So, let's be clear, the 2020 racing calendar is, well, to put it with nice, polite words, a big piece of shit. Two thirds my B plan races have been cancelled. I was able to do a 24h in Villenave , the Big Backyard Ultra French final (I owe you a race report, yes I'm late...) and now... well now, today, as of Nov, 6th 2020, noon, I will participate in an ultra race.
WTF man, where, how, it's lockdown over here! So, I'm in Zabrze, Poland, and against all odds I was able to take a plane, which had been cancelled, but got replaced, then the highway to the airport was blocked, we then had a 45 minutes transfer in Amsterdam (running like mad we stepped on the bus with just 3 minutes spare...), then we learnt our luggage was not running as fast and got stuck in Amsterdam, then we rented a car in a desert airport, shopped for shoes and a pair of shorts in a local Decathlon, visited a castle, desert as well, in Krakow, got a fine "between 100 and 500 Zloty" (!) for parking in a forbidden area (policemen were very nice) then drove to Zabrze for the welcome ceremony and arrived there just on time in Reshape, à Zabrze, the sport center which I will never thank enough for organizing this, following an idea from race director Pawel Zuk (the kind of crazy guy who does continous, non-stop 3000 miles races...).
So well friends, I am back again on the treadmill, I already did it once in 2012 in Evreux, France with a quite good mark of 245 miles. This time I will try and beat this. It won't be easy, I was just weighted and got a score of almost 188 pounds... I blame my friends in Chartreuse and that cheese orgy we had after the backyard ultra. If anything goes wrong, it's their fault.
On these words, here is a list of the relevant links, live should be mostly on Facebook I think, it should be quite good as the electronic here is pretty impressive.
- Facebook page of Reshape, Zabrze where the event is happening (many thanks to them, they rock!)
- Facebook page of Pawel Zuk, the race director
- the Facebook event, don't miss it, in starts today, Friday November 6th, noon, CET (Paris/Zabre local time).
- Facebook page of Valérie, my spouse, who will very likely post updates as I fall apart on my treadmill.
PS: yes, we did COVID tests before leaving, and no, we don't have it, we're clear, and respecting all recommended rules for not spreading the disease, being serious about it.
