My road to UTMB in Chamonix. The races I ran, the lessons I learned, and the miles still ahead. Flip the pages.
This is the honest road to the UTMB start line in Chamonix.
UTMB MONT-BLANC · 171 KM · +10,000 M
PROLOGUE
At every race I've ever run, I've done the same thing without thinking.
The arms go up on their own. Sometimes, it's when I spot a camera, or when I'm on top of a climb, or when I'm a few meters before the finish line. Whenever the moment feels bigger than the effort, both hands find the sky.
This little book is about everything in between. The early mornings, the long climbs, the races that taught me something, the gear that earned its place, and the slow journey toward one finish line in Chamonix.
No sponsors, no shortcuts, no pretending it's easy. Just the honest version of what it takes to get there. Flip the pages and follow along.
The strongest runner isn't the one who feels best at the start. It's the one still solving problems deep into the race.
Alexander, somewhere on a Danish hill
\o/ Prologue
Let's run the first one.
Race Reports
RACE REPORT · 2024
My first UTMB race. My first Running Stone. The first chapter of this journey. My wife introduced me to trail running a few months earlier at a local race in Denmark and I got hooked. Kullamannen North Shore was the perfect introduction to UTMB trail races. A fast course through the Swedish landscape, with long runnable sections that felt familiar, mixed with compact trails and loose sand to remind me that trails is a completely different experience from running on the roads.
It was not the biggest mountain, the longest distance, or the hardest challenge, but it was the starting point. The first time I experienced the combination of challenge, adventure, and uncertainty that would eventually draw me deeper into trail running.
Every journey needs a first step. This was mine.
\o/ The Beginning
First race. First Running Stone. First memories on the trail.
Race Reports
RACE REPORT · 2025
My first ultra. My first real trail race in the mountains. The Chianti hills delivered everything I hoped for. Endless vineyards, beautiful trails, and a landscape that made every kilometer worth looking up. A week of rain had turned parts of the course into a muddy adventure, but on race day the conditions were almost perfect.
Somewhere around kilometer 30, I learned one of trail running's first big lessons. The climbs were tough, but it was the descents that truly tested the legs. The constant impact, the uneven terrain, and the effort of staying controlled slowly started to catch up.
Heavy legs, big smile. The first ultra was complete, and the journey had taken another step forward.
\o/ Ultra runner
First ultra. First big mountain lesson. Another step toward Chamonix.
Race Reports
RACE REPORT · 2025
KAT100 was the race that introduced me to the real mountains. The scenery was everything I hoped for. Steep climbs, exposed ridges, and views that made every difficult moment worth it. But the mountains also demanded respect. The combination of steep gradients, technical terrain, heat, and a course I was not prepared for pushed me far beyond anything I had experienced before.
This race took me through every emotion possible. Excitement, doubt, frustration, anger, tears, and eventually the joy of reaching the finish line. I fell several times. My hips carried the bruises for weeks. I spent hours fighting the clock and wondering if I would make the cutoff. But every time I considered stopping, I found a way to keep going, one kilometer at a time, until I finally reached the finish line.
The mountains always teach. Sometimes they teach gently. Sometimes they leave bruises.
\o/ The mountains
Every climb revealed something new.
Race Reports
RACE REPORT · 2025
A year after my first trail race, I returned to Kullamannen. This time, the distance was longer, the challenge was bigger, and the goal was simple: keep learning. I started too fast and paid for it halfway through. The legs reminded me that every ultra has a price, and the bill eventually arrives.
But this race was also about new experiences. I carried homemade energy gels from start to finish, testing something I had created myself. And for the first time, I found myself running into the darkness with a headlamp lighting the trail ahead. The final kilometres were a different kind of running. The world became smaller, the lights became brighter, and the finish line appeared after sunset.
The trail gets darker, but the finish line still shines.
\o/ The return
Longer distance. Darker trails. The same feeling at the finish.
Race Reports
RACE REPORT · 2025
The road to Chamonix will not always follow the plan. While visiting Argentina for work, I signed up for the first UTMB Patagonia Bariloche race simply for the adventure. At the top of the climb, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and endless lakes, I stopped and took it all in. A moment where the race disappeared and the place became the memory.
Then came the descent. With no pressure and nothing to prove, I let myself run. I flew into the city and across the finish line. A race entered for the experience became one of my strongest races. But the real reward was a memory from the other side of the world that will last forever.
Sometimes you find your best moments when you stop chasing them.
\o/ The moment
One mountain. One perfect view. One unforgettable chapter.
Race Reports
RACE REPORT · 2026
This was the race where everything came together. After KAT100 taught me to respect the mountains, I approached Val D'Aran differently. I started patiently, climbed without chasing every runner ahead, and trusted the plan. No poles. Lighter gear. Better preparation. More patience.
The Spanish Pyrenees delivered a beautiful course with steep climbs, endless views, and technical enough terrain to demand focus, but runnable enough to let me move freely. Then came the descents. The part I had worked hardest on. Step by step, I found my rhythm and started moving past runners all the way to the finish. The biggest lesson was not that I could run faster. It was that I could race smarter.
The mountains gave me the lesson. The journey gave me the answer.
\o/ The next chapter
From chasing the finish line to sharing the moment.
RACE CALENDAR
The races between here and Chamonix. Each one a stepping stone, each one a countdown.
\o/ The journey continues
The road to Chamonix is built one start line at a time.
ABOUT
I've always been drawn to big goals and the journey required to reach them.
From long days chasing personal bests on the road, to crossing Ironman finish lines, endurance has always been about seeing how far I can push myself and what I can learn along the way.
Today, the goal has changed. The roads have turned into trails, the distances have grown, and the finish line has moved to the mountains.
Arms Over Head is the story of that journey. The races, the lessons, the preparation, and the pursuit of one unforgettable start line in Chamonix.
\o/ Arms Over Head
Follow along on Strava, Instagram and YouTube.