UTT130 When Things Don’t Go as Planned ....
After the amazing experience of running 65 km with my best friend in 2023, I couldn’t help but look with a bit of envy at those who signed up for the full 130 km ultra around the same lake. So for 2024, I decided: I’m doing it.
To be honest, I also signed up because I didn’t get a spot in any of the bigger marathons that year. The race location was the same around the lake, starting from Tiszafüred in Hungary.
But this race didn’t go the way I imagined.....
It started with a nightmare journey. On Friday, while driving to the race, we got stuck in a massive traffic jam on the motorway. We nearly missed the bib pickup, and barely made it to check in at our accommodation. There was no time left for a proper dinner, so we grabbed whatever we could find at Aldi and ate in the room. By the time we packed and prepped everything for race day, it was late and I got only 3–4 hours of sleep.
My Garmin said my body battery was at 39. I felt it....
We struggled to wake up, rushed through everything, and headed to the parking lot to assemble the bike. While we were still setting it up, I suddenly heard in the distance: “1 minute to go!”
I had no choice but to leave my friend in the parking lot and sprint to the start. I arrived just as the runners were taking off no warm-up, no focus, just jumped into the crowd and started running. Again, like in a previous race at Brighton, I was thrown into it unprepared.
This time I was more disciplined. I ran at a much slower, more sustainable pace but the lack of sleep was affecting me. My heart rate was higher than usual the entire time. Still, I managed to stay strong until the 42 km mark.
But the weather was brutal.
Unlike in 2023, the 2024 race was scorching hot over 35°C and the humidity was through the roof, since we were running beside a lake. It started to take a serious toll.
As we approached 65 km, we made a tough but clear decision:
We weren’t going to finish the full 130 km this time.
Maybe we could’ve reached 80 or even 90 km, but then what? How would we get back to the start? There was no point pushing through for the sake of it.
Around km 62, my friend biked ahead to inform the organizers that we’d stop at 65. When we arrived, they quietly waved us through the finish line no big announcement, no ceremony. Just a silent end to a very long day.
And honestly? That was OK.
We went to a restaurant afterward and had a great meal. Despite everything, it was still a good memory a real adventure with one of my closest friends.
It wasn’t the finish I’d hoped for, but it was still one hell of a ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment