Ultrarunner's notes

 A long awaited, well-Deserved Rematch A year has come and gone since that fateful evening when I was dragging my defeated self through the sun-scorched meadows above Lipovec at 8 PM, swearing I'd never sign up for another race again. And here I am — back at the start line of the Malofatranská 100. For the third time. MF100 in 2022 was my very first official 100k race. In 2023, the organizers spiced up the course, making runners sweep across every peak of the ridge — even the ones we used to bypass. And of course, I wanted to try this fancy new version too. But last year didn’t go as planned… So here I am again, back for redemption. I arrived in Terchová as usual on Friday — picked up my bib, did a bit of sightseeing, had some dinner, and stayed the night at Hotel Gavurky. Highly recommend it to all of us spoiled ultrarunners (you know who you are — the ones who just can’t sleep in a sweaty gym with people snoring like dying walruses). The hotel even starts serving breakfast ...

  My First 100-Miler Ultra-Trail Małopolska – a place where time flows like in a parallel universe. Where memories become the present. Where if it’s not raining, it’s snowing, and you hallucinate even without magic mushrooms. This is where mud was invented. Slimy mud, slippery mud, black mud, brown mud, sticky mud, wet mud, semi-dry mud, mud with rocks, mud with branches, mud with water, mud without water, innocent-looking mud and backstabbing mud, mud with snow, mud with rain. Mud uphill and mud downhill. Meadow mud, road mud, stream mud, forest mud. A place where even downhills somehow feel like uphills, where you're always going either straight up or straight down (up). The place where I ran my first ever 100-miler. Pre-Race Chaos, Panic, and Mild Electronics Crisis On the way to the race, I realize I’ve packed the wrong cables for charging my phone and watch (USC connector, but my power bank only has USB inputs). Cue the scavenger hunt for an electronics store whil...