Ultrarunner's notes

 Celebrating spring with a winter run for a good thing     Anyone who knows me knows that winter ultras and I don’t get along too well. I’m a lizard — I need to bask on warm rocks, with sunburned skin and heat on my back. I once ran a winter hundred — Letecká 100 — but back then a wild spring was raging, so I basically dodged all winter conditions 🤷‍♀️. So when I heard about the 10th annual ALS run adding a brand-new 65 km route, it didn’t even tempt me. Late March can be tricky — mostly cold — and I wasn’t about to risk trudging through snowdrifts on a ridge, slipping down icy slopes of Kozí Kameň, or shivering for endless hours. The past three years, we’ve helped at aid stations in Batizovce or Spišská Teplica, and I assumed this year would be the no different. Then one day, I got a message from Mirko Hollý telling me I should go ahead and sign up and not to worry about the aid station - they’d handle it. I politely declined at first, but well… the idea was planted...

 The year has come and gone and I again got the desire to complete our Winter Ultra in Liptov again, which we ran with Katka last year as part of the virtual Kysucká 100 (read here: K100 2021 Virtual with Katka ), but this time I wanted to go to Poludnica and I didn't want to miss the top of Demänovská hora. At the same time, I exchanged Smrekovica and the dense descent of Trail Smrekovica with a speed of 2 km/h for a popular hill rising above Liptovský Hrádok, called Zapač. Katka hasn't been much of a ride this year, so I'm thinking about who I would lead to vicious trails (it's all bears out there - last year at this time they were already up - and lots and lots of snow). I approach Karin and Janko F. and I don't even have to persuade them much, they immediately get hooked and enthusiastically agree. Karin will go with us for first - a shorter circuit, and Janko promises me to come the whole route, saying that when we descend from Demänovská hora, he will probably...

 "Kati, K100 Virtual, fancy joining?" "Sure!" In two weeks: "Kati, I have a foot and heel injury, I'm gonna be out of training for at least two months.. 😔" "And I'm in (Covid) quarantine for two weeks again..." "Ah, ok... let's forget about that." The following week: "So I'm rehabbing and strengthening the foot.. and it's 80 percent better!" "I'm going for a (Covid) test on Monday, if it's negative, then we'll go on the 13th!" And so we went.    Since we wanted to comply with the (Covid) current measures and regulations, I am planning a beautiful course for us within Liptov region, hoping that the trail will be runnable and won't be covered with a meter deep snow, neither with any ice. I have several alternatives ready in my head that we can use operationally, depending on the conditions on the given day. I love planning running trips 😀 I'm sending a mapped route to Katarína ...