Running a Trail Race in the Alps, Episode 312

<p>This episode of the podcast is a trip report about running a trail race in the Alps with lots of details about how trail races go in France. We also talk about learning French as an adult and how to put together a great family vacation in France.</p> <h5><a href="https://bit.ly/joinusfavs">Annie's Favs on Amazon</a></h5> <p> </p> <p>My guest is Mollie Cummins from the beautiful alpine city of Park City, UT. She's used to running trail races at altitude, and yet the <a href="https://www.traildutourdesfiz.com/">Trail du Tour des Fiz</a> in the French Alps was definitely a challenge. Let's talk about what made it so. Hint: the weather had something to do with it!</p> <h2>Mollie's Trail Race in the Alps</h2> <p>Mollie would love to circumnavigate around the Mont Blanc aka Tour du Mont Blanc. But that was difficult to organize with children because it takes 5 days and the kids are too young for it.</p> <p>They knew they could only come to France in July, so she looked for races taking place in the Alps in July and found the Trail du Tour des Fiz that starts in a ski resort called Passy. It's in an area just north west of Chamonix.</p> <p>The race itself is at very high altitude. You shuttle to the start of the race from a large store and parking area (Mountain Store Decathlon).</p> <h3>There Are Multiple Distances Offered</h3> <p>There are multiple distances you can enter. There is a lot of vertical gain, more than what runners in the US are used to, it's very steep.  But if you're not up to a long steep race, they also offer a kid's race, a 15K (9 miles) up to 84K (50 miles) which is the full tour plus other races in between.</p> <h3>Those Races Fill Up Fast!</h3> <p>Mollie normally runs ultra races, she intended to run one of the longer races but it was full. So, she had to go with the 15K. This is a popular event, the longer one fills up within a day or two of opening up for booking. She was on a wait list for the 8 refuge tour (39 miles or 64K), but she didn't manage to get in, possibly due to a computer proble