On 6 July 2019 we'll both be running up the side of the Zermatt valley in Switzerland, in the shadow of the mighty Matterhorn (the Toblerone mountain!). 

Ju is running 13.1 miles uphill, the half marathon part of the race, which is going to be extra tough, as she damaged her knee while training and hasn't been able to run for months. With just a few weeks to go she's getting started again.

Having already run the Zermatt half marathon in 2018, Jay's foolishly upped the stakes and is having a go at the ultra marathon. That's 26.2 miles uphill, where (all being well) he'll continue past the marathon finish for another 2 miles of hands-on-knees climbing to the finish at Gornergrat. 

In total, Ju's run will see her climb from 1616m above sea level to 2595m, almost a vertical kilometer of running. Jay's goes from 1116m to 3089m, over a vertical mile up.

These runs will be challenging! The air's thin and running uphill for miles on end is as hard on the head as it is the screaming legs. Our lungs will be working though, pulling in the thinning air, something we'll be very grateful for (especially when we've finished). Not everyone's so lucky, including Jay's dad, whose suffered (stoically) with COPD for years, struggling to pull in enough oxygen with every breath. He's been superbly supported by our local Breathe Easy team, part of the British Lung Foundation, and we want to do these runs to give something back.

We're off to the Alps to get some mountain runs in during June (of course we're not using any funds raised for travel or the event itself). If you'd like to support our final few weeks of training, feel free to contribute any amount, every donation feels like a hand on our backs, pushing us uphill. 

Cheers, Jay and Ju