After a month of more or less regular hill-running the big day came faster than anticipated: My employer, one of my colleagues and I took the short drive to Gjendesheim and from there the boat to Memurubu, where Jotunheimen’s most famous hiking tour has it’s origin: the “Besseggen”.
A nice trail with a gorgeous view that normally takes between 5 and 8 hours to accomplish and that is packed with Norwegian and international hikers during the summer months (about 50.000 hikers/year!). That day I did not have eyes for the beautiful nature nor the other people though. Since I was competing in a race my attention was solely focussed on the trail in front of me, the big rocks blocking my way, on how to slide down the numerous patches of snow and on where to put my hands in the climbing sections.
To tell a long (and exhausting!) story short: I arrived in Gjendesheim less than two hours later (1:49:13 to be exact), with just a few small bruises, and had time for a little dip in the lake before the presentation of the results.
It was a really nice opportunity to run this well-known hiking tour and also to test out my own limits. But I doubt that I will do it again any time soon; I was still sore several days afterwards, and I also don’t think that I could run any faster. I am pretty content with the result: I made it on 5th place, just 17 minutes behind the fastest guy – that is way better than what I had hoped for!
Besseggen-Tour facts:
Distance: 14km – Hight meters: about 1100m – Start/Finish-elevation: 1000m – Highest point: Veslefjellet (1743m)
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