at 8:30am in the sleepy lakeside swiss village of champex, the energy was cool and quiet, not yet buzzing with crowds of utmb crew and spectators. zach and tom quietly charged side by side with more than a marathon remaining to race. there was no roar of cheers and applause to announce their departure from the aid station. in fact, it could have been easy to miss them as they silently skirted the still waters of the lake, past a couple of barely open cafes with almost no disturbance. this was one of the most lasting moments i’ve witnessed in ultrarunning. these two had been racing through the mountains all night. their labored breath, metronomic strides, and focused stares brought a dramatic intensity to the village that didn’t break its silence, but instead somehow amplified it. they could maybe muster a breathed “thanks” to the pedestrians offering encouragement along the sidewalk. they were on the edge. i wondered if they were trying to break each other, or working together. probably both. i wondered if they realized the tranquility of the setting they were powering through, or if they were in their own world of chaos, pain, competition. either way, it was impossible to imagine another six hours of that kind of grit. but they did it. i didn’t see them finish, but they finished 3rd and 5th place. they knew exactly what they were doing at champex, and i suspect they had already calculated the decisions and risks that faced them in the next six hours of racing. you could see it in their eyes. i won’t forget those stares. 👀