Veni Vici - Harder than expected, but gorgeous trail race
The Race
Our running friend Fabien, who I ran the SaintéLyon with,
kept teasing us the Veni Vici, telling us it would be awesome to run this trail race together.
So we decided to just do it!
History
This was the third edition of the race. The name "Veni Vici" obviously comes from Caesar and his famous "veni, vidi, vici".
The race is ran in the Nîmes region, which I know a bit since I've been there a few times, mostly to see gigs at the awesome Arena of Nîmes (e.g. Placebo last July).
It happens between Nîmes and Uzès, and the direction changes from one year to another: last year runners started in Uzès and finished in Nîmes, and this year we started from Nîmes and finished in Uzès (like the race's first edition in 2021).
Probably the most famous monument is the Pont du Gard, which was built more than 2000 years ago by the Romans.
The below picture was taken by me the day before the race:
And this one is from Julien, using his drone:
The Pont du Gard allowed water to flow from Uzès to Nîmes, which are ~50 kilometers apart, with a difference of only 12 meters between the start and the end of this aqueduct (see Wikipedia).
Pre-race
I was running that race with Julien, as well as Fabien - usual suspects ;)
We also had Gaëlle, Fabien's twin sister, and Clément her husband.
Once arrived in Uzès, we headed to our Airbnb, bought some groceries, prepared our bags for the day after, had dinner and went to bed.
D-Day
Breakfast and shuttle to Nîmes
We woke up at 5:30am, had breakfast (classical Gatosport / banana / cereals) and headed to the shuttle.
Fortunately, the Airbnb I rented was conveniently located 10 minutes walking from the pick up location, so no need to drive/park.
The drive to Nîmes was uneventful and quiet, and we arrived around 7:30am, so a good hour before the races starts.
The race started from the Gardens of the Fountain (Jardins de la Fontaine),
which is a famous garden in Nîmes.
We walked a bit but quickly it was time to get in the queue as the race was about to start.
The Race
Profile
The race's length was 72 kilometers, with 1850 meters of elevation. The distance/elevation ration was pretty low, and there were no stip hills, so I decided not to bring my running poles.
Equipment I brought
I didn't have a good experience with my Salomon hydration vest (ADV Skin 12L) while running the Nice by UTMB: I had pains in
my right shoulder and I found the pockets not convenient.
So I decided to stick to my "good old" Salomon S/LAB Sense Ultra 8, which I used on all my other races.
The aid stations were roughly 15 kilometers apart, which is fairly OK, but I decided to go for 3 flasks (so one in my back), as 1 liter would clearly be not enough.
Start
As mentioned, we started from the Gardens of the Fountain, then headed to the Tour du Magne:
Aid Station 1 (KM 16)
- Arrived at 10h30
- Refilled water and had a few snacks
- Stayed ~7 minutes - left at 10h37
- Mood/shape: good
- Moments:
- The start from the Gardens
- Running up to the Tour du Magne
Aid Station 2 (KM 30)
- Arrived at 12h25
- Refilled water and had a few snacks
- Stayed ~8 minutes - left at 12h33
- Mood/shape: good
Aid Station 3 (KM 45)
- Arrived at 15h13
- Refilled water and had a few snacks
- Stayed ~10 minutes - left at 15h23
- Mood/shape: good - starting to be a bit tired.
- Moments:
- The view while running on the crests, and also the smell of honey flowers! <3
- Glorious aid station! It was right next to Pont-du-Gard, what a view!
- Gaelle felt shortly after aid station 2 and we suspected she sprained her ankle, so we ran / jogged slowly mostly from ~km 35
- I had some stomach issues which got mostly resolved by doing some bio breaks :|
Aid Station 4 (KM 59)
- Arrived at 17h38
- Refilled water and had a few snacks
- Stayed ~15 minutes - left at 17h53
- Mood/shape: tough
- Moments:
- we put our jacket back on shortly before this aid station,
- and started using our headlamps as night was coming
- this also meant that our pace would be even slower, as running downhill with stones everywhere was not really wise.
Finish Line
Starting around 6 kilometers (km 66) before the end, we could hear the speaker at the finish line in the distance.
This gave us a bit more energy, and around km 68, we sped up. There were a few stairs and hills, and I walked faster
as I was eager to finish the race! :)
We arrived in Uzès around km 70, as is usual with races, they made us circle in the city for 1.5 km before arriving at the finish line.
Julien, who had finished in 9h15, had already showered and was waiting for us, and did the last 500 meters with us.
We crossed the finish line together, at exactly the same time, ranking at 451 out of 503 runners - which means 100 did not start (there were 600 runners registered).
We then went to pick up our medal, as well as the post-race diner:
We also picked up the post-race gift, which consisted of some olive tapenade :)
Fun Facts
"PR on Jardins de la Fontaine"
I ran in Nîmes in July before the Placebo concert, and I happened to do it in the Gardens of the Fountain.
Eole pointed out that I had set a PR on the Jardins de la Fontaine on Strava ;)
Lovely volunteers
There was really a lot of volunteers helping us runners along the way, it was really amazing.
2 moments that stick:
- the time where we climb Roman stairs, and Fabien says out loud "climbing Roman stairs" (escalier romain in French), only to have 2 volunteers upstairs, and one of them telling us "hey, we're both called Roman (Romain in French)" - to which I laugh and ask "you can't be serious, and both be named Romains as in Roman stairs?" - and they assured us they were both called Romain!
- at the last aid station, while chatting with a volunteer and telling him we just put out headlamps on, he told us "that's alright, as it's a lot better to finish in Uzès at night time, it's gorgeous and running in daylight is overrated anyway!"
Things that worked well vs. those that didn't
Things that went well
- Running with Fabien, Gaelle and Clément:
- as we did for the SaintéLyon, it was very nice and fun to run together
- this helped a lot during tough times, but was also great overall, catching up with Fabien, and getting to know his sister and brother-in-law
- No pain in my hamstring muscles
- No need for my running poles:
- I decided not to bring them with me, since the elevation was not huge, and also it was mostly small portions of elevation (maximum 150m in a row),
- it was clearly a good decision: I don't think I would have used them, so it would have been more a burden than anything else.
Things to improve
- Transit:
- it's the second time (after Nice UTMB) that I have some transit problems while running
- I need to think about it, but my gut feeling (no pun) is that I ate too much the day before the race, and also I had a "Hipro" yoghurt, which is supposedly for sportsmen, but I never had that before - and while thinking about it, I also had that the day before the Nice race, with the same results...
- Muscle pains:
- while my hamstring muscles were fine, I struggled with my right knee - that's because, with the tiredness, I stopped forefoot running, and went back to heel-strike
- Specific training:
- even though I had no pain, I did not feel as comfortable as during Nice or St-Jacques
- I believe that's because I didn't train specifically in the weeks prior to the race: I didn't do any down/up-hill sessions for instance
- I thought that with Nice 6 weeks before the race, I would still be in a good shape - and clearly 6 weeks is a long time, and the benefits were long gone
Wrap Up
Really glad I ran this race, and even more with Fabien, Gaëlle and Clément - it was a super nice experience, I definitely recommend the race, it's beautiful yet the route is not as easy as it seems.