MALOFATRANSKÁ 50 2019 (57KM, 4150M+), Terchová - Lipovec, Slovakia, 29.6.2019

 I don't dare to sign up for a 100km yet, let alone Malofatranská 100. However, this year the race organizers slyly listed a 50 km route, that leads through the most beautiful places of Kriváňska Malá Fatra. My fingers twitch at the computer day after day at regular intervals like an alcoholic, until I succumb to my own persuasion techniques and at the same time resist my own dissuasion techniques and sign up for this fifty kilometer race. The race specs promise the parameters of 53 km and 4124 m elevation. I know from previous racing experience that it will be at least 55km (you should always add at least two kilometers to the parameters in the propositions and set your mind that the finish line will not be at the 53rd kilometer), in the end, it was 57km.

On the D-day, after a busy day at work and vicissitudes with the organization of my logistics (start in Terchova, finish in Lipovec), I get in the car in the evening and drive to Terchova. I realize that I didn't eat properly all day - there was no time and I didn't feel like it, because as usual, I got "my days" and I felt all sorts of things. Why not just for such a difficult race. But what am I wondering - all the holidays by the sea, all the metal festivals, so why not all the races... In Terchova, I stay in the luxurious five-star gym of the local sports center, lay out the mat, the sleeping bag and go to check the situation. Runners are already flocking here, the presentation is in full swing, so is the mandatory equipment check - I hope I have packed  everything and that I haven't forgotten anything at home. I pull something out of my stash and try to cram it into myself, but it's not quite possible  with the pre-race stress. God, why am I so stressed? The commotion in the gym and in the surrounding areas thickens, the first, second, third beer is poured, the fun grows. On the other side, in a small closed room, there is deep silence and darkness. There, the 180'ers are dreaming their dreams about the Malofatranská one hundred and eighty kilometer massacre. Janko and Janka arrive, I sit down on their mat and we talk about all kinds of things, but especially, surprisingly, about running and races. Janko will run the hundred and Janka will support him. A speech from the organizer follows with a brief description of the route, instructions and warnings about changes and where to watch out for what. I overheard whether the route goes all the way to the top of Veľky Rozsutec, or should we descend straight to Sedlo Medziholie and skip the peak. But about that later. I'm getting my stuff ready so I'll have everything at hand in the morning and go to bed. I feel very tired, but sleep comes only little by little, shallow and intermittent. The gym eventually falls silent, the only constant sound being the rustling of one sleeping bag - apparently its occupant does not know how to make himself comfortable and fall asleep. He squirms, tosses, turns over, positions himself, and with every, even the smallest movement, comes an ear-shattering rustling sound of about 1000 dB. The gym has deafeningly great acoustics, and even the slightest rustle amplifies into a roaring noise in the silence of the night. In one word, Ididntsleepwellatall. It doesn't matter, it will get worse, but I will survive 😁

In the morning, the sports complex starts to buzz like a beehive. The runners slowly climb out of their sleeping bags, undergo morning hygiene, some have breakfast and pre-start preparations. I'm also trying to get some food into myself, but somehow I still can't. So I pack the provisions with me to eat on the route, but as I'll find out during the day, it won't be enough. During the morning presentation, I meet my running buddy Braňo, apparently he didn't sleep at all either 😁 together we go to the starting area under the huge silver statue of Juraj Jánošík. The morning promises a beautiful and warm day, the area under the statue is quickly filling up with runners, ultra-trail star Martin Halász is seriously warming up (classics – jog, stretch, drills). He probably feels that he will not have run enough within the promised 53 km. But no, all the jokes aside and I salute him in all honor and admiration, of course he won the race 😊 We line up under the starting gate - I'm sliding further back so as not to get in the way of the speeders - and before we know it we're already running up the asphalt road towards Vrátna dolina.

The nascent day is fresh, I try to run slowly and not burn out right at the start. After a few asphalt kilometers, we finally turn into the forest following the green trail and start climbing the first of the hills of the day. We hit the Sokolie ridge and meet the first stray 100-ers - they were continuing along the yellow trail, but in the opposite direction. Our group continues along the yellow in the right direction, slowly dispersing as everyone adjusts and finds their own optimal pace. Me and Braňo run together for a while, but behind Sedlo Príslop, I lose him somewhere in the steepness behind me. I'm going at my own pace and I'm surprised by a few quite technical passages of this section - leaving the poles folded in the bag for now, the plan is to take them out at Sedlo Medziholie. The trail follows the blue marker through Baraniarky, Žitné and Kraviarske, where the ridge finally opens up and reveals the first epic views. After a difficult section, I enjoy the pleasant single track run, the nature and the surrounding scenery, until I don't even want to run back down again from the Sedlo za Kraviarskym. But if I want breakfast, I have no other choice. Following along the green trail, we roll through the forest to Stará dolina, where there's a first aid station and I look forward to a snack - well it's about time - we have 12 km and 1400m of climbing in our legs. I don't linger there for too long, I'll just have a watermelon, water and Coke. I don't even feel like eating anything else, but for now I feel full of strength. Now I know that it was a mistake - you have to eat at every aid station, no matter how much your body is protesting.

The route continues down the asphalt road and after 1.5 km we reach the blue trail that leads us to  Chata pod Poludňovným Grúňom. The path takes us into a pleasant forest with a nice incline. We meet the first tourists, families with children and dogs. The sun is getting decently hot and I have to refill my water bottles at the hut. Hikers are lying and sitting loose on the grass around the hut, debating about all sorts of things and there is a real summer ease. I envy them somewhat, but I have to continue, There is another downhill following the blue sign down to Štefanová. I alternate with a girl with an obvious knee pain - she runs up the hill nicely, but then limps when running down... She fights bravely though and eventually packs it up at Sedlo Medziholie. We run through Štefanová and continue along the classic route, which I know very well, towards Veľký Rozsutec - through Sedlo Vrchpodžiar, Podžiar and along the blue sign through Horné Diery. At Podžiar there was an opportunity to refill water, which I welcomed, since the nearest aid station will be at Sedlo Medziholie. So I fill up the softflasks and run in the direction of Diery, slaloming through the tourists, who are somehow getting denser and denser. Diery are beautiful as always, but I waste a lot of time while waiting on the ladders. I wonder why the organizer didn't run this part of the route along the green trail, where there would probably be far fewer people. No matter what, I somehow get to Sedlo Medzirozsutce, admire the Small and the Big (Rozsutec) and take a few quick photos. I try to eat some of my stash, but I think my fruit pouch has cooked and shriveled in the heat. Ugh... Without too much delay, I get on the red trail- direction Veľký Rozsutec.

I climb up quite briskly, I like this section - soon the track leads us out of the forest and beautiful views open up towards Malý Rozsutec and on the opposite side to the main ridge of Malá Fatra. The trail is rugged and full of interesting and technical ascents and descents. The ridge of Veľký Rozsutec is dotted with brightly colored Fatra flora, knee timber and rocks. One feels like in the middle of a beautiful rock garden, but a bit bigger, well 😋 I fully enjoy this section, I'm loving it, I feel like being here and now at the top of the world, flying high, when I suddenly switch off. Click. Nothing. All strength and energy is gone and I even feel nauseous. So I better slow down a bit, take a breath, and I know that I'm probably running low on sugar and am slightly dehydrated. From above, I gaze longingly at Sedlo Medziholie, where from a distance I can see the shelters of our refreshment station and a handful of small brightly colored ants-like dots around. I envy them. I still have a long way to go to the top of Rozsutec and an unpleasant descent down through gravel and rocks. The turn to the pass is about 100 meters before the summit and I'm in a quandary because I can't remember whether we should turn immediately to the left towards the pass or should we go all the way to the peak and back. So I go straight on along the path towards the peak cross, what if there's some secret checkpoint up there and I'll be disqualified due to missing. I wouldn't survive this. Although, it is questionable whether I am going to survive today in general. Besides, this is one of the peaks that I like to reach 😅 I've been up there several times and I always like to go back there. However, I miscalculated a little, because one hundred meters is not the same as one hundred meters. On my one hundred meters there and one hundred back, I guess I was delayed for half an hour thanks to the density of tourists, who could not be easily bypassed on the narrow trail. There was no secret checkpoint up at the top, or at least none of the crowd sitting and laying up there pretended to be. I went up there for nothing. Nevermind. I may be hungry and dehydrated, but at least it will take me longer to get to the next aid station 😄. But the views from the mountain were worth it.

I want to get the difficult descent to Sedlo Medziholie over as soon as possible, but I am progressing carefully. I don't want to unravel on the stupid gravel. After a while, the path is already pretty firm and runnable, so I take a second breath and hurry to the aid station. The volunteer scans my chip off and I rush to melons and coke and water. I don't want to stay too long because I know I'm already going very slowly and I'll have a lot to do to chase the cut off limits. I unfold the poles, take one more watermelon triangle in my hand and head up the Stoh. Up the Stoh I go and I don't, so I set the autopilot and surrender myself to fate and inertia.

The downhill to Stohové sedlo is very nice - on this sunny and warm day the trail is beautiful, dry and welcoming, but I cannot imagine running on it after heavy rains or a downpour. It would probably be more like a great mud skiing, or skidding😂 On the way up to Poludňový grúň, I meet fellow runners who are riding an endorphin wave, pupils dilated, teeth grinning with laughter, every step there's a photo and a witty catchphrase. So I'll take a sniff too and the wave carries me to Grúň. Up on the ridge it's beautiful there, as usual. I follow the path through groups of tourists, meet some barefoot ones, and still have the strength to enjoy the views. Steny – Hromové – Kopiská – Chata pod Chlebom. I approach the crowded hut. A group of our volunteers cheer me on like I'm at the UTMB. They are amazing. They write down my number and I get another endorphin rush thanks to them. I run over to the table with food and drinks, Lydka announces that I'm doing amazing. I don't agree, but am too tired to argue with her. So I stuff myself with watermelon, guess I can handle some banana too, fill up on fluids and move on. There are still 19 kilometers to go.

The sun is already setting, the colors are softening, the whole nature seems to be dimmed by the early evening light. From Chata pod Chlebom, I continue to Snilovské sedlo, up below Veľký Kriváň, through Pekelník and Sedlo Bublen to the top of Malý Kriváň. The number of people has decreased, in fact I hardly meet anyone. I enjoy the solitude in the mountains in the early evening, even though running isn't easy for me anymore and I am advancing mainly by force of will. I find out that Malý Kriváň is not malý (small) at all and that the thirteen kilometers to the finish line are still damn too much, they will be long and hard AF. At the top of Malý Kriván, I let myself be carried away by the distance for a while and perceive the strange feeling of infinity, of being here and now. The feeling when one does not want to go down and return to ordinary reality. The feeling when one perceives the distance already covered, when one looks at the ridge run only a few hours ago, but now it seems so far away.

Equally distant seems to be the trail that still awaits me - to Sedlo Priehyb and under Suchý, there somewhere down below is Chata pod Kľačianskou Magurou and the last aid station on the track. So I start descending from Malý Kriváň. I can't even run downwards anymore, I can barely intertwine my legs and hardly breathe. But that can't be said for the girl who has appeared out of nowhere and merrily overtakes me, jingling her bear bell as she runs briskly down the track, as if she didn't care. She probably didn't care anyway. I can see by her bib color that she is a 100-er, so she has trice as much distance ahead of her. How is it that she is so fresh, why is she running so fast as if she has only done five kilometers? And why does her bear bell ring so cheerfully? That's not fair 😡 She runs far ahead of me, but thanks to her I at least don't miss the inconspicuous turn from Sedlo Priehyb to the yellow trail below Suchý.

I look behind me and high above there, the not-at-all-small Malý Kriváň rises majestically and stands out beautifully in the setting sun. I snap a photos and sigh, then continue cursing and thundering along the unpleasantly weathered traverse. One really can't run anymore and they put this in the way! Finally, I enter a picturesque forest, through which winds an almost fairy-tale trail. Soon I'll be at the hut. Any moment now. I feel an influx of energy and I'm already catching my fourth breath, running through the woods and around every turn expecting to emerge at the hut. But still nothing. The lowering sun flashes like a strobe light between the trees right into my eyes, I'm probably starting to hallucinate, where every tree stump in the distance is actually a bear cub and suddenly a whole flock of bear cubs is swarming around me. I'm just waiting for their furious mother to appear from around a bush. So where the hell is the hut??? (I actually used another unpublishable expletive 😜). I am jolted out of my despair by a noise approaching, signaling the presence of the long-awaited final stop. I catch up with a group of other runners. I arrive much below the cut off time with ease and the volunteers inform us that there are still quite a lot of 50km runners behind us on the track. This fact encourages me somewhat and gives me the boost and strength to fight and not give up in the last six kilometers. At each refreshment stand slash checkpoint slash aid station one lightens up and gets infected by the happy mood of the volunteers, so much that he can fly on this energy for quite a distance. Encouraged, we embark on the last steep descent, which is exceptionally unpleasant, full of large stumbling stones that get in the way. It's a challenge for tired legs, they have a lot to do to hold one up and running.

The group scatters, some going ahead, others lagging behind, but the important thing is that we are all getting closer to the finish. Above Turčianske Kľačany, we have to turn onto the meadow road, run through two or three more meadows, not to get lost in the streets of Lipovec and hit the Gazdovská pub, where we are greeted by the finish arch and the corpses of runners who have already finished, resting on the benches and on the grass around. However, no one pays attention to approaching runners. I cross the finish line, some kid scans my chip off and takes it from me, the organizer congratulates me and writes down my number and finish time. It is 19:04 in the evening. Running time 13 hours and four minutes. I am tired and the feeling of euphoria is not coming. I am not satisfied with the time, I realize that I went into a caloric debt and I felt exhausted two thirds of the way. At the same time, I am happy that I did not give up and fought until the end. I get a nutritious instant noodle soup from a volunteer and eat it to the last noodle with relish then head to the hose to wash my muddy feet. While waiting for the minibus that takes us to the starting area (most of them have their cars parked there), I admire the 100-ers for whom Lipovec is not a destination, but only a checkpoint and a refreshment station in the middle of the course.  Let alone those who set out on the one-hundred-and-eighty-kilometer course today. I myself wouldn't be able to go any further. For me and many others, today's pilgrimage ends here, the minibus takes us back to Terchová. I get in the car, tired, and drive home in the dark. And that's it. The End.