It's day one, and the legs are feeling fresh. Five days lie ahead and countless miles. Lauren says hello to the locals. The Eiger looms in the distance as we run from Schwarzwaldalp to Grindelwald. We log 17 miles and 3,400 feet of elevation gain.

We’re midway through running through the Lauterbrunnen Valley. The rain was heavy this morning, but the views more than made up for the wet and muddy conditions. 16 miles and 5k of elevation gain brought us to Obersteinberg.

Matt stops and investigates the local flora. It's late July, and the wildflowers are blooming in the high alpine. Not a bad reason to stop after 4 days and 58 miles on the trail.

The sound of bells ringing echoes all around. One of the main draws of a multi-day adventure is that each day brings new experiences. Throughout our run, we navigated rain, thunder, lightning, waterfalls, Swiss cows, and even goats. The goats were especially resistant to making room on the trail for us to pass. And this particular goat really wanted a portrait.

Obersteinberg: a high alpine farm still in production, complete with a cascading waterfall view. The very waterfall we crossed earlier in the day. Tonight, we enjoyed fresh bread, a local lager, warm soup, and fresh beef. A welcomed meal after a long day.

Lauren kicks up her feet at the high alpine farm, marking the end of the hardest day on the trail. 16 miles and almost 5k of vert that day. Food and rest is on the mind.

We left the alpine farm in the cold dark of early morning, but our headlamps were quickly replaced by the sun and the alpenglow on the high peaks. Matt makes his way down early morning from Obersteinberg to the town of Mürren.

After a mostly downhill day prior, we were ready to climb again. Matt and Lauren quickly find themselves navigating exposed ridgelines as the clouds move in. With four days of running, climbing, and scrambling under our belt, our legs were feeling great on our last and final adventure through the mountains.

Vert is the name of the game in the Alps. From Mürren, we climbed to the Schilthorn as a final run and climb to complete our trip. Wind battered us as we traversed along knife-edge ridges, climbed over rocks, and navigated sections of steep snow. A golden eagle at one point in the afternoon swooped by to say hello.

Lauren climbing high above the town of Mürren towards the Schilthorn.

The small and quiet Swiss mountain village of Mürren sits a few hundred meters above the valley set against the cliff edge. The Eiger towers above to the east. Jungfrau rises across the valley, and an elderly woman tends to her garden as birds chirp and shadows race across the glaciers wedged between the peaks and ridges. The braided streams of meltwater succumb to gravity turning into cascading waterfalls.

Mürren is the final destination. Our feet are tired and our legs are sore. But there's a grin on each of our faces. We did it. The three of us spent the last five days traversing a section of trails between Swiss villages, through valleys, into the mountains, and back out again.