Summer Vacation is almost here! Mont Blanc Marathon and Mini Cross

Silitch Family News:

On June 28th and 29th, Birken and Nina take place in the Mont Blanc Marathon mini cross and Marathon. Birken did his first race of 800m on saturday around the parapente field - very near to our house. He was a star and recieved a finishers medal just like his mommy did for her race on sunday. We had a fun family weekend enjoying the local sports of the area.

A little about the marthon in brief-Not your typical marathon - it has a new course this year with even more elevation gain. I will not know the difference as it will be my first mountain marathon. Le nouveau parcours du Marathon vous offre un dénivelé positif de 2445m (just over 8000feet in elevation gain) et un dénivelé négatif de 1480m (4850 feet in loss) It is going to be hot hot hot here in the Alps. The course is semi self contained w/ limited water and aid stations meaning you will have to carry water as well. The goal for me for this is to stay hydrated and finish the course! For more info on the course- check out the site.

Marathon Day!

We could not have asked for a better day- It was a little hot but not too bad. Most of the race was in the trees-or shade as we started at 7am. The water stations were good where you could refill your camelback. I drank lots of water and ate lots of gels to avoid cramps. Refilled the camel 2x. I was surprised by my result- I took tenth place for overall women w/ a time of 5:51 min. just 35 mins behind the winner> There were over 135 women who raced. It was a beautiful race in the Chamonix valley with great support from volunteers from the Chamonix Sports Club and the Chamonix Mont Blanc Running Club-as well as locals. Birken, Anders, Cassidy and Michael headed up to Flegere to cheer and give great support as well towards the last part of the race. I could not have done so well w/out the great support of my family and Cassidy! Thanks!


http://www.montblancmarathon.net/

Birken is just about to finish his first year at Ecole Maternelle. He loves his school and his teachers found him always smiling! They studied cows this spring and learned how to make yogurt and butter. His school celebrated science last week and had a festival for friends and family. They took a field trip to the local Swiss Alpine Zoo.

Here are some more pictures from our weekend!

Older news:
Gearing up for summer-trying to stay fit for ski season. Nina took place in a local 18km trail race w/ 900 meters of elevation gain and about the same for loss. It was a good warm up for the coming Mont Banc Marathon

view the results: http://www.combloux.com/pdf/18km.pdf

http://www.ultratrailmb.com/accueil.php This is the Ultra Trail that I said I would never do but managed to sign up for the CCC- Courmeyer-Champex-Chamonix only 98kms! Yup- that is far. I will be training for this this summer.

I have been training with our local running club the Chamonix Mont Blanc Club- CMBM- Check out our site and our upcoming trail race http://www.aiguillesrouges.fr/accueil.php

Summer Solstice Arrives

Spring has been lingering on here in the Alps with almost a month now of rain and showers. We are managing to still get out and enjoy the mountains in rain and shine. Birken is playing mini-tennis and Anders is adventuring on bikes and trikes. We have enjoyed some quality time together as a family and continue to appreciate this amazing place we live in and the lifestyle and pace here. It is a blessing that Michael can come home each evening after his commute to work up to the mountains and we are continually grateful for that. We enjoyed a wonderful holiday in Majorca, Spain- the same area we were in last year. A nice break after a long ski season of guiding and racing- before gearing up for summer season.

Our vegetable Garden. We planted our seeds in mid April and have harvested our first radishes (The boys like to pick them but not eat them) Birken is eagerly awaiting the sugar snap peas to come. We have enjoyed fresh mixed baby greens for salads and are waiting for our rainbow carrots and kaleidoscope kale!

Summer is coming soon! We hope to catch up with friends and family! Michael is gearing up for his summer season of guiding. full of alpine rock and limbstone routes. He is staying fit wih yoga and biking. http://www.high-alpine.com/ We just did a great yoga workshop with Bryan Kest of California http://www.poweryoga.com/ Yoga is a great strength builder, healer of injuries and aches and also stress reliever. It teaches you to be calm and non reactive with a peaceful mind. Nina is training for the Petit- Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (98k) August 27th http://www.ultratrailmb.com/ and will do the Mt Blanc marathon for a warm up end of June. Stay in touch!