The Zegama Skyrace Skyline

Zegama, Basque Region of Spain.

My last experience here in 2010 was an off-the-couch-Skyrace…..oops.  That was a super painful experience, with it 15,000ft total vertical and 42 distance, my back was seizing not even half way through the race, to think I could even finish this race with no specific running training was a little silly.

This year, Zegama greeted me with two days of blue sky upon my arrival. The warm sun and long days provided ample time to go for runs, relax in the sun and take in the landscape.  At no point early in the a.m., late in the p.m. or during a wind or rain was it at all cold in the town of Zegama.

As one must know about the Zegama Skyrace is it is notoriously a wet and muddy race nearly every year.  And so when asked about what I though about the weather I said bring it on. And that is what happened.  Always be careful what you ask for.

And as the race began in town, I was hot in my super light t-shirt and shorts, I got a slow start which was fine with me but I had a lot of progress to make.  And that I did, my body feeling really good at the pace.

15k later, as I was in pursuit of the first place gal we were reaching the high point of the race, and the beginning of the rocky ridge line that connects the multiple ‘peaks’ (do not be deceived by the photo, this ridge is not Colorado scree but jutting rock).  I caught her amongst a group of hollering fans but very soon thereafter and all of the sudden, sweat turned to cold.  The vast amount of cheering fans just moments before (Zegama is known to have the best, toughest fanbase of any race) was noticeably absent…..she was absent, the men that I was running with were absent…………..

……I was on the rocky ridge that was much slower and more technical than I remembered it.  It was eerily quite except for the chill which had a sound of its own and the wind that came with it. It was as if old man winter blew its freezing breath over this spring time race, trying to still time and movement.  I was cold but still fine, I figured it was only 2k and it would be as warm as the beginning of the race in no time.

All of the sudden a man in front of me was screaming and crying (I am not kidding you) and being warmed by the arms of a course marshall.

I was still fine until a moment later, as I reached my arms up to scramble vertical I developed some sort of minor tunnel vision (there were half circles on the periphery of both R and L sight, pulsing in like a tunnel) and my legs turned to limbs of limited control in a confused way, like two ropes for legs.

It had very quickly turned into a desparate situation that didn’t reverse soon at all.

This ridge is as technical and slow as it gets without rope assistance (because there is no vertical danger). I was still on my own and I was now very aware that I needed to get lower and warmer a.s.a.p.

I am used to the cold, I always over dress (except for today), I have been outdoors and freezing cold many times. But at this point I knew this was a serious situation within my circumstances (racing with minimal clothing with a very sharp change of weather).  I knew that I would be fine because it is a supported race but that doesn’t stop a human from knowing that they are in trouble.  At that point I was racing to get warmer.

I couldn’t shake the cold and with my legs hardly working it was a struggle to move as fast as I could to warm up. This lasted around 8-10k.  If there was an obvious medical tent I might have stopped.  Luckily there wasn’t and I just had to keep moving.

I figured all the gals behind me must have been inhibited like I was because I was still holding 1st position, but then I looked back at a smiling, fresh looking Yngvild Kaspersen of Norway.  We exchanged words and in no time she was out of sight. At that point, I was still barely able to put my foot where I wanted it to be, still very cold.

At the final long downhill of the race, my focus switched to maintaining 2nd place and I hit the dirt road which was, of course, very muddy but I was finally warming up.

Somewhere along the way, what I had coming to me occurred and I tripped flat down on the ground…..into the mud.  I paused, my eyes fixated forward, lifted and actually shook my head, got up, covered with mud and ran it out.

As for my new impression of Zegama, this course is one of my favorite and I can’t wait to go back.  As for Spain, what a beautiful country!! Next year I’ll write about the legendary crowds that stand in the hundreds cheering you up the steep ascents and descents of the course.  So much spirit!

Poppies blowing in the wheat on the drive across Spain