Greetings from my two week "staycation" in Switzerland! My mom is here visiting with me (yay for mom visits!) and the plan is to stay in Switzerland, just relaxing and exploring more of this beautiful country.
This past weekend Ryan and I traveled 6 hours to the easternmost part of Switzerland and met my mom in the famous ski resort town of St Moritz, to run in the "Engadine Sommeraulf", a 16 mile summer trail/road race at 6,000 feet altitude. Before you call me crazy, note that when we signed up for this race, we thought it was only a flat half marathon (13.1 miles) at minimal altitude.... we found out the truth a month or so before race day and by that time, we didn't really have time to adjust our training schedule. Big whoops. So, we decided that given the distance and altitude challenges, we would forego any time goals and that our goal would instead be to just cross the finish line.
Sunday morning we woke up to bluebird sunny skies but the temperatures were barely above freezing, so we bundled up and headed out the door (or at least I bundled up according to the below photo....)
The race course itself was absolutely gorgeous, it covered the length of the Upper Engadine valley, through mountain passes, into forests, past the glitzy town of St Moritz, past castles and fortresses, and next to 6 different glacier melt lakes. This race definitely wins the award for most scenic race I will ever do!
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| Photo credit to my mom, who waited out in the cold for hours to cheer us on at this point in the race and take this photo for us. What a cheerleader!! |
The race itself was EXTREMELY difficult for us. We managed to accomplish our goal and we both crossed the finish line, but it was a struggle, especially after we got to the mini mountain from hell at mile 10. Maybe it was the altitude, maybe it was the larger than expected hills, maybe it was the distance, or maybe it was our decreased motivation to our training plan this time around - whatever it was - this race kicked our butts. BUT, in the end we hobbled across the finish line. This race made me realize more than ever, that to us, race times don't ultimately matter - what matters was the healthy workout routines that we worked to establish along the way. Also, the experience of running (literally) in the Swiss alps is one that I will never forget.
After the race, our legs were (and still are!) extremely sore, so we decided to take an easy afternoon excursion via a cog railway to the top of a nearby mountain (Mouttas Muragl) for a celebratory dinner + drink. The views were fantastic from this terrace and we could literally look down on the entire race course which was a really fun way to round out a race experience.
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| Standing in front of the race course view - we ran past each of the lakes in the distance! |
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| M&M: Mom and Mountains! :) |
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| Excited to dig in after a grueling morning |
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| Meat and cheese plate perfection |
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| It got quite chilly on top of the mountain! Thank goodness for sheepskin blankets offered by the restaurant |
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| My first glimpse of the famous Edelweiss flower: a national symbol in Switzerland due to its hardy nature - it can grow in summer or winter! |
We didn't get to explore the area very much as we were in town for less than 48 hours, but we did manage to find some great spots that I would recommend:
Dinner: La Piruetta in the town of Celerina and the mountain-top restaurant at the Romantik Hotel Mourratas Muragl
Hotel: We stayed in a town directly before St Moritz, called
Celerina. The town was very cute and convenient for summer excursions (5 minute train ride to St Moritz). St Moritz itself was really dead in the summer, so we didn't mind staying outside of it. We stayed at the ALL IN ONE HOTEL INN LODGE. Sounds like a shady name; but, it was extremely clean, new, spacious, and a good price.
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