Megan Hicks of I run Farr I'm with Azure Matt grazier it's a couple days before the 2023 UTMB hi German this is my first time interviewing you yeah thanks for inviting me on this interview yeah I've seen you race for a long time I've known you for a long time but this is Iran Farah's first interview with you I'd love to learn a little bit about you we were talking off camera you came to Running From First Alpine skiing and then Road biking yeah exactly I grew up in a French Ski Resort so skiing was the the first spot I I did then then my family moved to the sofa France close to nice so that's when I started the mountain biking then Road biking okay yeah and then when did trail running and then Ultra Trail become part of the sports menu yeah actually after a few a few years of Road biking and got injured so at the time I was doing in parallel my studies and and Sport so I decided to push more on the studio side yeah and move to gronaball to end my uh uh geology engineering a diploma so I had less time and at that time I found out about try running okay you and I share that in common that we both studied geology okay I didn't know cool it's fun to be a geologist or to have that as your background as a trail Runner yeah it's fun yeah you you see where you see the Rocks you see your surroundings when you're running you're more aware of what where you are why why the mountain looks like that but yeah I had to choose and running is is why I'm often yeah yeah um so UTMB is sort of a fixture in your life now you have two finishes and three starts of this race this will be your fourth start what makes you keep coming back to this race I think at first he was really uh the main reason why I I started ultra running I would say and uh yeah I don't know I like the atmosphere on the race I like the race foods which is really logical it's like a nice uh circling route and uh yeah there was a good competition here yeah I just like the place the competition the atmosphere and it's really testing myself I feel like it's the best place to taste myself yeah um you have had two finishes inside the top ten of this race right yeah exactly yeah yeah um and your top finish was a fifth place which is like I think a lot of people would say that is like a career high if you're able to place fifth at UTMB so when a person comes back to a race after taking fifth like that you must know that you can do more yeah exactly and that's the the tricky point I would say you you know you were at that place so you want to take more risk um but you still need to run smart so it's like I think it's it's a point that it's pretty hard to I don't know how to say but you like move further because you yeah you had you know it's like when you're at 99 and this last person takes a while to get it's like okay I I got fifth but it's not like in a few months or in a year that I can make it higher so it's those last percentage that takes time dedication and you need to be consistent and uh yeah we'll see if if everything's uh plays well yeah you have been in Germany for you said I think a month and a half you must be taking this race very seriously yeah that's actually the the first time I did that because they every time I would start UTMB so the first time was more like okay I want to finish the race start really slow then the second year I'll take more risk and uh but I never took the time to really like optimize the the Ricky the all the nutrition around the race like what the small details that can make you get those Littles like minutes or stuff like that yeah so you're really taking care or trying to take care for the details this time yeah I'm trying to yeah to care more about the the little things and also I know to I'm trying to do like the minimal training to get to get the best adaptation from that it's it's hard also because uh you always want to do more but it's like at school when you have an exam and you write 10 pages and and maybe two is enough you know like yeah I'm trying to find the limit and to train recover wealth from what I'm training from and get get the best of myself now this course is really interesting in that there are parts that are technical parts that are more runnable I mean kilometers and kilometers of like very runnable terrain some steeper climbs and descents some more rolling what is it what parts of the course like feature well for you and what will be more challenging for your own strengths and weaknesses I would say uh I don't I'm not super good at anything are you a jack of all trades yeah I would say Alex moving all the parts yeah and uh yeah maybe I'm not a big fan of the start just because I don't like that much atmosphere on the start it's super the craziest start isn't it yeah it's crazy it's like most of it is in in the city like through Villages and I think like takes time to really get into the race you were you signed for I would say like when you hit notars you're like okay no finally a trail race yeah then it's like okay that's the right side I I want to do any and it's now so and it's easy to overrun the first Parts because you feel good it's the most easy place of the race so yeah I will try to to be smart it's interesting because I think Notre Dame de la Gorge is like 35 kilometers into the race like that's 20 of UTMB yeah yeah yeah it's crazy because yeah when you look at your watch you're like okay but you feel it now it's long to to really start yeah and uh yeah it's like kind of like a relief I don't know when you hit that place you're like okay now it's there it's the race I feel that UTMB is interesting in that you start with the night and then you race the next day in many hundred milers you start with the day and finish with the night to me it seems like an extra challenge what do you think about sort of that flip-flopping of Night and Day yeah I feel like yeah it's really particular to GMB this like evening start and uh I personally like this kind of start because I prefer to eat the night quickly than to to wait for for the night but yeah it's interesting uh you I think that's why there is a lot of uh different reaction to to this race because not a lot of people are used to run at night and like to run at night and yeah around like breakfast time it's always a like turning point of the race I would say so yeah it's something that uh definitely needs to be taken seriously yeah um do you have I mean you've been here for six weeks you've seen all the course now do you have a part that you're like really looking forward to doing yeah I would say my favorite part is uh between komayor and uh and lastly I really like this balcony but unfortunately during race dates it's dark but but even I like this spot because uh there's no big clients no big down here so you can kind of run your video you feel you're actually moving yeah and you're quite High there exactly yeah yeah it's it's interesting and then yeah then the last part is uh it's really different yeah from from everything else before one thing I like to ask Runners is you know there's always a joke about where the UTMB race starts does it start on the starting line does it start in Lay condom mean does it start in Cormier where does the UTMB race start I don't know I would say start from the the start for sure and then you decide where you really want to to do your move and to do your your little perch even if if you think your little purse will be around champagne it's not going to be a purse but yeah you're just maintaining the speed more or less it's a psychological push you're trying this exactly exactly but that's important but yeah I think it's really like different scenarios yeah this year the field is I think like there was a few names really on top of the list but the the field is really dense and uh compact at like a similar level which will make the race really interesting yeah for me I see like 25 men who could potentially be like top seven in this race yeah yeah it's even more like yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah even more like yeah it's hard to name people uh and it's hard to also know the people's strategies that would be interesting in real time yeah well best of luck to you in completing your fourth or third Loop in fourth start of UTMB good luck thanks a lot