Swiss National Day and the Mountain Race

The second session of AA is always particularly fun because Swiss National Day happens on August 1st. The festivities for Swiss National Day (at least in Leysin) begin at 6am with the firing of a cannon, followed by some live music as the villagers from the small alpine town gather round. In Leysin, there is also a half marathon mountain race (http://www.aigleleysin.ch/) which starts in the valley in Aigle and finishes in the town of Leysin after ascending the Berneuse. It is 16km (10 miles) running up the mountain, followed by 5km (3 miles) down. The start of the course is a brutal climb and I'm certain the grade is nearly 15%. (The average grade is 10%.) Over the course of the 10 mile ascent, there is 1650meters (5400 feet)of elevation gain. In the 5km decent, one loses 720meters (2300 feet). That's a quad killer.

Mary made a special class schedule this morning so that all the kids could come watch the race and cheer me on. In their first period class, they all made signs for me and made up cheers. It was overwhelming to come up the hill and see all my fans on the corner. They were so adorable!

Adorable doesn't even begin to describe

AA campers and staff awaiting my arrival

Leo and Latoya with a banner for me

AA campers with an adorable sign!

 My fan club waited at the corner of Nid D'Aigle before the Prafandaz climb. That's about halfway to the top. At this point, runners have gained 943 meters (3093 feet).

Fist pump as I see the kiddos!

I couldn't help but smile when I saw my fan club.

Rounding the bend, giving them a wave!

Onward!

I was the 8th female to complete the climb to the Berneuse (out of 50) and the 10th to cross the finish line in Leysin. I finished the grueling 21.2km in 2 hours 53 minutes. Now I have a time to beat for future years.

A Leysin, on attend le feu d'artifice

Some campers ready for Swiss National Day festivities

Ian and one of our campers from Japan

Ian and Erik on the town podium, looking like they have something important to say

Great people, great colleagues

One of my students made this sign about my race (as an assignment for her ESL class). So cute. (The quote on the bottom was not my own, but a cute addition.)