Pictured here with the winner, Cinzia Bertasa, at the finish line

17 hours, 28 minutes, and 40 seconds: that’s how longit took Graziana Pé, an Oxyburn Ambassador, to claim second place on the podium in the women’s race of The Abbots Way Ultra Trail on the Via degli Abati, a 125k race to be run in one go with 5,500 meters of elevation gain.

We caught up with her to hear about her race, and Graziana, with her characteristic disarming simplicity, told us she experienced the Abbots as a journey from Bobbio to Pontremoli: “I love these road races,” said Graziana, who wears Oxyburn graduated compression socks during every ultra-race. It was demanding and difficult—not physically, because I felt good—but it was the race where I struggled the most with the fact that I was doing it alone. There were moments when I thought about giving up because it was really hard not to share this journey with anyone. Maybe there were few participants, no one on the course, and so I let myself get a little carried away… I ran alongside two guys once who stopped longer at a aid station, and then they never caught up with me again.”

“As night fell, a thick fog rolled in as I climbed toward the Borgallo Pass: I couldn’t see a thing, and even my headlamp didn’t help much—there were very few reflective markers… I won’t deny that I was a little scared. Fortunately, after a while I saw a light coming from the opposite direction… it was a guy who thought he’d gotten lost and was turning back… so I told him that if he didn’t stick with me until the end, I’d hurt him!!! Two heads are better than one, and we arrived in Pontremoli together, overjoyed to have completed this journey! Happy because my friends were there to greet me, happy because even though the weather wasn’t great, the landscape had its own charm, and, in hindsight, happy because I got through some tough moments on my own…”