KAT100 by UTMB Edurance Trail (82,77km / 5093m+), Kitzbühel

My first Alpine adventure

I don't even know why I chose this race in the Tyrolean Alps, the so-called Kitzbühel Alps - surrounding the Pillersee Valley. Maybe it was the "only" a 9.5 hour journey, maybe it was the night start, maybe the altitude around 2000 m.a.s.l., but anyway, I signed up and planned a vacation for us, so that the whole family could enjoy it with me 😀

I study the route, the region, review photos, make plans, book accommodation, compile the mandatory equipment (I had everything that was on the list, even a chemical light, and my backpack was full to bursting).

After the MF100 failure, I was pretty scared, thinking that I was going to fumble in the Alps, because I don't know how to run at all (I didn't know that wading, sliding and balancing skills would come in more handy...), but I somehow shook myself off the debacle and started to focus on KAT. In the end, I put the experience from the MF DNF to good use. I went with a better mindset, better attitude, determination and grit - it all fell on fertile (Tyrolean muddy) ground.

So, I'm all set, everything's ready and packed (except my swimsuit 🙈, I forgot that at home). After hours of travel, we arrive at our place and admire the beautiful surroundings amidst high green hills, distant rocky peaks, picturesque Tyrolean houses and farms - we are staying at one of them, about 5 kilometers from Lake Schwarzsee and 6 kilometers from the starting point. The apartment is great, we immediately feel at home here. A characteristic aroma is constantly present everywhere - a mix of the smell of cows and pigs, the smell of freshly milked milk, hay, haylage and other fodder. I guess the aroma soaked into all our clothes as well 😂

Immediately after unpacking, I set off on a short exploratory run to the nearest hill. I climb a steep forest path, enjoying the warmth, dry trail, shade of trees and breathtaking views from above. I'm really starting to look forward to the race, it's going to be beautiful to run in this paradise, oh (😂😁😀😆). The following days we chill, go for walks around the area, go shopping for forgotten swimsuits at the local sports store and then swim in the lake, it's amazing here. The weather is quite kind to us until it stops being kind to us. Showers and storms arrive on Thursday afternoon, the same happens on Friday. It's alternating like April weather, the only thing missing is snow.

In the evening we go to the race check in and briefing. The finish/start area of the 100-mile race and other shorter routes is alive and pulsating with electrifying energy. I greet the Liptov bunch M+M+P. Michal runs Endurance 80k, Maťa starts Endurance 80k and Pavol runs Marathon 50km. At the briefing I learn that there will be one massive muddy section on the route after 13. kilometer mark, because there are very few tourists but many cows, plus it rained a lot recently. Then, in the second climb on the loop over the two highest peaks on the route there will be a short technical section, which is not dangerous, but it can be slippery when wet and we better be careful. The weather forecast says rain all day, but fortunately no storms. I set my mind to the announced delicacies and try to take a nap before the start. Of course I won't doze. It's not possible.

Before midnight we move to the start, where the announced mandatory equipment check does not take place. The starting corridor gradually fills up, I meet M&M, we have a pre-start small talk and together, after the countdown of 10 - 1 in German, we run out into the night streets of the Kitzbühel town. I expected a frantic sprint at least two kilometers after the start, but it does not happen. The field of runners is casually jogging through the streets and on the first inclined part everyone switches to walking. WTF? I am not used to this from Slovakia 😅 I continue jogging casually and from the beginning of the third third of the starting field I gradually proceed to the end of the second third.

I'm feeling strong and am enjoying it, I'm delighted by the warm night and the stars above my head. I want to run while I can, because when I can't run, I won't run and I'll be sorry I didn't run while I could. A silent chain of light cones winds far ahead and behind me. I'm enjoying a pleasant forest trail, steep but dry, alternating with a gravel road winding to the top and intersecting with that forest trail. Before we know it we've climbed the first 1000m. It's warm and I've drunk almost all my water and sports drink. But that's okay, in a while, at the thirteenth km (after 1300m+), there will be the first aid station where I can refill everything. Yeah, sure... 😂 I didn't refill. They ran out of water and sports drink already, they only had Coke. The guys from the aid station said they had four 50-liter cans, which is 200 liters of fluids. I don't understand how they calculated that. There were 267 of us 80k runners and 104 100-mile runners. The 100-milers had already had some DNFs at this point, so let's say there were around 330-350 runners all together here. That's not that hard math. Except that it would be a hard math.

Never mind, I refill at least 250ml of Coke (I didn't have the nerve for more, 'cause it was too fizzy) and look forward to the next 17 kilometers to the nearest aid station. There was no liquid on the first one, but on the following part of the route route it was plentiful. Everywhere. In all possible forms. I bet that if I had tried a little harder, I would even have found some ice somewhere. Water in the grass, water in the form of mud, slush, swamps all around, steam, fog, slippery, damp. At first we try to find the least dismal path among that horror. One of them leads right next to an electric fence. Several of us go that way. And now let's see if the electricity is present. I slide gracefully on the slimy mud and instinctively grab the fence with all my strength. Baaang, I get such a hard kick that my hand tingles for another ten minutes. I may be electrocuted, but at least I'm covered in mud up to my ass now as well 🙈.

I don't give a damn about finding the ideal path anymore, there is no such thing here today. We all try to go however we can. Ahead of us, a chain of headlamps winds vertically upwards. We go like ants, one after the other, silently, each immersed in their own thoughts. Finally, we reach the peak of Schwarzkogel (2030m) - it's quite apt - everything here is kind of dark and spooky. There's a tall cross at the top and I say to myself, great, now that disgusting muddy section is over and it's going to be just fine. Yeah, sure... 😂 We carefully converge. The trail is muddy and slippery and steep. I shine my headlamp beside me. The dark depths of the steep grassy slippery slope blacken beneath me. I think to myself - I wouldn't want to fall down there... the next second my foot slips so much that it undermines the other foot and I fall sideways. For a hundredth of a second I can already see myself flying down that steep, dark, grassy, slippery slope. I don't even know how, my body somehow dodged it and I just fell onto the path. I feel nauseous for a moment, ugh, that was gross, what was that 😱😱😱 ok, let's go even more carefully than carefully. I try to consolidate and not think about that horrific moment, as it's taking away my strength. I focus only on the trail ahead and don't do such a stupid thing as shining my headlamp into the depths below me. I can relax only when we're at a safe height and there's nowhere to fall. It starts to rain, I put on my rain jacket.

The hope for a dry trail is dying. There is more and more water, but what is good is that we come to a stream, where everyone is refilling their flasks At the same time, it is starting to get nice here, we are trudging around mini puddles, past rocks, the hill is undulating around us and the green grass is blowing in the wind. In broad daylight it would probably be enchanting. My scared little soul is warmed. We run through the rain on this pleasant ridge for several kilometers until we finally enter into a forest, which spits us out onto a gravel road by some cable car station. Its building looms darkly into the doom of the night, empty and abandoned. The gravel road is salvation, you can finally run freely and take a nap along the way 😄 I am looking forward to aid station, breakfast, and sunrise.

After a few kilometers of leisurely, sleepy run, the route takes us back to the meadow and the forest, i.e. into the mud again. Well, I was already telling myself that I was starting to get bored 😏 Somehow we slide down between the houses and onto the asphalt. Dawn is breaking, the sky is fading. I'm at the second refreshment stop and I have 30km and 1800m in my legs. I turn off my headlamp, have breakfast, Coke, refill my water and a sports drink- it's Pedro flavored (not Pedro Pedro, but that Pedro chewing gum, the older Czechoslovak generations may remember). I check the radar - according to it, it's supposed to clear up in about two hours and it will be beautiful. Yay, I'll just be somewhere up there and I'll have epic views 😍 Yeah, sure... 😏 In Jochberg we make a small loop and run out of it along the trail into the valley. A rocky path leads through the forest alongside a wild river up the valley. It's beautiful. I like it here, this is exactly how I like it. I look at the high, steep walls of the slopes above me and wonder if after all this heavy rain one of them will decide to slide down. That would be unpleasant... because, it's not clearing up at all. On the contrary, it's starting to rain even more.

Next to the wild waterfall we cross the valley and climb up to the meadow with small farms. One can't help wondering how far those Austrians can place those farms, to what heights and inclines. Michal catches up with me, just below the third aid station. We continue together along the path through the pastures. I don't even need to mention that we went from the puddle to the mud again. Mud tuned up with cow shit, muddy water between tufts of grass, and of course, steeply up, up, up... Here, somewhere, we are supposed to start that circuit with a technical passage. We round the back of the mountain and find ourselves in a beautiful valley. You can see a big fart, but you can sense the magnificence of the wilderness that reigns here. Boulders nestled amongst the spruce trees in the blueberries and grass, from which a haze rises. We traverse to some sort of unnamed pass and begin the climb to the top of Teufelssprung (2174m). A short but steep ascent takes us up and on along the ridge to the next peak, Gamshag (2178m). There is a large cross here. Too bad we don't have any views, it would have a completely different atmosphere. It's foggy, rainy, freezing and the wind is blowing cold. It feels like 5 degrees. My soaked feet in trainers are freezing, my bare legs are covered with frostbite. My rain jacket saves me. While it's nice to have a long sleeve shirt, gloves, a buff and a long overpants in my vest, I can't imagine starting to change here now. I'd rather devote my energy to running to more pleasant heights. But the run is just like the night one, except that it's daylight and I don't have to shine my headlamp into the depths below me. I can see it in its full beauty. Sliding down a steep, unpleasant, slippery path. Michal leaves me behind, he is running much faster. We wish each other good luck and take care, and he is gone. Looking back now, I realize how incredibly nice it was to run this section together.

I'm going extremely carefully, but I still overtake a few people. I exhale with relieve only when I'm on safe slopes and not in a danger of sliding down a steep grassy (but also rocky) slope. The swampy traverse takes me back to a meadow with farms. It's raining more. The paths are more muddy. I feel like I'm wading through mud mixed with cow dung again, it's also got an appropriate color 😁 I overtake some more people. The loop takes us back to the third, or now fourth, aid station, I grab something to eat and run away. Through forests and meadows (did I mention that there's a lot of mud on the route?) after a few kilometers I reach civilization and a long asphalt section spits me out at the Life base (fifth refreshment station) in the village of Oberaurach. I'm craving coffee, but they don't have any. I don't want hot food because it's a cup of instant semi-finished product reeking of glutamate. I don't take anything out of the drop bag (too bad I forgot to pack Speedano = caffeine). I also have dry socks in there, but when I look at my feet and sneakers and see the manure, I quickly let the idea of changing into clean socks go. And it would be completely pointless, because we'll be wading in mud again on the last section. I don't linger too long, I just eat something dry, salty and sweet, wash it down with Coke and move on.

The sun has come out, for a moment, and I'm enjoying its warm rays. Oh, what a delight 😋behind the village, a photographer is huddled in a shelter. She probably thinks I can't see her, shhh... but I put on a Hollywood smile no. 5 (= trying to look as least miserable as possible) and walk proudly up the inclined road.

The road soon rises and we climb up again along a familiar path (steep and muddy) to the farms and cable cars at high altitudes. It starts to rain again, I put on my rain jacket. There is the penultimate aid station by the farms and cable cars with the same assortment as on the previous ones. They don't have coffee. I resignedly climb further up to the Bischofsjoch pass (1900m). The rain slowly stops and FINALLY, slowly and timidly, views of the magnificent scenery of this mountain range open up. Then we traverse the peaks and climb over other saddles (still a lot of mud on the paths winding through swamps and marshes). I can't get enough of the beauty and finally take a few photos and videos. It's breathtaking here. It feels like a reward, it was worth all the effort spent on the difficult sections of this route full of challenges (mud).

Finally we climb the last saddle and Fieberbrunn is in sight. The descent is a combination of gravel road and muddy trail - a bit like this, a bit like that. Here we mix with other runners from the 50km route. I take advantage of one last aid station and let's get this over with. But the organizers want us not to be bored to the last second - after running into the town the route takes us out of it for a few more kilometers, leads us through meadows, adjacent farmsteads, woods, little parks, reluctant to return to the town 😅 but everything has to come to an end sometime, and so does my alpine adventure, after all. Reaching the finish line is the most beautiful experience ever. I'll make one last jump at the end and ring the bell, that it's hanging so damn high.

I turn off my watch, get my finisher's medal around my neck and it's over. Everything falls off me (except the mud), I'm happy that I finished it within the cut off, and as a bonus I managed to get a good placement, which I'm surprised because I think I went really carefully and slowly. The mud was exhausting. Apparently there were enough runners who went even slower. The lesson is - always do your own thing, there's always a chance of a hoe shooting 😁 267 runners started (I think 46 women, 28 finished), of which 210 runners finished (57 were DNF). I placed 132nd overall, 13th female and 2nd in my age group.

Thank you to everyone who kept their fingers crossed for me, to the girls for following along and sending encouraging messages, it drove me forward. It was a great experience for me, amazing moments, getting to know new places in the beautiful Pillersee Tal region. Everything was perfect, except for one thing. I forgot to return the tracker, I even forgot to turn it off, and it tracked me all the way back home to Vavrišovo 😅