The season is slowly winding down, and with it, summer too. The last races are just around the corner, and I find myself caught between different moods—part of me is ready for a pause, to stop training for few weeks and start again getting ready to prep next season, while another part feels that quiet melancholy that always arrives this time of year.

After Sierre Zinal I came back to Kals where I have been training all summer to do another training block before the last races. I did an uphill road race as a training on the 31st of August, the Hornlauf in Kitzbühel, an historic Austrian race from Kitzbühel city center to the top of Kitzbüheler Horn at 1960m. I came second after Gloria Chebet, a kenian girl training here in Kals with the Run2gether team as well.

Training here in Kals with Run2gether was more than just a training camp, it was a mix of good trainings and a big learning experience of the Kenian life.

It was thanks to Thomas, the Run2gether manager, who welcomed me in the warmest way, and some guys with whom I connected pretty well and I became friends with, that I decided to spend my whole summer here.

I will write more later about this summer with Run2gether and the kenians athletes! To know more about Run2gether camps you can check here.

Now I will have two consecutive weekends of races coming up — both in the Alps, both in the mountains I love. Next one is Drei Zinnen this Saturday in the Dolomites, an uphill race of 18k and 1500m in the hearth of the Dolomites.
The other will be on Sunday 21st, not far from home, the Julian Alps by Utmb, 25km. I’m looking forward to both. They feel like a good way to close this chapter.

The drei Zinnen is a competitive race in a beautiful place, with some strong uphill runners and it will be a good way to measure myself.

Julian Alps by UTMB is a nice race close to home, I don’t need to travel too much to go there.

I will see how I respond to two races in a row.

After that I will have five more weeks of training before closing the season with a big goal, not on the trails but with a half marathon on the road! But first I need to see how my body responds to the next races and together with my coach we will decide. It’s not the perfect timing maybe to close the season with a road HM but it motivates me a lot and I just enjoy the process toward it a lot, so let’s see if the body cooperates!

This season hasn’t been easy. There have been more low points than I hoped for—frustration, doubt, days where the body didn’t cooperate, I didn’t manage to be selected for the Worlds championship in September and that of course has been pretty frustrating for me and I spent some good tears thinking about it. But I’ve kept showing up, kept trying. And that counts for something too.

As autumn edges in, I find myself in that familiar space—looking back at what’s been, inpatient to run the last races and looking forward to start training and planing the next season already. Not everything worked out the way I wanted and I had to deal with the virus of the mononucleosis much longer that I would have ever thought, but I am still really grateful for this season, for my coach, for the people helping me and for this opportunity to train in Austria during the summer, maybe not the best season but that’s part of the athlete life.