Days 1 and 2

Day 1

The first day was a great day just a little hot. The Transalpine run started on September 3^rd in the southern ski resort of Oberstdorf in Germany. We ran 27.2 kilometers or 17 miles with a total elevation gain of 1806 meters or 5925 feet. The hardest part was actually coming back down what we climbed up into the town of Hirschegg in Austria. Today we ended up placing 13^th mixed/coed team and 88^th team overall. Suz and I feel great just a little nervous for our big day tomorrow.  

Day 2

Well we survived the hardest day of the race or so that is what they tell us. We ran from Hirschegg, Austria to Schruns, Austria in 7 hours and 26 minutes. We finished 10^th place for the mixed teams, which bumped us up to 11^th place for the mixed teams and 77^th place overall for both days combined. Today we finished 2nd out of all the USA Teams. It was a very challenging run. We ran 53.2 km (33 miles) and gained a total of 2481 meters (8,139 feet) of elevation. What hurt the worst was coming down all that we went up. We finished just in time because it started raining pretty good about an hour after we finished. I am thoroughly enjoying every minute of this race. I can’t even explain how beautiful these mountains are. I think I will be sore tomorrow. We have a big day tomorrow, too, we have to run about 43km.