Nice 50K by UTMB
Running Stones!
After my first DNF in June at the St Jacques trail by UTMB, and since I wanted to have some running stones to register to one of the 2024 UTMB races, I decided to run the last "by UTMB" race in France for 2023: the one happening in Nice.
Julien, who did a DNS (he broke his ankle a few works before) and Pierre,
another friend I ran the Trail du Petit
Ballon
in March, also registered.
Even Matthieu, who won his 4 running stones by finishing the Ultra of St Jacques, registered to get some more stones :-)
The Race
History
While other races, like St Jacques, exist for a long time and have been "bought" by UTMB, Nice is one that UTMB launched last year,
so this year was the second edition.
Taking place in September in Nice, you can arguably expect nice weather - although last year's weather was awful and a lot of
runners gave up.
Which race?
Unlike St Jacques, where the 100K category consisted of a 75K race, Nice's 100K was 110K, so we decided to go for the 50k category,
whose length was 62k - and gave you 2 running stones (provided you finished the race, of course!).
Since we're a bit crazy, we also registered for the 20k (22k real) to hopefully get 1 more running stone - since the cutoff time was 5.5 hours,
we figured out that even by walking fast, we could make it.
Pre-race
Meeting running friends
I mentioned it a few times on that blog: I am on the NNormal Telegram channel, where a few French fellow trail runners are also present,
and I knew that some of them would also be running the 50k race, so we made arrangements to meet.
I met Rodolphe for a light breakfast on Friday morning near my hotel - nice seeing people IRL!
I then had lunch with my good friend JP, who lives near Nice - good to see him, as I know him for more than 20 years, having worked with him in one of my first jobs after school.
I am also a Patreon for the French podcast "Let's Trail Podcast", and as part of it, we exchange audio messages (using the Cappuccino application).
I knew that Gilles, another Patreon, would be running the 100k, so after my lunch with JP, I met Gilles after he picked up his bib, and chatted for a while.
Picking up Julien, Matthieu and Pierre
I then headed to the train station, where my 3 partners in crime were about to arrive from Paris.
We dropped their luggage at the Airbnb, and came back to the Promenade des Anglais to pick up our bibs.
Bib pickup and meeting other NNormal friends!
We were a bit disappointed by the goodies (some local soap for the 20k, and olive oil for the 50k), given how much the registration for a race by UTMB costs.
I had thought about buying either a hoodie or a t-shirt Nice UTMB - as I like my St Jacques hoodie a lot - but decided not to do it, as I didn't like the design that much.
The only t-shirt I liked ran out of my size (M), so I gave up and instead went outside to meet other NNormal folks.
We then headed back to our Airbnb, bought some food at a supermarket, ate dinner (pasta!), prepared our running bags, then went to bed.
Julien, Matthieu, Pierre and me, after we picked up our bibs
D-Day
Breakfast and train
We had breakfast (energy cake + banana) and then headed to the train station. The ride to Menton was ~30 minutes, then we had to walk for about 15 minutes - of course with plenty of fellow trail runners :)
The surroundings were already really gorgeous!
The race
Profile
The distance/elevation ratio of that race was the "worst' of all races: 3300m elevation for 62k, with a tough start, see by yourself:
Interestingly, a good chunk of the elevation was done until the fourth aid station, at km 28 - we'll see later that I really felt it!
Start
We started at 08h10, with the first 2 kilometers pretty flat, since we were starting at sea level.
But we then hit the first major elevation, with roughly 1000m over 6 kms, followed by a descent to the first aid station.
Aid Station 1 (KM 11)
- Arrived at 10h30
- Refilled water and had a few snacks
- Stayed ~5 minutes - left at 10h35
- Mood/shape: good
Aid Station 2 (KM 16)
- Arrived at 11h30
- Refilled water and had a few snacks
- Stayed ~10 minutes - left at 11h40
- Mood/shape: good
Pierre didn't feel well (blisters) and we had no news from Matthieu, who we lost after the first aid station.
I told Pierre we would finish together, as there was no way that I'd let him give up!
Aid Station 3 (KM 23)
- Arrived at 13h30
- Refilled water and had a few snacks
- Stayed ~15 minutes - left at 13h45
- Mood/shape: good
Had to do a "technical break", which helped a lot ;)
This aid station was tough to reach, as we had a pretty steep hill to climb, and there was another climb after until the next aid station!
Aid Station 4 (KM 28)
- Arrived at 15h25
- Refilled water and had a few snacks
- Stayed ~10 minutes - left at 15h35
- Mood/shape: good, as we know we've now done the most difficult part, but it was really tough with the sun hitting us hard!
Aid Station 5 (KM 36)
- Arrived at 17h15
- Refilled water and had a few snacks
- Stayed ~5 minutes - left at 17h25
- Mood/shape: good
At that moment, we've done more than half of the race, but we also know that the next aid station is in 15 kilometers.
On the positive side, we are now running "on the right side" of the mountains, mostly running under the trees' shades,
so a lot more bearable than in the morning.
even while trail running, I had to take pictures of those beauties! :)
Aid Station 6 (KM 51)
- Arrived at 20h50
- Refilled water and had a few snacks
- Stayed ~10 minutes - left at 21h00
- Mood/shape: good, although we were happy to reach this aid station - it was really long. But we knew that we only had 10k to go, which kept us motivated!
Finish line and dinner!
The last few kilometers were mostly downhill, and we had to put our headlamps
on, as it was dark.
We then entered Nice for the last 3k, which was a mixed feeling: running on
road was less nice than trails, especially after 12+ hours of effort, but at the
same time, we knew it meant that the finish line was close!
Speaking of the finish line, we crossed it around 23h.
We got our medals and also a nice beer glass, and asked one of the volunteers if he could take a picture of us:
We were obviously starving, so without further ado, we headed to the buffet and got this lovely meal:
On our way back to the Airbnb, we also decided to treat ourselves with a nice ice cream, because why not? :)
What went good and wrong?
I was about to write on that in that post, but I decided to do it in a specific article, as I have broader things to discuss - I'll publish it soon.
How about the 20k?
We changed a bit our plans ;)
- I did not run it, as I had to be in the US for work on Monday morning, which is impossible when departing from Nice.
So I "just" ran the
50k62k - and to be honest, I'm glad I had to travel, because I am not sure I could have done it. - Julien did not run it either, both because he secured his running stone by finishing the 50k, but also because he had some issues with his equipment.
- Matthieu ran it, as he DNF'ed at the 50k (not a good day for him, bad feelings so he preferred stopping)
- Pierre also ran it, even though he didn't sleep a lot - but he motivated himself to run it and finish it with Matthieu!
Wrap Up
Right, so we finished this trail race, meaning we are now the happy owners of 2 Running Stones, which allows us registering to the UTMB lottery, and possibly run one of the UTMB World series race next August in Chamonix!