perfectly aligned so it would fall on our last weekend in Switzerland before moving home. While I planned meticulously to make sure I had a race entry, my training plans were not quite so meticulous. Life happened this summer and we traveled A LOT. My visions of day trips on the weekends so I could spend time running up the sides of mountains while Steve and Emma went for leisurely strolls didn't quite pan out. Oh well, I trained, not my best, but I trained for a marathon and did a little altitude and incline work and prayed it would be enough.

For those running nerds... a map of the course

We set out for Interlaken on Friday and looked forward to one last weekend in this amazing region of the country. We enjoyed a beautiful afternoon strolling through the town of Interlaken, going to the very small and simple race expo, and just relaxing a bit. We were introduced to friends of a friend (that just happened to be running as well) a few weeks before the race and coordinated to meet up at the Pasta Party to share our race strategies and pre-race fears ("what in the world are we doing tomorrow?!"). In addition one of Steve's former co-workers and friends just happened to be in Interlaken the same weekend so we were able to meet up for a drink (ok I skipped the drinking part) before heading back to the hotel for an early bedtime. It was a good thing we got to bed early as well since the day before Emma got a new tooth that was proving to be especially painful and sleeping was not her forte that evening...

So with a little less sleep than ideal I headed out the door on Saturday morning and made the half mile walk to the start area where luckily I only had a little time to get nervous as I watched all the Swiss "mountain men" performing their warm-up regiments. It was clear that this was far from an average race field with the majority of the participants being 40-50 year old men. But before I knew it I was lined up amongst them waiting for the Alphorns to play and sound the start of the race.



My little cheerleader getting her run on near the start

The first half of the race felt like anything but a race. It was a beautiful 55 degree clear morning and we set out for our first "leisurely" lap around the town of Interlaken before heading out for a quick turn along Lake Brienz. All the runners around me were chatty and happy taking in the beautiful scenery and making it feel like it was nothing more than a long, "slow" training run. It literally felt effortless and fun as we made our way towards Lauterbrunnen Valley and I anxiously kept my eyes peeled on the sidelines near Steve and Emma's targeted viewing points and to see our friend's Mike and Mel, who had made the trip down from Zurich for the day to cheer me on. In addition to my fans it seemed that all of the residents in each of the tiny Swiss villages we ran through poured out of their homes to cheer and ring giant cowbells as we ran through their streets.

The chatter of fellow runners quieted down as we started a "relatively" small ascent leading into Lauterbrunnen Valley. While running in this beautiful valley was one of my favorite sections of the course, it also signaled the end of our flat running as we neared the 25 km mark (about 15 miles) and we started a very steep zig zag ascent towards the town of Wengen. This is where the real race began...

Most all of the runners (at least those near my pace) slowed to a walk (albeit a quick one) in this section as in less than 3 miles we ascended nearly 1800 feet. The race quickly became a game of efficiency and pacing yourself (if it wasn't already). And while it might have been easy to stereotype the runners at the start of the race based on shape, size and age it became apparent that none of that applied any longer unless you only looked at the size of your neighbor's quadriceps, and even that was deceiving. Just when I thought I was keeping a good pace I would get passed by a 60 year old man. And to make matters worse the kilometer marker signs were replaced by signs every 250 meters simply because it took you so long to go just a few hundred meters. It quickly seemed to become painfully slow as the progress being made seemed less and less.



Views from Wengen of the Lauterbrunnen Valley below

Thankfully, there was a short reprieve once we made it to the town of Wengen. There were plenty of stops for water and a whole gamut of energy foods (certainly a well organized race to plan how to get these resources out across the course, but once again it spoke to Swiss efficiency) as we leveled off for short spurts here and there and the fan support was simply phenomenal. I was able to run at a good clip for a mile or so and got to quickly see my cheerleaders yet again (this was the 4th time!).

I'm glad I soaked up as much of that crowd energy as possible because from there on out for the remaining 7 or 8 miles the going was tough. There were very limited areas of accessibility for fans and it seemed little to no flat sections longer than 100 meters remained on the course with the exception of the last kilometer. And as badly as I wanted to run (or do anything other than a fast walk or very slow jog) I found that when I ran on those short flat sections I could hardly catch my breath between the thinning air and the grueling course. In the 12 marathons I had run previous to this race there had been a time or two where I have walked part of the course, but there has never before been a time where I so badly wanted to straight out stop. Quads burning, my lower back screaming, and my arms seemingly carrying 50 pound weights, I had to do everything I could at times just to bend over with my hands on my quads and continue to trudge uphill.



Little ants on a ridge



However, just when the going got really tough we would come to an opening in the trees and see tremendous views of the valley below us and the daunting faces of some of the world's most famous mountains, the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau looming above us. I remembered then why I was putting my body through such torture. The last few kilometers I continued to drag myself up along the only true "trail section" of the course with rocks underfoot and narrow paths. While it was difficult to capture a good photo, Steve said the runners looked like a trail of small ants moving along a narrow ridge. At least one good thing I could think of towards the end of the race was that we truly could not have asked for better weather as it was still close to 50 degrees by the time we reached our highest point of the race at nearly 7,000 feet. With the warm weather the runners were greeted several times by the sound of avalanches in the nearby peaks (but we were still quite far from harm's way). 





To my surprise for about two kilometers near the end of the race the course actually split, with runners going on two different paths before meeting back up. At first I was extremely confused as I came upon the division, but then I understood why as there would have been a very heavy bottleneck if everyone went on the same path. By the time we joined back together there actually were still a few spots were you literally had to stand and wait for a few seconds unless you really wanted to go off the path and climb a few rocks back on (which some anxious runners did). While I at first felt frustrated by this scenario and wondered why they let as many runners compete if this were the case, I realized it might not have been the worst thing for me. If I would not have had runners breathing down my back I likely would have stopped as several times I felt like I could not lift my legs one step further up.

Of course it was along this segment where the backdrop was absolutely stunning that they had several photographers snapping runners' photos. While I don't typically find myself caring too much or going out of my way to smile for a photographer I found myself using every ounce of effort to do so here. And perhaps this is one of my favorite images from that day... I think the look on the man's face in front of me says it all.

Trying to look happy!

I tried to avoid looking at any distance markers these last few kilometers as never before had it seemed to take so long to reach the finish that looked so close. When I finally reached the highest point of the course at kilometer 41 (there are 42 kilometers in a marathon), I felt a wave of emotions rush over me. I had done it, the worst was behind me. From here it was nearly all downhill to the finish line. So I gladly took the hands of the Swiss who were helping to hoist up runners as we clamored up and over one last rock before handing us a chocolate as we began our turn towards the finish line.

There I am behind the bride!

Somehow my legs still had the energy in them to run and while it was a terribly long kilometer to that finish banner I had never felt such an achievement in my life. It was a culmination of so many things and emotions... finishing the most difficult race of my life, completing my third marathon post-Emma, a day to reflect on my grandmother's birthday who had just passed away, and more than anything it marked the end of a journey, a nearly two year phenomenal adventure living in Switzerland.



At least one of us looked happy!


I was ecstatic to finish in 5 hours and 35 minutes. Leading up to it I had feared the worst of getting swept up by the trailing vehicle that signaled the 6 hours and 30 minutes race cut-off time, but instead I crushed that time. I was right on pace with the 1.5 to 2 hours longer than an average marathon they told me to expect it to take me to finish. And don't tell Steve, but I even beat his regular marathon time (oh c'mon my husband will be the first to tell you I did and even laugh about it).
 
Certainly the greatest part of the day was crossing that finish line and finding my family and friends waiting there for me. Emma was such a trooper all day despite feeling less than stellar and I wanted nothing else but to hold her and lucky for me she literally jumped into my arms when I saw her. Somehow I still found the energy to carry her the entire way through the finishers chute despite my earlier desire to amputate my arms around mile 23.
 
Not only was it a long day for me, but it was quite a lot of work for my support crew as well to hop on and off trains to spot me at various locations along the course and make their way all way up to the finish line. We were all happy to spend some time celebrating at one of the restaurants near the finish at Kleine Scheidegg. And from there Mike, Mel, and Lenny headed back to Zurich for the evening, but Steve, Emma and I had reserved a hotel in the town of Wengen and enjoyed soaking up one last night in the Alps.

Thanks guys! Lennon (our friend's dog) was maybe the most important fan of the day...
in charge of keeping Emma happy!

We certainly felt lucky as we headed back to Zurich on Sunday that the race had been the day earlier as the weather was cold, rainy, and there were low clouds and fog throughout the region. While we wished we could have stayed for several days there was little time to rest as we had to say goodbye to our friends that evening before flying out to Iceland, which would be our last stop before returning to the United States.

Love this pic Steve caught of our friends taking in the scenery near the finish line

What a race, what an incredible place. While I swore while running I would never dream of doing such thing ever again, I sit here today already dreaming up more crazy ideas and thinking I would consider doing such a race again. Switzerland seems to have a way of doing that to you... such an awe-inspiring creation from God, you just find yourself wanting more.

A happy finisher in front of Eiger's North Face

And by the way, there's no way my images do it justice. Here's a link to a video that will give you just a little taste of my day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZeXb9L9-tk

I have no idea how the winners ran the whole course (and in case you're wondering I believe it was the first time a Kenyan ever won). But I'm pretty happy just finishing in the top half of the females, in a race dominated by males (over 70%). I did it. I finished.

One last Swiss family photo!

 

 

Five Beautiful Swiss Lakes

Steve got one last chance to go on a day hike one of our last few weekends in Zurich. Although he didn't get in the 30+ Swiss hikes he had hoped to when we moved to Switzerland, I think we did pretty good, and we definitely got in some of the best hikes the country had to offer. From the looks of his photos, this one was pretty good too.

While I was busy getting one last training run in for my upcoming marathon, Steve took off with a friend and Emma tagged along with the boys for a day in the Alps in Eastern Switzerland. Their hike took them around five picture perfect lakes. The day had some clouds, but even with the clouds the views still looked spectacular. And although I was sad to miss out on the hike, I also didn't mind having a little time to myself as well!

Here are his photos!

Happy to be with the boys for the day!






What a great friend! Kevin even helped to carry Steve's backpack part of the day!

 

 

One last daddy daughter photo!

 

The Most Magical Place...

We just couldn't resist, we just had to go to Zermatt one last time before we left Switzerland. So somehow we managed to find a free weekend in August and made our fifth trip to this magical town in the far south of Switzerland. We were also excited that we were able to go with good friends Joe, Liz and their son Liam. Evidently we have them to thank for the phenomenal weather...

We made the three hour train ride down on Friday evening (we definitely miss the amazing Swiss train system already) and found our way to the apartment we rented with our friends for the weekend. Emma and Liam were excited to see one another and find out they were having a sleep over (kind of)! And the adults were excited for dinner, drinks, and good conversation "late" into the night (according to tired parents standards).

There was a summer festival going on during the weekend in Zermatt

Saturday the agenda was to get outside, enjoy the amazing weather and views of the Matterhorn from the hiking trails above Zermatt, and find our way around five different lakes that all boast views of this iconic mountain. We took a cable car up from Zermatt to somewhere around 8,000 or 9,000 feet to the exact spot we had skied back in April. It was fun to see the same but very different view from the area. We spent the better part of the day taking in the great weather and enjoying the company while we took turns toting the kiddos on our backs. We did cut the hike a little short, but we couldn't resist having a little more time to wander around the cute streets of Zermatt. We eventually made it back to enjoy another great dinner and conversation with our friends while watching Emma and Liam wreak havoc on the apartment.

Just out for a Saturday afternoon hike...

I guess the views were pretty good

This view was probably the greatest of all! Seriously the two cutest hikers ever...

While I got some good altitude training in on Saturday morning, my body wasn't ready to run at 6,000 feet two days in a row. So we parted ways with our friends in the morning after enjoying a great breakfast courtesy of Liz, and we each headed out to do our own thing before heading back to Zurich later in the day. While Steve and I had hoped to explore the Glacier Matterhorn Paradise, which is the closest viewing platform of the Matterhorn and one of the highest platforms around (at nearly 13,000 feet) we found out we could not go with Emma. Although we were a little disappointed it just gives us another reason to have to go back to Zermatt someday. And as the options are endless in Zermatt we happily found ourselves instead heading up the Gornergrat train to another beautiful lake and lunch spot with what else, but views of the Matterhorn?! We knew we had found the hot spot two days in a row as both days we ran into the same modeling shoot at different locations...

Amazing reflection!

King of the hill!

Taking in the views

One look at the photos and I think it's pretty easy to see why we love Zermatt so much and it was so hard to say goodbye one last time when we left town on Sunday afternoon. The place is simply amazing and I have no doubt it will go down as one of my favorite places visited for all my life. I just hope Emma will take me back one day!

 



Too bad this girl sleeps through all the best photo spots!

Pools, parks, playmates, and.... goats!

So we really tried to dive in and enjoy every part of summer that Zurich had to offer us this year. We had countless days of absolutely gorgeous weather (hot by Swiss standards, 80's and some 90's), so it meant that Emma and I had countless opportunities to get out and take full advantage of all the sunshine! It was a great time to see and experience all the places Zurich has to offer to children and families.

By far our favorite place to go was to a seebad on Lake Zurich. You really can't ask for a better place to go with kids on a nice summer day. A seebad (or badi as its sometimes referred to) usually consists of a pool or multiple pools right next to the lake, a beach area, and often has a playground or other green space to enjoy as well as other various activities for adults. We had so much fun trying out several different ones near us with many of Emma's buddies (and of course mom's friends too). Emma had so much fun and had so much time in the water that now we can't keep her away from it anywhere we go!

Cheers to a day at the badi!

Of course Emma, we already changed you out of your swimsuit and then you run back towards the water fully dressed...

My shovel will tell you who's boss water fountain!

In addition to going to the seebad Emma became the normal park addict of a kid this summer and she now can't help not to get a huge grin on her face when you mention the word park. There were so many great parks that were so close to us in Zurich. And many of them had fountains as well so for awhile it seemed like every day we went somewhere that meant Emma was in the water.

All smiles!

Still working on mastering the slide!

Once again going for the water fully dressed...

Emma LOVES petting zoos!

Basically when it comes down to it, we lived outside this year and absolutely loved it. We had the best of playmates and friends in Zurich to spend time playing with outside that we were so sad to leave behind. At least we don't have to worry about Emma making new goat friends as she already found a good petting zoo in St. Louis!

We do feel pretty spoiled and thankful to know that we will have a backyard at our new house in St. Louis that Emma will be able to run around anytime she wants. But we are definitely still going to miss all the great kid friendly places we got to go this past summer in Zurich. Here's to hoping we find many more equally great places and new playmates here next summer!

 

Quite possibly my favorite series of photos ever.... Emma and her buddy Liam. No this was not staged.

You caught us having a moment!

But we'll smile and hug for the camera anyways!

The movies at the lake!

Pre-movie...

Zurich is a great city to live year around, but during the summer it really cannot be beat. From perfect summer temperatures, views of the mountains, beautiful walking paths, countless places to go for a swim, and many special events to name a few. We felt bad that we missed out on some of these things last summer as we were consumed with someone new to our family, so we made sure that as much as possible we would try and take advantage of all the wonderful things Zurich has to offer this summer!

Certainly one of the most popular things to do for the last few weeks of July and early August is to go to the movies on the Zurichsee (lake Zurich)! And this isn't just a few people bringing blankets and lawn chairs out to watch a small projection screen. We are talking a huge production involving rows and rows of stadium style seats, restaurants, bars, and a movie theater size screen set up literally feet from the shore of the lake.

Orange Cinema as it's called shows one different movie each night and some of them sell out within minutes of going on sale online earlier in the summer. So as our night out to celebrate our anniversary Steve secured some tickets and a sitter for Emma and we headed down to the lake to enjoy the evening! While we didn't get tickets to any new American releases, we still got to see a pretty good British comedy. Yet, regardless of the show it was about the experience and it was a ton of fun to enjoy a perfect summer evening down at the lake with a cocktail in hand and to see the waves of the lake crashing up on the rocks at the bottom of the movie screen!

A packed house just before the movie started. We were nearly in the front row (evidently we were supposed to get there several hours early to secure a prime seat)... still a good view for the show.

Thanks to my husband for planning and making sure we got to go this summer. It's just another reason why I am going to miss living in Zurich so much!

 

Happy #6!

What? What's that you say, you say I'm one year old today?

Emma is one!

It's official, we have a silly, spunky, talking, toddling one year old that keeps us very much on our toes these days. It's actually been official for well over a month now as Emma turned one at the end of June, but it's been a busy few months so you'll have to excuse my tardiness here. Yet, lucky for Emma our busy schedule meant her birthday celebrations seemed to stretch on for the better part of a month. As her actual birthday fell during a two week trip to England and Ireland she got to open some gifts before we left town and then got to enjoy a birthday party with all her friends in Zurich a week after we returned.

Enjoying opening a few of her early birthday gifts.... question is what part of the gift does she like the most?

Loves to read!

One very busy little girl

I still don't think it's hit me that we have a one year old. To say the least the last year has flown by for so many different reasons and I know that years down the road I'm going to be wishing I could have it back. It is SO AMAZING to just sit back and look at everything Emma has learned how to do in one year time. I know I am jealous of how quickly Emma is able to learn and absorb everything going on around her (if only I could have learned Swiss German that quickly). And I cannot wait everyday to see what the next thing is going to be that she learns how to do. Well, maybe I can wait because it seems that now more than ever those things she learns involve causing mischief and testing the bounds of what her little body can do in ways that usually cause me to hold my breath and cringe.

Although she didn't quite start "officially" walking until just after her first birthday (which is obviously when the real trouble making began), she did finally get her two front (bottom) teeth just in time for her birthday. Unfortunately the timing of her getting her first teeth made her birthday and the surrounding days to be pretty miserable for her. It seems that even being in London for her birthday couldn't quite make up for it, but sharing some ice cream with us did seem to help!

When there's ice cream all the way down your chin and shirt you know it must have been good.

We were very happy come her birthday celebration back in Zurich that she was feeling good. It was a beautiful summer day and we were thankful to have so many of her friends join us for a barbeque at our apartment. Although the birthday girl did nap for the first 45 minutes of her party, she made up for it by being the center of attention for several hours after that. I had fun planning a Dr. Suess with a twist themed party "Oh the places she's been, oh the places she'll go!" so we could highlight what a fun and adventurous first year Emma has had. It was a lot of fun watching our guests try to name the country (and sometimes even the city) of the 16 countries Emma has visited by looking at photos!

Lots of fun decorating!

Stats for the big day!

Monthly photos!

Oh the places she's been!

Post-nap birthday girl!

Party guests making their best guesses! A good test of our European knowledge!

My birthday girl!

Having fun at her party!

Of course one of the highlights of the afternoon was Emma eating her cake. It seemed that Emma had taken careful note of how long I had spent learning how to and making the cake, and as a result she was perhaps the most polite cake eating one year old I have ever seen. She was barely poking her finger into the frosting for quite sometime when Steve decided to grab a small spoon and try to give her some chunks of cake to try. Evidently she is really in this self-feeding phase as she grabbed the spoon to try to eat the cake!

The "smash cake"

Cake and food for the big kids

Someone's already reaching for that cake!

There she is again while we're not looking trying to dive in early!

Yay! Happy Birthday dear Emma...

Who eats cake from a spoon at their first birthday party?

Evidently Emma thought I wanted some of her cake off the spoon

Finally putting the spoon down and trying a little more for herself.

Mmmmm.... guess that was pretty good.

Emma barely made a dent in it!

It was sad to see her special day (and month) of celebrating come to an end, especially as it marked the end of a momentous first year as parents for ourselves. I would still call us new parents, although Emma has taught us many things quite quickly, if one thing's for sure just when you start feeling comfortable you realize you don't know anything at all and still have a lot to learn about being a parent. But we're quite happy to spend the rest of our lives learning how to be the best parents possible for Emma as she is without a doubt one of the best things to ever happen to us. Everyday I think of how my life is different and so much better for having her in it. That smile, that slobbery kiss, that distinct little gasp she makes every time she hears the front door open and Steve or I am coming home, her little hug as she crawls her way into my lap... this little girl of ours, she's stolen our hearts in one year's time, I cannot wait to see what she'll do in a lifetime.



Was Emma really this small?



How she's changed!

And our lives have certainly changed for the better since last June 25th!



We've got one busy little girl these days!



This pretty much sums it up!