Beer and schnitzel?

There is the good feeling today of being truly underway as we head in convoy to the desert.

For the first time the Tabuk TransAlp 2010 challengers will train as two complete teams!

The preceding months of individual, two and three-ship training come to an end as Team H2H (us!) and Team Schnitzel make for the somewhat hopefully named “Hill Climb Valley” and 3 hours of scree-scrambling running.

But first, who are Team Schnitzel?!

Dave “why-not-carbo-load-with-beer?” Mather and Shawn “I-can-eat-schnitzel-every-night!” Matthews seem to have been running buds for years as they set off chattering away up the wadi (valley).

Dave, aka Le Fantom, ran the MdS with us in 2008 and is always keen for an adventure if you can find him one. 

Shawn, of Tyre Draggin' Boot Camp fame, though new to distance running events is no stranger to the mountains or self-created endurance challenges. With a climb of the Matterhorn under his ever-tightening belt he is also our resident matter expert for all things Alpine, climbing and generally "beasting" related.

And so we scramble.

A blissfully cooling breeze greets us each summit as we take in distant views of crop cirles and spreading plains along with our High5 IsoGels and Lucozade Sport Jelly Beans.

A tiny sign spotted in the distance near our start point is a brief topic for discussion. Apparently it could be roughly translated “Danger – Mine Field”. Hmm.

Regardless, it’s a good run done well by all .. and best of all it’s over before lunch!