Strážovská 50 2022 (50km / 2440m+), Trenčianske Teplice, 7.5.2022

Run ultra & get high

Vápeč a Horná Poruba

After the relaease of the Covid measures in the spring of 2022 and the opening of registration, the Strážovská 50 sold out like hot cakes in a Down Town on Monday morning. I managed to register for it like JIT, and I hereby thank Zuzka M., who texted me in the evening an hour after the registration opened, to hurry, otherwise I will miss it. In the end, Zuzka couldn't run, which I was sincerely sorry about, but she came to Trenčianske Teplice in the morning to greet us, cheer us and document everything.

We are leaving Liptov in the same line-up as for the Pohronský Inovec Marathon a month ago (read here: Pohronský Inovec Marathon), that is Maťa, Michal, Majka and me. We're having fun in the car, we laugh at Majka's stories from various races, which she describes in her own style. In Dubnica, we forget to get off the highway and so we have a sightseeing drive under the Trenčin castle, but we manage to arrive at the presentation in Trenčianske Teplice early enough to catch up and chat with fellow runners - Zuzka, Paulína, Born to Trail Jožko, Trailhunter Cinky, Jerome, etc. etc. Jožko immediately notices that I've got my make up on and asks whether it's because of him. I said "for sure", 'cause it's a feast to see each other again after a year - although I'm a bit worried - the last time we met at a race, it resulted in my DNF (read here: Turiec Trail) and I had to run it again.

Well, don't tell Jožko, but actually I've put my make up on because we were supposed to take a selfie on Vápeč peak (as part of a self-check point|, to make it look good at least 😀.

It probably didn't help much 😁 but let's not get ahead too much.

The morning is cold and drizzling. However, we are the hardened sort and so we shiver at the start line in shorts, t-shirts and goosebumps, while Rado announces into the megaphone where the checkpoints are and what to watch out for on the route. I caught something about the mud on the descent from Homoľka, or where, but I wasn't sure.

5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - start! And we are already jogging up the street and into the woods. The unfazed youngsters will sprint for their lives, because there is no time to waste! I go the way I always do - I need the first 5 km to warm up and wake up. I sleepily walk through the rainy forest, manage to say hello to Lenka, with whom we reached the finish line of the Prešporský Ultrapunk almost together last year.

This weather has a gloomy effect on me. I am overwhelmed by some heavy thoughts that I can't get rid of. I try everything to drive them away, but each time they come back with new intensity. I'm ridiculous even to myself, despite the depression. To add to that, my stomach decided that it needed a little swim in the water - somehow it didn't want to digest the breakfast. On top of that, as if on command, my brain begins to mine somewhere from deep, long-forgotten memories and serve me the most disgusting foods I have ever eaten. Well, what can I tell you 😀 this is what it looks like when all the parts agree to corporate together.

Zuzka pulls me out of my dark inner self brooding, she climbed under Petrova Lehota to cheer us, take photos and shoot some videos. One immediately warms up 😊 and you really have to start looking under your feet, because what follows is a run down a mud toboggan of several kilometers to the road, where there the first checkpoint with a snack bar is. Of course, at the end of the toboggan just in front of the road, I got wiped out in the mud - I've only done 10km and I'm no longer a lady 😁 but whatever, it doesn't matter, the important thing is that I can finally treat myself with a Coke! The caffeine kicks in and with mud on my ass I bite into the next climb. The section is overgrown and bear-like, we pass a gnawed deer skeleton, lying in the mud, and bear scents can be smelled all around. I already have my nose trained to feel them 🐻

Vlado J. catches up with me in the forest (he runs alone, his "former" friends are scattered somewhere on the track in front and behind) and he shares my weather sensitivity. He expresses his desire for the sun to shine on Vápeč. Well, I'm not sure about that - my weather app was showing me that it should rain just when we would be running in those places, but at the same time I also express my desire that my app isn't right.

We finally crest the ridge, pass a secret check point at the Chata Baské at the 18th kilometer and suddenly it starts to be pretty. We keep running in and out of beautiful bright green forests and from them we run out to picturesque meadows, the rain has stopped and here and there even a ray of sunlight flashes through the clouds. After twenty kilometers, I am finally starting to run comfortably and am enchanted by the beauty of the surrounding May fresh spring nature. This is what I'm here for. The mist rises from the hills and forests, the views open up, the meadows are full of primroses and the landscape is magically photogenic. I jog and take pictures while I'm at it, well, Zuzka has asked me to take some nice photos. At first it didn't look like pretty pics, but here my hope dawns 😄.

Forests alternate with meads, the views are magnificent and it's like on a swing - up and down, up and down and then down only to the checkpoint no. 2 - Homoľka (27th km). I catch up with Maťa and Mišo there, they say they are not doing God knows how well, so they just switched from racing to sightseeing. Refreshment stations always lift my mood and morale - besides solid and liquid energy, you can also fill up on that invisible boost here - but we have known for a long time that what is important is invisible to one's eyes.

Refreshed, we head towards Srvátkova lúka and Vápeč, Maťa and Mišo following close behind me.

The climb through the forest is steep, and long (again 😁), but I'm enjoying it. At one point, the forest opens up and reveals views of Vápeč. It's still a long way off, it seems. There's a whole other little ridge to run all the way to Sedlo Palúch. But I love it here. I relish the steep rocky climb to the peak, that's how I like it. At the top, I take the obligatory selfie, shoot the views, let the moment soak in for a while and then go back down to Sedlo Palúch.

On this section, we pass tourists who also have their own event here today - Ilavská 25. The descent is steep, sometimes step-like, slightly muddy, but it goes quickly. Behind the forest, Maťa and Mišo catch up with and overtake me, so I shout to them that it was nice to run ahead of Maťa Bellušová for a while 😅 but they won't get far away. At K3 in Horná Poruba at the 35th km, we are devouring together, and I take this opportunity here to greet Jakub 🤗. The loaves of bread coated with crackling spread are looking at us enticingly. Mišo states that this spread looks decent and is about to grab a slice when the volunteer informs him proudly that it is vegan. I'm already two bites in and the spread is delicious, I would say even better than its older sister of animal origin. But Michal prefers to withdraw his hand in disbelief and opt for certainties. I grab handful of Linz cookies on the way, which melt in the mouth with deliciousness, they are simply wonderful. Just like from grandma.

There are 15 kilometers and some 400 meters of elevation gain  to go. I prepare myself in the head that it will feel very long, but my morale is strangely quite high compared to the first 15 kilometers, to the point that I'm surprised about it myself. We run through the village and traverse forests and meadows with views of the majestic Vápeč. The weather has improved a bit, the sun timidly warms us up and gives us energy. I'm glad that my weather app was wrong 😅 We run in and out of the woods to the meadows again, we agree that it reminds us of Zázrivá. We discuss all kinds of running topics, and in a friendly debate, the kilometers pour out like nothing. The trees in the woods have young bright green soft leaves and make a nice contrast to the dark muddy trail and the black ground covered with old brown leaves. Here and there we pass cozy shelters ready to embrace hikers appearing on this route. However, it's not us, we want to be at the finish line already. Maťa is raving about beer and goulash, coffee and ice cream, well, that's a nice goulash to me 😂.

At one point we have to go down the last mud slide - it takes all six limbs (legs, arms, poles) and probably something else too, because the next day I have a muscle ache on my abdomen on such muscles that I don't even know I have 😅 The sidewalk twists and turns like a rollercoaster, the height meters increase until finally there are only seven of them left. We will conquer them like nothing. There is the last section through the forest down to the city ahead of us. We recall Ultrapunk85 where the final 5km led through the park above Bojnice and were endless...

Fortunately, today's kilometers are endful, soon we can hear the sounds of the city, the roofs of houses peek through the treetops and we are shortly spat out of the forest onto the main road. The finish line is in sight - we run through a square full of people who just went for a walk or to a café. The watch shows a distance of 49 km - we are raising concerns about whether it will really make it for 50 kilometers. Because if not, we will have to circle around the square and round it up 😆 However, the 50 beeps a few tens of meters before the finish and thank god we are spared from circling around. Our time is 7 hours and 26 minutes.

Here comes the usual finish euphoria, one can never get enough of it 😍 we meet and greet Majka, who has drunk almost an entire beer before we arrived, we prove ourselves organizers with a selfie from Vápč, exchange endorphin energies, laughter and happiness. Rado hands us a diplomas. We sit down with goulash and beer / kofola, chat with Jožko and Cinky, joke about (un)shaved asses, admire and compare who has more muddy feet and sneakers, praise each other for their performance, share experiences from the track and a beautiful day is almost over. One does not even want to go home and return to everyday reality and the carousel of duties. Well, even that is necessary so that we can escape into fairy tales with all the more joy, like today's one 💗

Great admiration also goes to the first four men who finished under 5 hours, of which the first two did it under 4.5 hours (!!) and to the first woman, Ivka Lišková, with an incredible time of 5 hours and 17 minutes (!!!), but of course also to all the others who reached the finish line happily, safely and in good health.

Many thanks again and again to the team of organizers of this event, who arranged everything for us runners beautifully, so that all of it fell off and clicked like clockwork. Also to the volunteers who are willing to spend hours by standing somewhere in the rain and rough weather and trying to satisfy all the needs they see in runners' eyes and also spreading good mood and encouragement all around. I will forever admire them for that and hold deep gratitude.

Link to the results: https://hiking.dennikn.sk/ultra/live/80/strazovska50.html

Web page of the event: https://www.strazovska50.sk/info

FB of the event: https://www.facebook.com/strazovska50