Delaying the gratification...

and having the best beer of my entire year.

I am 30 kilometers into the 2025 X-Alpine, an ultra trail organized in Verbier Switzerland. It's the middle of the night and my legs already feel heavy. We started the day before at 22hr and the running feels, so so, it just doesn't seem to click. For the most part I feel tired and uncoordinated. The race is 140k long, so the 30k mark should feel merely like a warm up.

I'm leaving the lowest point of the course in Sembrancher to start a truly monster climb. More than 2000! vertical meters separate me from Cabane Orny, perched high up in stunning alpine terrain, 2812 meters above sea level. My energy levels seem to be inversely linked to the altitude. The higher I climb, the more miserable I feel. In Champex I see I'm not the only one as a other runner empties his stomach on the side of the road. I guess the situation could always be worse.

As the sun starts to rise, I'm cresting a summit. Not long after, the Cabane and high point of the race, comes in sight. With soup and some food I make a fruitless attempt to regain energy. When that failed, my next best option was to continue down the steep and technical descent. I stumble and fall a couple of times but make it down to below 1500 meters. The lungs are happy with the additional oxygen but the energy stills doesn't really turn in my favor.

Start of the technical descent

I'm putting one foot in front of the other, hour after hour, while forcing myself to keep eating. My family is waiting for me on the San Bernardino pass halfway of this race. By the time I finally reach them, I feel empty and deeply tired. My wife didn't say it at the time but afterwards she said: 'You really looked in bad shape'. I'm trying to catch some sleep in our van, hoping for some kind of a magical reset to happen. Being able to close my eyes is a relief, yet sleep comes to me. The only way out is to continue on, one foot in front of the other. My wife assures me that a lot of the runners coming through here look in bad shape by this point. 'Come on you can do it' she encourages me.

As the hours go on, the second night quickly announces itself. I don't seem to find the energy I so desperately need until I start to talk with a runner in front of me. His name is Martin, a German that lives in the USA, he is around 50 years old. As we draw from each others energy, the conversations keep us awake. We team up to get deep into this second night. He's a ultra running enthousiast that seems to have run all the iconic races, from Western States, to UTMB to even the notoriously hard and 330km long Tor de Géants.

Some time before dawn breaks I cannot keep my eyes open anymore. I say to him: 'Hey Martin, please go on without me, I really need to take a powernap here'. He assures me we will see each other further along the trail as his low point most likely will come as well. Many powernaps later, I finally reach the alpine pass: Col des Avouillons, 2649meters high. The trail is now dropping down steep to reach a long and narrow bridge. Then it's climbing again to 'Cabane de Panossière'. The soft morning light is revealing an epic alpine landscape, snowcapped peaks so close, it feels like you could almost touch them.

Only a half marathon until the finish. These 21 kilometers start with a quad torturing 1500 meter descend to the village of Lourtier. There I spot Martin in the aid station and ask him how he's feeling. 'Pfff, that was though, not really feeling that amazing'. By now I feel more energized and he seems to have his low moment. A massive 1000 meter 'wall' is what separates us from the finish line in Verbier. After he helped me through the second night, I want help him get past this final big hurdle. Setting a slow but steady pace we climb along, picking up some other Belgians as well. We jokingly exchange that ultra mountain trails are maybe not the ideal sport for people who live and train in the flatlands.

After the last climb we run on a plateau to the final aid station. By this time a shorter race has also started and we are receiving extra cheers from the many supporters that have showed up. Just 750 meters below is Verbier, the town that will release me from this suffering. Martin stays behind a bit at this stage but I want this mountain loop to be over as soon as possible. Running downhill this late in a race however is hard: it's really a test of mental toughness. Allowing the gravity to bring up your speed, also means bringing up the pain level in the legs. I unlock a new and higher level of pain, that I have never experienced before. Soreness and aches are felt deep, really deep inside the muscle, almost to the bone. It doesn't matter anymore, nothing more to save now, nothing more to hold back for. I finally make it to the streets of Verbier before noon. My 2 kids join me in the last turn to the finish line. It's a proud moment to cross the line after nearly 39 hours. I am not only proud to have finished the race. I'm proud I was able to show my kids you can overcome low moments and big difficult challenges. The one and only thing to do is keep putting one foot in front of the other.

thanks to delayed gratification, it tastes of fulfillment, satisfaction and deep content

Not long after my finish, Martin also ends his big mountain adventure and we share a well deserved cold beer together. It tastes sweet and hoppy but thanks to delayed gratification, it also tastes of fulfillment, satisfaction and deep content. This shared drink truly tastes like the best beer I had in a entire year! Delayed gratification is what gives this beer