ULTRA FATRA 2020 (57KM / 3500m+), Harmanec - Ružomberok, 25.7.2020

 So it happened, that in the middle of 2020, the COVID restrictions were released for a while, and I mentally started preparing for a proper  real race, in real time, in a real place, with real people. Not those virtual concoctions out there. I've also slowly forgotten what such a real race atmosphere tastes like with all the emotions: fear, worry, joy of meeting running partners, pre-start jitters, post-start acid in the muscles, when nervousness turns into pure joy in the heart. Ultrafatra with its parameters of 57km and 3500m elevation is one of the toughest and most beautiful 50km races in Slovakia. The route leads from Dolný Harmanec over the entire ridge of Veľká Fatra, the finish is in Ružomberok at Andrej Hlinka Square. We take a bus from Ružomberok to Dolný Harmanec, some of us are napping, others joking about all kinds of topics and "This sex is on fire" is playing on the radio.

The weather forecast predicts storms from one o'clock in the afternoon. We get off the bus at the crossroads, it is still a few hundred meters walk to the start. I need to get myself checked quickly and go through the mandatory pre-start rituals - meet and greet my mates, check if I have everything (and if I don't, there's nothing I can do, because everything I didn't take with me to Harmanec was left in the car in Ružomberok ), pin my bib, go to the toilet and set the navigation in my watch. There is a kilometer-long queue at the ladies' toilet, so I 'm off to find a spot somewhere in nature. The surroundings are not very woman-peeing-friendly, so I crawl into the first hole in the nettle right next to the road. Apparently I can't be seen from there, because some dude picked this spot for his own use and didn't notice me at all. If I hadn't notified him in time, it would have ended in a big fó pá.

Ok, needs met, watches set, we're ready to go. Right after the start, the first steep climb awaits us along the green trail to Predný Jápeň, from which we can see the first timid views of the main ridge of Veľká Fatra. From there, we run down the green track to Staré Hory, where the first refreshment station (9th km) awaits us. The first of the peaks is behind us. I realize during the run that I haven't even covered eight kilometers yet and my thighs are already beat up. Nice job! After all, it's only 50 more kilometers to go. Phew, piece of cake 😁. At the aid station in Staré Hory, volunteers in a great mood welcome us and cheer us on like at the Olympics, spraying our hands with disinfectant. There is a feast on the tables, as always, and man is warmed not only with energy in a solid state, but also with good spirit all around. Never mind the whipped thighs. Energized, I go on, commencing the blue trail to Majerova skala, from there towards Krížna and the main ridge of Veľká Fatra. The initially boring road leads us to a narrow forest path and it's adventurous again: a delicate single-trail, the hill gets steeper and steeper, the surface rockier and rockier.

Behind Majerova skala we emerge from the forest and before us stretch beautiful views of Krížna, Ostredok, Ploská and somewhere far beyond the horizon, where we are heading. Oh, well... I let myself be carried away by the beauty of the grassy runnable ridge and the feeling of eternal infinity and at the same time the smallness of an ant in space. I get into a meditative state where I feel only the here and now. I feel that we are all part of the eternal infinity in our smallness and the energy flows peacefully.

Below Krížná we get on the red trail and fly through Ostredok, Koniarky, Chyžky and from there on the blue trail below Ploská to the picturesque Chata pod Borišovo. It can be seen from afar and further five-star feasts await us there (25 km). But damn - I'm starting to feel a kind of tingling in several places on the soles of my feet. Blisters... I actually wore new trainers, in which I had run only once before. Never mind, the pinching at least  makes me forget about the whipped thighs. The hut seems close at first, so I pick up the pace to get there as soon as possible. With every step, however, it seems to be moving away, and I feel like Maruška in Salt over Gold Fairytale, when she was filling the well and still nothing.. the water kept disappearing... the path is beautiful and runnable, though, so I don't drop my spirit and keep going inertia. Finally, the last lift to the hut and all my sensory cells focus on: COLA! And also: BREAD WITH NUTELLA!

After resting for a while, replenishing supplies and refueling fluids, the path leads us back a little. At the crossroads under Ploská we continue along the red trail, climbing steeply to the top. I find that Ploská (Flat) is not that flat from this side, but the descent to the other side to Sedlo Ploská is again pleasant, grassy, with views into the far distance. From the pass, we continue along the green path below Čierny kamen. This part of the route has a different character – an epic wild forest trail, where the animals say good night, spits us out below Minčol and leads us to Rakytovské sedlo (the southern one). The blisters are already making their presence known quite nicely. I shuffle my feet in trainers, try to change the inclination of my instep and look for the right point that will relieve my sore feet a little. However, a look ahead pulls me out of my self-pity in agony - a steep climb to the top of Rakytov awaits, which will surely test even the old scouts and so it tested me, really, too. But then follows a quite pleasant descent to the northern Rakytovské sedlo and a nice several-kilometre traverse up to the Smrekovica Mountain Hotel (km 38), where there are additional feeders with disinfection prepared for us.

The urgent pain of the blisters is suddenly joined by pain in the fistula just above the foot. I don't recognize this, it's a new type of pain for me. I stop and try to stretch my hamstrings and ankles - it helped for a little. I keep running. For a while, it's pretty good and the next minute it's not. Weakness, hunger, fatigue and slight nausea come. Guided by the experience at MF50, I pull a chocolate bar out of my bag and kind of forcefully push it inside me. It helps, the stomach calms down, the snack turns into energy and I can continue fiddling. And that's a good thing, because around the bend there's a photographer staged there and one is obliged to run in front of the photographer 😂 no walking or crawling is allowed! So I run past him with a Hollywood smile, hoping for nice photos, and one minute after that I reach  Smrekovica. I'm happy that I'm keeping up with the limits so far.

During a short rest, my body and soul warm up, so let's go on again following the green trail. This passage is very beautiful, it leads through picturesque forests and meadows decorated with blueberries. The clouds are beginning to gather above us, apparently the storm that the forecast has been talking about all along, but so far has been kind to us, is coming. One of the current fellow runners begins to ponder and recalculate the finish time. He comes up with a solution that scares me a little: we still have another 4-4.5 hours to get to the finish. I get really pissed off and say to myself - ok, you go for another 4 hours, I won't. And so I pick up my pace and run away from the group. Well, run away is rather a strong word, it's more like slowly moving away. In the end, it took me another three hours to reach the finish line. Which is better than 4 😀

Continuing along the green trail to Nižné Šiprúnské and the red one to Vyšné Šiprúnské sedlo, from there following the green again to Vtáčnik and running along the blue track to Malinô Brdo. On this short section, all kinds of paths cross each other and I almost got lost twice, but I was saved by a gentleman who navigated me from a distance behind, shouting after me: "down to the right!" or "to the left!". When he catches up with me, he says to me: "You don't have such hills for training in Bratislava, do you?" I replied: "That's probably possible, but I'm from Liptov." "How is that???? After all, I'm from Ružomberok!!!" (he really said those question and exclamation marks there and he was very surprised, that someone else besides him comes from Liptov 😂) we exchanged a few sentences, even though I was already in such a state of mind that everything irritated me and I was not in the mood for a chat. I somehow managed to control myself as I didn't want to sound ungrateful, since the man saved me from several hours of wandering over Malinô Brdo with blisters and pain in my shins, when my finish time would probably have far exceeded the 4.5 hours from Smrekovica. Fortunately, I was unbound by a run down the slope to Malinô Brdo. However, if I thought that the most difficult section - the climb to Rakytov - was over, this was way worse. The slope was very steep and very endless. My thighs are echoing, and they are pounding the blisters and shins, and it goes on like this several more times until I landed down. I prayed I was already down there. It was hard for me, but eventually I managed to run away from the gentleman.

The last aid stop was in Malinô (47 km) and the very nice volunteers were able to put energy back into my veins with their good mood. Melon, Cola, water, bread with Nutella, something salty in hand and off I go up to the last section - a difficult climb to Sidorovo and then just an easy downhill to Ružomberok (following the red track). I was mentally well prepared for the climb, I had already completed it once during other race, I knew what to expect. And so I eagerly bit into the steep rocky forest path and cut it piece by piece.

I didn't even take photos from the vantage point at the top, I rather started the last run - the easy downhill, longing for the finish line. However, I did not remember this section so well from the other race, and it surprised me with its difficulty. After all, we were only supposed to go down, so why the heck do I keep going up, then down a bit, and up and down and up again and I'm still somewhere in xxxx up when I should be down already. Everything hurts, different parts of the body are competing to see which one hurts me more and more unpleasantly. Believe me, I even burst into tears at the next stretch leading up. Well, the ridge of Sidorovo wasn't giving me anything for free at all.

However, after all the difficulties, I finally arrive at the meadow above the Ružomberská Kalvária and run along the road to the city. I studied this bit carefully on the map at home so that I would not get lost in the streets and reach the finish safely. But somehow my memory wasn't serving me anymore, and I couldn't find my way around the alleys. There were also far too few red marks there. Fortunately, I came across a group of people and they guided me in the right direction. I approach the finish line and sprint down the alleyway to the applause and encouragement of the competitors who have already finished, or random passers-by. Ten and a half hours from the start, I land under the finish gate in front of the A. Hlinka Grammar School, the organizer writes down my number, I stop my watch and let the endorphins pour into my body - it's really a drug 😁 Tears from Sidorovo are long forgotten and we just hug each other with fellow runners and congratulate one another on our performance and successful finish, share experiences from the route and cheer other finishers. This is what a beautiful day looks like. Even the threatening storm has given up and left. Dirty, sweaty, but happy, we go to eat at a nearby restaurant. The blisters lounge peacefully in sandals, blissful smiles, laughter and chill. Those who do not experience such thing, will never understand. But that's the way it is - torturing yourself for 10 hours on the track for these precious moments, enjoying the beautiful nature and sceneries, appreciating the fellowship, crisis, rising, falling and rising again. And during the whole run, "This sex is on fire" was circling round my head.