Trail des Moulins

On Saturday I did the Trail des Moulins at Mondeville with Thomas. It was a 25km course through fields and a hilly forest starting in Mondeville, south of Paris. It was a warm and sunny day with temperature at about 29° C for the 1 PM start. Here is a pic before the race.

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There were about 320 runners. At 13 km you could choose to go left and do only 25 km, or go right and do 50 km. We chose to go left.

In the warm conditions I ran out of water just before the aide station at 13 km and about 2 km before the end of the race so I managed the hydration well. That’s a consumption of about 1.5 quarts per hour. During the first part of the race I started to overheat, but the constant drinking and the forest shade helped to cool me down.

Here are some photos:

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This was a tough stretch across an open field just after the aide station.

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There were several short steep climbs to negotiate on all fours.

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Most of the trail was runnable but you had to watch out for those pesky trail gremlins.

The last 3 km were across an open field, with sun in our face and on a slow upgrade that seemed never-ending.

Here are two pics crossing the field.

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We survived, though, to finish in 2h 48 min. That was good enough for 16th place in my category.

A finish line photo:

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After the race there were barbecued steaks and chicken with cold beer which does wonders for a hot, tired body!!

 

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