Little Fatra "not-hundred" 2024 (57km / 4300m+), Terchová, 29.6.2024
The hell of Little Fatra
.... it is late afternoon, I am descending from Malý Kriváň to Sedlo Priehyb. The Hoštáks wrote that they would be here, like every year, and asked whether to bring me anything special. At the time, I couldn't think of anything special, but now I imagine myself being served a chilled sparkling Coke from a portable cooler full of ice and then I pour the ice down my T-shirt and cover my head with it. But no one is here, neither the Hoštáks, nor the cooler with ice. There is only hot, still air, a trail winding along a grassy slope and a knee timber, the line of Stratenec, White rocks and Suchý in front of me, the mighty ridge of Malý Kriváň behind me. The traverse trail from the saddle below Suchý, which was once used, is untrodden, indistinct and overgrown with grass like ancient memories.
Fortunately, I saved some of my water (if saving water was even possible in that stuffy weather), I didn't fully rely on someone saving my life in Sedlo Priehyb (I relied just a little 😅). I moisten my parched throat with a sip of warm slush, pass the "Stratenec" sign and plunge into the White Rocks. I enjoy the climbing, even though it's not going very easy anymore and I feel like it's taking me forever. The sun is still relentlessly beating down on my head, the backs of the Polish and Czech women are getting farther and farther away, until they are just two small colorful ants scurrying between the bushes of knee timber. Under Suchý, I am reminded of my nauseous stomach, I have to sit down and take a breath. A merciful cloud covers the sun for a moment. I sit in its shadow on a stone, wanting to sleep. I get up and continue, sit down again, get up again... from the top of Suchý I see a Czech and a Polish women running into the forest somewhere far below. I run down the steep descent to Sedlo pod Suchým and I too am soon engulfed in a silent, deserted fairy-tale forest full of dense green ferns, on which the rays of the setting sun fall, piercing between the tree trunks.
I don't feel like running anymore. I don't feel like thinking about what awaits me on the other side - and I know exactly what awaits me - a 1000m climb to Minčol, a beautiful night ridge of the Lúčanská Fatra, a steep descent to Vrícko and the final climb to Kľak. I don't feel like trudging up Minčol and sitting on a stone every 5 steps to catch my breath. I don't feel like walking a hundred years across a long ridge, I don't feel like overcoming a crisis during the climb around the Kľacký waterfall to the top of Kľak. I don't feel like it. My boiled tired head closes its eyes and accepts the intrusive thought that we will end it in Lipovec today. I don't argue with the intrusive thought or with the tired head, the idea seems so beautiful to me 😅 I will sleep at home tonight and will be functional tomorrow (haha, I wasn't). At Chata pod Magurou I ask if there is by any chance a connection from the cottage to Lipovec now. I don't even want to complete those last damned 7 kilometers to the 57km check point. Miro persuades me to think it over, in Lipovec I should take a rest, sit, eat, drink and only then make a decision (and he was right).
There is currently no connection from Magura to Lipovec, so I just walk on resignedly and internally opt out from all the races I am registered for, I threaten the world that I will never sign up for anything anymore, I am mentally givinig up my dizzying running career, even the Ultranotes. I'm just going to run in the mountains for joy. Despite the scent of defeat, I have a beautiful feeling of satisfaction in my soul - it's been a wonderful day in the most beautiful Little Fatra, which today offered us all its beauties and temptations as if on a silver platter. It amazed me again and again with its distances, how huge and powerful, majestic, colorful and diverse it is.
That morning, before six, we stand at the start, full of expectations, the rising sun and the bright blue sky promise a typical summer day. Smiles, photo shoots, conversations, fun, suddenly a bang and off we go. We run through the initial asphalt kilometers and the climb over the Sokolie ridge together with Heňa. It is already hot and stuffy and we are sweaty, as if we have been running for three hours. Apparently, a large mud puddle has been poured out on Kraviarske. So I can imagine it will be "delicious" down the Stoh 👌 (it wasn't, Stoh was surprisingly beautifully dry and pleasant). As always, on Baraniarky the first views of the Little Fatra ridge open up for us, which we will run along in a while (it wasn't in a while, and I wasn't running, but crawling 😇). The downhill to Stará dolina went by somehow quickly and pleasantly, it seemed easier and shorter than usual. I make my first mistake and don't get soaked in the stream. Actually, this is my second mistake - the first was that I left the salt in the drop bag at 57km check point (yes, it was very useful there), the Fluidex was left in the backpack that was on its way to the finish in Fačkovo (it was very useful there too), and the third bottle was left at home because that's where it was the most useful 😆.
At the aid station, I replenish my solid, liquid and cosmic energy and continue along the traverse with a slight climb to the Chata pod Poludňovým grúňom. At the water well, I refresh myself with cold water and hear a sentence spoken behind me with a strange accent: Are you okay? At first, I think it doesn't belong to me and so I don't respond, but when the guy repeats it three times, I ask if he's asking me. Yes, he answers with a strange accent identifying as French - the guy is supposedly practicing his Slovak. Apparently, his girlfriend/fellow runner advised him that this is exactly what he should ask when he wants to start a conversation with another Slovak runner. I lighten up and answer in my newly born French, that Je m'appelle Petra and that Je vais bien. He asks what route I'm taking, I say 100 (at the time I was still convinced I was taking 100). He notes that it's beaucoup, they're taking 50. We wish each other good luck and go our separate ways. I'm glad that my French training is coming to fruition. After all, I had a really nice chat with Jérôme in Terchovec the night before, telling him that I was studying a lot with Duo 😅
In Štefanová, I again refill both soft flasks with mineral water, just to be on the safe side, because it's still a long way to Medziholie, so I don't die of thirst there, and I bite into the climb through the forest above Diery towards Medzirozsutce. In Diery, I make the same mistake again and don't cool off in the stream. Kamila and déjà vu catch up with me. She always catches up with me here, hence the déjà vu. Together we drag each other up to Rozsutec. Again and again, I admire its beauty, majesty, rich colorful flora, and today, even the gently misty views. I enjoy climbing its rocks and more technical sections, admiring the colorful flowers blooming between the rocks. I want to take pictures, but my sweaty cellphone doesn't respond to my sweaty fingers. In the end, I manage to unlock it and take a few sweaty photos. Before the summit I catch up with Monika and Mirka and together we run down to Medziholie in a cheerful fashion. Today I really relish the run up and down the rocky sections. Somewhere here a heat wave starts to attack us imperceptibly and the hot air hits our faces. So far it doesn't matter.
It's cheerful in Medziholie, as always. We eat and drink, the fun is waning, but it's best to leave at the height of things and so we go. Stoh. From Rozsutec it seems huge, but you're at the top of that hill before you know it. No need to be fooled by the optical illusions of our limited perception of reality. I run down the beautifly and pleasantly dry Stoh downhill and climb up the Poludňovy grúň. At its peak, as well as on the next ridge, tens of small ants can be seen, black, white and colored. I chase a cloud that keeps eluding me. The sun is relentless, slowly but surely grilling me. I like the heat and I can tolerate it well, but today it has its limits, probably also thanks to the mistakes I've made and the consequences of which are accumulating inconspicuously but irreversibly in my head, legs and stomach. Somewhere around Steny, my stomach starts to feel a little dizzy for the first time. I slow down a bit. A cloud covers the sun for a moment and it's like redemption. But Mr. Cloud is a prankster and plays a cruel game of hide-and-seek with us.
Mirka catches up with me and together we climb Hromové and Chleb in conversation. It is beautiful here. I look around and perceive the endless distances of the huge Little Fatra. Together we arrive at Chata pod Chlebom, where the cheerful staff of the aid station welcomes us. Peťa and I wish each other Happy Name day and I go inside the cottage to use the porcelain and cool off in the sink. The water is warm. I would give anything for a cold stream in Diery now 😂 Well, we are not in Diery but on the ridge and there is no cold stream here and there will not be for a long time. Mirka carries on straight away and so we say goodbye and wish each other a nice run. I sit in the shade and chill, Sona fulfills every wish of mine and brings me soup, refills my mineral water, orders coffee. Thank you.
I wonder where the girls are. Heňa is probably somewhere far ahead - I'm sure she escaped me during one of my pee-pauses. Katka will definitely be somewhere in tow and so is Monik - in fact, she arrived at the check point right after me and when I leave, she's chilling in the shade of the aid station tent. We greet each other and a certain level of exhaustion can be seen on both of us. I meet Katka halfway to Snilovské sedlo - she's also said to be completely exhausted and especially her stomach is gone. I advise her to sit at the hut in the shade, eat, drink, and maybe get better. Actually, I gave her the same advice that Miro gave me a few hours later, but none of this advice fell on fertile ground today. Katka and Martin wrapped it up at Chata pod Chlebom. A little further on, to my big surprise, I meet Heňa. She says she's smashed up too. A few falls, the sun, the heat and the stuffiness did their job. She will also pack it in at Chata. We are actually starting an Elite DNF Club. Anyone wants to join? 😁
I'm going up, up, up towards Veľký Kriváň, in parallel with the Czech woman in the blue cap. She's currently enjoying it more than I am. Veľký (Big) Kriváň is cool, in my opinion, Malý (Little) Kriváň is more of a challenge 🙈 There should be a checkpoint at Veľký, but there isn't, so I take a selfie with the summit sign just to be on a safe side. Once again, I let myself be absorbed by the impression of the enormity of the surrounding distances and the ant-like smallness of me, a tiny little person standing up there by the summit sign. Once again, I let myself be captivated by the optical illusion of my limited perception of reality. The seemingly mighty Malý Kriváň stretches out in front of me and there's still long way to it via Pekelník and Sedlo Bublen. Well, let's get this over with. I jog where I can, where I can't, I speed-hike (more of a hike than a speed). I also catch up with the Polish woman with short hair. She looks allright, and so does her partner. There are still a handful of tourists on Malý Kriván, enjoying a beautiful day in the mountains, just like us. I have no idea what time it is, or how long the individual sections took me. I don't keep track of it. The sun is still quite high and blazing on our heads. Somewhere behind Suchý, clouds are forming and I think I heard a distant thunder. Or was it a hallucination? It's still hot and stuffy and I've already sweated out liters of sweat and kilos of minerals, like everyone else today. I really miss that third bottle.
It is late afternoon, I am descending from Malý Kriváň to Sedlo Priehyb.... and the rest is history 😅.
And how do I look back on it a few days later? The day after my DNF and vowing never to enter a race again, Facebook threw up this memory from five years ago when I ran the MF50 (read especially the part about never entering a race again 😂 )
Of course, it started to bother me and I analyze and evaluate what and how I could have done better. In the given situation, it was probably the right decision, but what and how could I have done better to eliminate such a situation as much as possible. There is more - forgotten third bottle, forgotten salt, forgotten fluidex, keep forgetting to soak in every stream on the route, forgetting to drink the sports drinks, weak motivation to continue at that moment - in short, I am just a piece of shit. Maybe it would have been sufficient to pull myself together a little in Lipovec and at least try to continue - I will never know. Anyway, I am richer for this experience, I will remember that feeling and I hope that in similar cases in the future I will be able to evaluate and process it better. It is my third DNF, but each one was different. And I didn't withdraw from the upcoming races 😅Congratulations to the runners who reached the finish line of any of the three routes, you guys are great 👊 All credit to everyone who stood at the start line that morning and ran any distance. Thank you to the organizers of MF100 and Slovak Ultra Trail for the top-notch race preparation, to all the volunteers for their amazing care. You were great 💗
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