2011 was not a good year for my body. Although I spent 2010 without any injuries, I spent at least about 4 months of 2011 without running at all; mostly because of stress fractures and other things that went from there.
So I started to run seriously again around June, aiming for the SainteLyon race; the pressure was back and I had just the needed amount of time to train. After hundreds of kilometers, I decided that my new Inov-8 Roclite 285 were a good choice for this race: no injuries at all, good feelings, lightweight, easy to run on mood terrain. I still had the fear of getting another injury mainly after stopping that much time, but I did my best to balance each running session along the time, and increasing the distance after each week.
It wasn't easy at all, and I thought I wasn't training enough; plus I had a big work load, combined with a busy night life. But I always wanted to keep up with all my usual activities, even with a hard aim of running. That is how I consider running: integrate it in my every day life, without interfering too much with everything else. Of course this is easier said than done.
Knowing that, I did not plan a heavy training. Two times a week, three in good ones, depending on my work load and other events, most of the time lasting between one hour and one hour and a half; very rarely two hours during weekends. I know I had to do interval trainings, but most of the time I wasn't motivated enough to do so. From October I started to run some long run; that is to say at least two hours and a half. The longest one was during about four hours long and it brought the consequence of reassuring me a lot: I was still able to run about forty kilometers without being torn to pieces at the end. I guess it was one of the most important part of my training: getting good feelings about my training and experiences, acknowledging my past trainings even after so many doubts.
Some weeks before the race I did not train a lot; it's indeed recommended even if I wanted to run more. I went to the race with a clean mind; I of course knew that I would probably suffer a lot but it wasn't the time to think about it. Long run happen mostly in your head; the best you can feel in your head before, the best you will be during.

The particularity of the race is of course that it's starting at midnight, that is to say a long day before you; not really usual, because most of the training happens during the day, in conditions where you are well awake and fit. We arrived around 7p.m at Saint-Etienne, and took some time to eat and rest. Ear plugs are quite useful if you want to drowse a bit indoor in the middle of thousands of people waiting for the start. Then we had to go to the starting place quite a long time before midnight and to wait, which was really annoying even if the temperature was not that cold - around seven degrees if I remember correctly -, also because of the the rain.

The beginning was quite hard for me; probably because of temperature differences, I started to get headaches. It is typically what could kill a race, especially at the beginning; it is an entry point to start thinking about it and then having negative ideas in your head. Long races show you that you can always go through bad times, and feel like in your best days some kilometers after. Something like 13 kilometers after, I was indeed truly back in the race. I was running with a friend and it also helped a lot talking together to think about something else.

There was several resupply; the first one at 16km and then every 10km. I didn't know what I really needed for such a race; moreover I didn't know if I had what I needed each time. So I decided to take quite a lot of stuff with me before the race, even though I knew my bag would be heavier than usual. Two liters of water, bananas, biscuits, and a big home made salad. The aim of the last one was in my opinion particularly important for my mental: knowing that you have a very good meal in your bag is keeping you away from thinking "What if I'm starting to feel really bad?". In fact I almost didn't eat what I had in my bag. At each break we took the time to eat and take stuff with us. I furthermore used my water a lot and refilled it sometimes.

Even by night, we could have done really amazing pictures: imagine yourself looking backward while climbing a hill, seeing thousand of lights forming a light track up to the horizon; indescribable. Then the morning light came so fast and so slowly at the same time.

Even if we didn't have any expectation about the finish time, we had to be quick when stopping to avoid getting cold, or at least remain in a wind-less place. More and more people forfeited along the race; I even saw someone falling in front of me while eating gingerbread.
Around the kilometer 39, my friend who had some knee injuries decided to let me go ahead. As I was still in very good shape and feeling well, I continued at my own pace; the most difficult parts were the downhills: my joints were hurting more or less, but my body understood how trail is hard.
At some point I might have started to run too fast: 10km before the end, I felt that my body was now at its limits. I kept the thing in my head, receiving some text messages to encourage me, and went on for 5 more kilometers. Then, I got an horrible pain on my right foot and had to finish by walking.
These five last kilometers were my only disappointment of this race because this not the picture I want to show about running. My very first aim is always to finish as good as I can, in a good shape.

Anyway, I guess I have some possible explanations about this injury but I was so excited to finish. I was quite surprised by the time (9h29); a bit sad not to be able to share it with my friend who was still suffering, but I'm always so moved after such an event! I had the feeling I was the only one in such a state but I hope I was wrong. In my opinion, the most important thing after such a race is to be able to share it with someone who really care about you and your passion.