The Most Beautiful Thing 2012

        “Damn!! Wikipedia let me down this time” I thought when opening the computer after I finished the second edition of the Sabah 100k Ultra Trail Marathon in Borneo. There was a lot of things going through my mind in last few hours, but none of it counted with the definition “An ultramarathon is any sporting event involving running and walking longer than the traditional marathon length of 42.195 km”  But let’s start from the beginning J

         By coincidence I entered the 2011 edition one year ago, by even bigger coincidence I won that race and as a consequence I had a free entry for 2012 edition, so I kind of had to come this year also. But that was not a problem because I wanted to come! I felt more experienced, stronger, faster and prepared. I was looking forward to be running again though all that beautiful landscapes along rivers, in the jungle, crossing hanging bridges and small villages and I was ready to learn from the past and give everything in those couple of steeper ascents I knew I had problem last time. I was ready to enjoy even more than I did last time J

          Few months before the race day when the course was announced, because I was really busy I barely noticed that there had been a major route change due to some landslides and that the course became “a bit” hillier! “Yeah…second part will be tough with these three climbs, but should be OK” I chat in a good mood with my friend Ford at the prerace briefing. “If it doesn’t rain…everything gonna be fine!” we closed the discussion and went to sleep. I fell asleep still with a sweet smile of someone who doesn’t have a clue!!

          The next day, on a beautiful and fresh mountain morning below the majestic Mt. Kinabalu, it didn’t rain, but while watching the opposing mountain side with a road winding up, I finally realized how serious some of the local climbs can be. The initial worries were quickly forgotten in the prerace rush and when many racers recognized me and wanted to take a picture. Btw: Having my race video from 2011 being played on a big screen in the briefing room with people pointing at me standing aside saying “Look…it’s him!”...simply nice J

          “BANG!!” And all 350 (140 from 100k category) runners were on the go. My strategy was a bit different this time. I knew that last time I lost a lot of time not running up the hills and running downhill slowly, so I wanted to change that. And I did! I started in the lead of the whole field for a short while going my planned pace, which was “This is a pace to achieve some good result. I will go like this as far as I can. I can always slow down later J” I’m not sure if this a good ultra marathon strategy, but it works for me! Soon I was passed by few 25k and 50k runners along with two 100k ones. “No problem” I said to myself, because the second part of the race strategy was “When I get to the half, I’ll see what I can do next”. And with Ford we watched them run away.

          The course gradually climbed to its highest point among the cabbage fields right below the Mt.Kinabalu around kilometer 15. There I was in my realm. Running sky high on a thin technical trail winding between the fields and farmer huts with a towering mountain on one side and a bottomless valley on the other was like from another world. Without thinking I speeded up, left Ford behind and enjoyed the flight not paying attention to countless small but steep ascents and descents along the way.

          Runner’s mental state is very fragile and any even the smallest disturbance on annoyance can shatter it into pieces, which are really hard to stick together again. And with your mind goes down your body, your performance and speed! And such small stone fell into my mind just before kilometer 30 and it started an avalanche.

          Almost at the bottom on one particularly steep descent, which I blasted down still in the spree from the fields, I overlooked the next marker, stopped and looked back if I had not missed any turn. “Man you are wrong!! There was turn for 100k runners at the last checkpoint. I’m doing 25k!!” a runner behind me shouted. In such moment, when you are set for running only, you are not ready to perform any logical thinking which would say that it is impossible to miss a big signboard with such information, so I cursed the markings and started climbing back up. Obviously in couple of minutes I met Ford and all the other runners coming the same way!! This time I cursed myself for being stupid and started running back again. But it was not the same happy run anymore.

          By the time we reached CP3 at 30km I was sixth and running slower feeling every steep descent taking toll on my muscles and tearing more pieces from my shattering mind. On the route profile the almost 10km descent to CP4 looked mild. In reality it was a strenuous steep slope on a wide gravel road with a view of the opposing same steep climb. When I reached bottom at 38km, thoughts about the course and meaning of such race were bubbling in my head and when I started climbing the same thing up again, they reached the boiling point!!

          I like running. I don’t like jogging or walking, because I like to run! I like to feel the speed, the movement, the freedom only running gives! “THIS IS NOT A RUN!! THIS IS NOT A MARATHON!!” I screamed though the forest while slowly walking up the hill like I had 50 kilo backpack on me! Further I got more serious my thoughts became. “I’m doing this for fun right? And this is no fun at all. I’m just destroying my body for nothing!” After some more sluggish climbing my stream of despair reached its very bottom. “I don’t have to do this! There is absolutely no gain from it. The second half is even worse. No piece of flat ground to run at all!! Only walking up and down again because everything is impossibly steep! And even if I win the free entry for next year, I don’t want to come to do this again. Finish!! I QUIT!!” and I was 90% decided to stop and drop out from the race when I reach 50km checkpoint. But sometimes things are not as easy as they seem J

         I was still going on the sixth position in that time. I thought I was, because I didn’t pass any of the runners who passed me before. “Hi there! What are you doing here?” I asked in awe the guy coming suddenly from behind who was the first to pass me at the beginning of the race with his buddy. “Yeah shame!! We got lost”. “We???” I thought realizing that the second guy had to be also behind me. So I was going on fourth then. I thought I was, because to my further surprise when in ten minutes I reached CP5 at 46k I was third! “Ford got lost too?” I couldn’t believe my eyes. And the crown was put on top of it when in another 25 minutes at CP6 at 50k I was second!! All guys got lost except one I saw around 20 minutes ahead.

          “Yee…gogo…you are the winner…you are my favorite!!” I’ve heard an older lady shouting when I was entering the CP6. I don’t know if she really knew me, but in that time I believed she did and together with the fact that I was second I sat down, opened my drop bag with the gear for the second half and realized “I just cannot give up now!!! It just wouldn’t be fair from me and to the others!” And I was off again within a minute. And once I was on the following super steep and long descent to the next valley I relieved “Giving up from such reasons is actually not an option at all!! I would be cowardish and not within a spirit of racing! And I’m not like that!!”

          After 5 hours and 50 minutes I was on the run again and there was no turning back this time. So I had to start racing…again!! And that I know definitely better than giving up J But because my legs were in pain and I was pretty tired, I had to pull some aces from the sleeve to have chance to defend my second position and maybe even close down on the first runner. “I don’t like to do it, but once I have it…I’ll give it a try” and I swallowed a painkiller pill I prepared for the cases of emergency. I guess there is a reason why some racers use it, because it helped and together with the new impulse after starting the second half I pretty quickly descended into a valley which looked like the deepest in the world.

          When the slope finished, I virtually landed on a small wooden bridge, “recovered” on ten meters of flat surface and started climbing the same 30% slope back up on the other side! Simply insane!! And like this it went with small variance basically until the end of the race. Wherever there was a flatter bit I tried to run. But in condition like I was in, it took me around 500 meters to get the legs moving and switch from stumbling giant stride to a slow run. But by the time another impossible ascent or descent came, which I had to walk through, so after that I could start again!! Frustrating, exhausting, annoying, boring!!

          One small upside was around kilometer 70 though. After climbing up another skyscraper trail I ended up on only mild sloped forest track cut into the side of the hill top. I decided to pull my last ace in the sleeve and put some trance beats on! And because that bit was almost 5 kilometers long I built up quite a pace. Suddenly everything worked as it should! Enjoying the run though the forest, waving arms in the rhythm of the music and suppressing by my speed the pain of fatigued muscles and falling off big toes nails! I even started to think “If I manage to run like this, I can catch him”. My appetite lasted until I landed on another bridge after CP9. “Does anybody think this is normal!!!” I shouted into the void of the late afternoon, lost in between towering mountains. Pure despair! I managed to run a couple of bits more before the CP10, but there I was out of my second breath completely.

          “I took him down from 40 to 25 minutes” I said to the marshals. “If I can run now I still have a chance”, but I simply couldn’t. And with the nightfall I conceded to all my race ambitions, calmed down and just moved forward across more ridiculous climbs and descents. But I were still moving ok speed in comparison to the others somewhere behind, because at the last checkpoint 4k before the finish I was still second. I was expecting some drama like last year when I was caught 1k before the finish and had to sprint for the win, but nothing happened. And I was there J

          I actually don’t remember much how I felt when I crossed the finish line after 13 hours and 41 minutes of continuous movement though the bestial Sabah terrain. But for sure I was happy J Happy that it was over, that I finished second in international competition of experienced ultra runners, happy that I survived, but the biggest happiness was that I didn’t give up! I don’t know when I finally learn that giving up if you still can go and have a way to finish is the biggest of defeats! It feels easy at the beginning, but its weight will fall on you hard sooner that you think and you will regret big time! It’s just not a way!! I was lucky this time J  

           I was thinking that the correct definition of an Ultra Marathon includes only running, but as Wikipedia says, walking 100k is also an Ultra!! So I guess the organizers are right, although they should better call their race “Sabah 100k Ultra Trail Marathon – The Kneecracker J”

         I won a free entry for 2013 edition, still a lot of time, but I think I would be up for another Highlander Challenge J Funny how you quickly forget and collect all your shattered pieces after it over!! By then…see you in the trails!

“Kiteboring” – Search for the perfect spot

          Kiteboarding is an amazing sport. With its unlimited range of things you can do when you are tight up to a kite and sliding your board though the water or air it’s really a sport for almost anyone and everyone finds its own style of kiting. This is when we are talking about you and kite only. But there is the third and essential element which makes all of this possible…the wind, the sea and the environment around in general!! And to be honest, there are better and worse places when you can go kiting.

          So what are the perfect conditions then? Empty one meter deep crystal clear lagoon with absolutely flat water and constant steady cross-onshore 20 knots wind. Kiting in such conditions makes you forget about the surroundings and concentrate on just riding, jumping and tricks…and each session will be pure unforgettable pleasure. But as it is always…nothing is perfect J

          I have been kiting in many places. I learned in Dubai on a crowded deep beach with straight onshore wind blowing all beginners right back to the shore. Far from perfect. Then we were going to 200km far shallow empty beach, but wind in UAE in general is weak so many times we didn’t even inflated the kites. Far from perfect. I also went for a week trip to Hurghada in Egypt, which was supposed to be great spot, but there was no wind for a whole week. There is plenty of wind usually…just a bad luck. Far from perfect anyway.

          Then I moved to Qatar. Kiting on shallow lagoons with small waves in 16 knots wind with little gusts is actually very good. Pity that the wind is unpredictable and if there will be one week of wind and one month of nothing! Almost perfect.
          But then you hear the other talking about amazing places around the world and feel like you just give it a try. So I went to southern Spain kiting on open sea with big broken waves and medium gusty wind. Getting used to the new conditions took me almost whole trip! Average.

           On the way back we stopped in southern France to kite in 35knots on lagoons with pretty gusty wind and small waves. Not being that tired and having more time for finding the right lagoon, I think would have been great.

          And because my dream of kiting in a perfect sport still lived, with Jitka we used August Islamic holidays and went for a week trip to Sri Lanka to kite on mirror flat water with steady strong wind. That is what we have been told!

           Kalpitiya is a village in the middle of nowhere 3 hours drive north of Colombo. During the summer monsoon season the strong winds blow from the west into many closed lagoons along the shore. Because there is little tourism the accommodation options are limited, so we paid pretty high money for staying right on the beach in a bamboo wooden kind of kite camp resort.

           Shortly said…if you expect too much, you often get disappointed!! And it started right when we came and they put us into the room behind the kitchen and toilet and the first night when we heard through thin wooden wall everything from the last guy finishing his beer and going to pee to the first cook to start preparing the breakfast and going to pee. Then we moved to a semi protected space in the first floor of the kite centre, where wind was blowing in though curtains and holes in the wooden walls. After everyday breakfast of toast bread, marmalade and egg, not even a shower corner built from palm leaves and shower tube hanging from a palm tree in the middle could surprise us! All of that luxury for only 55 USD per person per day…fair deal! I was kind of expecting that…Jitka a bit less!!

           All of this would be no problem for me if I could waste myself kiting and die in the bed after whatever dinner they serve. The first two days was almost like this. We launched from the hotel 5x5 meter launch spot with wind often dropping to zero and landing your kite on a bush and rode one kilometer to the other side of the lagoon onto the sand bank. The only tiny flat spots just behind the sand bank were always occupied with others or school so I was riding outside in small waves and only little gusty wind. But I had fun for sure and managed to learn some new tricks. Jitka had less fun because she was struggling with her 7m in wind on the low end. Swimming murky water didn’t help her at all!

          I was still expecting that super clean steady wind to some, but instead we got something what I’ve probably never experienced yet. Gusts ranging from 12 25 knots and lasting for a minute easily!! In conditions like this even riding on the flat water over lunch time when everyone left to eat, didn’t save our mood from dropping. There is not much fun on waiting with your 9m kite for enough wind sitting in the water and then once you ride and airborne being tossed back down in another gust! The last two days the wind even almost died in the afternoon, so our frustration was complete! Time to leave this “Kite paradise”

          Fortunately we planned also for a three day roundtrip around Sri Lanka culture sights, which saved the holidays. We hired a van and went cruising through ancient cities full of spiritual peace. And it definitely replenished us with some fresh energy and we enjoyed all the dense green jungle with standalone rocks in the middle, wandering around white Buddhist temples and ruins and going though busy local market streets or multi-religious districts of the capital Colombo.

          We were leaving…well…torn apart. On the other hand we were looking forward to go kiting to our desert wind, but on the other hand we wanted to stay and go explore Sri Lanka more, because we saw a lot of potential in the parts of the country where we didn’t go…understand it that I’ve heard about a great kite and surf spot on the east coast J

          So the search for the ultimate kite spot is still on!!! But next time no gambling…straight to Mauritius J 

It’s mostly about running!

          How can someone possibly end up in the race where you have to run 230km? I guess it is probably not far from how I ended up on the start line of the Al Andalus Ultimate Trail…

         “Hey Jiri…do you want to run with us the Dubai Marathon?” my new colleagues asked me in December 2008, just two months after I moved to UAE. It was actually only the 10k race running along the full marathon, but still…even though I was doing all kind of sports my whole life, I’ve probably never run 10k in one go, not mentioning my experience with running itself: “Running just like that? Just for fun? What is that?” So my obvious answer was of course: “OK…why not!”J The race was in a month so I started to train a bit outside my house in the desert doing 8k loop three times a week.

          And somehow I liked it so I kept running even after the race. And I kept running more, running faster, running further, running in the night, running in the day, on the road, in the track…just for fun! More I was running, more I was enjoying dashing though the moonlit desert, moving in the rhythm of chillout music, washing away all the day stress, calming down and filling myself with new fresh energy. I was free…I was out J

          Also more I was running, easier it became and stronger I was, so in the next years I did some more races with twice Dubai Marathon, Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge or Borneo 100k Ultramarathon as the highlights. And I was daring for more! “Man!! This is actually gonna be mostly about running!!” my friend Milan told me during one of the two pre-race rest days in Manzanil hotel in Loja. “Man!! I’m afraid you are right!!” I admitted with laugh, but which died out immediately…because he was damn right!

          Al Andalus Ultimate Trail is an extreme race where in five day stages you have to run in total 230km through Andalusian foothills which are much bigger and steeper than you might think and when you add Spanish summer temperatures way above 30°C you are facing a real challenge comparable with legendary races like Marathon Des Sables! But because I’m not the only one who likes challenges, 40 other runners stood on the start line of the first stage on one nice sunny July morning.

Stage 1: 39km, 1330m elevation gain

          I knew that this was a different race than 100km or even 100miles at once. AAUT was basically five separate marathons with rest between, so the strategy had to be different also. And as I understood it, if you want to post a good result you have to basically run as fast as you can run a regular marathon, because you assume a complete recovery during the overnight sleep! OK…a bit slower than that because there are hills…a lot of hills J

          And I started just like that with fair pace, trying to keep up with the lead and using my fast uphill walking the initial steep 10k ascent to stay in sight of the top ones on 6^th place. When I reached the CheckPoint 1 on the top of the hill I felt great, so I just ran through the CP without refilling water and started descending. I left behind Jose on 5^th and for a short while moved ahead of Tommy to 4^th, just 20m behind Victor on 3^rd. Timo and Argi were somewhere in front.

         But after around 10 minutes I felt that my strategy has one major flaw…and it was running downhill!!! Qatar is flat and soft and together with riding a bike a lot it somewhat simulates running uphill, so no problem there. But I do absolutely nothing even close to substitute and train the movement and muscles for running downhill!! So after those 10 minutes of pretty steep down slope I started to feel my thighs and I knew that my chase was over. If I wanted to stay in the race I had to reconsider my pace and ambitions! I slowed down and soon lost all four front runners from sight completely, but I was still running and moving forward.

          After the CP2 at 20k another disturbance came…the electrolyte. When running in such heat you have to drink something more that water and keep refilling all the salts and minerals you lose by sweating to not to cramp and run out of energy. The organizers gave us some super-concentrated drops of electrolyte to put into our camel bags. But because it was so concentrated it was very easy to overdose! The taste even in the right amount was horrible so you can imagine how it tastes if there is too much! Exactly…you get sick and you want to puke!
         So the last 15km of the stage I was really not feeling well. Muscle pain, stomach sickness and the initial disappointment with my performance were swirling in my head when I was stumbling towards the finish. Running on the sun in almost 40°C was the smallest of issues. Of course that Jose closed on me about 3km from the finish, but just in the right moment the finish town popped into sight from behind the hill and gave me that extra push to get there 5^th, 4 minutes in front of him and with time 3:51:29.

          When drinking ice cold coke, cooling my feet in a bucket of water, eating fresh water melon in the shade and watching the next runners finishing I thought: “It was actually not that bad run! It had to be OK if I finished 5^th” And more I was thinking and pondering about it when doing a self-massage to my sore legs I realized: “Man…what the hell you want? You wanted to finish in Top 10 and when you are fifth you are not happy? With such little training what more do you want? Everyone else things it is good result, so it has to be! So let’s fight for it! Race is still long and anything can happen…so let’s enjoy, race and have fun!” And trust me, once you tidy up in your head (and throw away those damn drops), everything is much easier J

 Stage 2: 48km, 1640m elevation gain

          The second stage promised to have some single track sections high in the mountains, which I was really looking forward to. The scenery so far was amazing. Steep dry hills scattered with white rocks, ancient stone cottages or villages on the slopes, occasional bunch of green trees breaking up the silent image of wind playing in the yellow grassy meadows and winding road cut into all of this. Breathtaking! But it was the road which soon started to disturb the feeling of running peace. It was just too wide, too flat…too boring! And when something gets boring, you start focus on something else...like pain, tiredness, or distance from the finish…which makes the run definitely less enjoyable!

          That’s why I was hoping for the most technical trail possible where you have to focus on every step, because every movement is different from the previous one and I feel that all the coordination of legs, arms and body balance is giving me energy instead of taking. I forget about everything around and just enjoy the fly J

Unfortunately the really technical section in this stage was just one 5k crossing of a rocky ridge after CP2 at 20k. The four “PROs” were gone in front so it was again between me and Jose, who was just behind me. We are equal runners, only our strengths are the opposite. He is good downhill and slower uphill and me the opposite. So the technical uphill section let me open a gap and lose him from sight. The run down the goat path from the ridge top, jumping from boulder to boulder and taking sharp corners on the soft and super narrow dirt trail was I think the best section of the whole race!

          But it was short and soon it was changed again into wide downhill forest dirt road cut into a mountain side. It was also already in the second half of the stage so soon I was struggling a bit to keep decent pace on the long way down to the valley.

           “Wait a minute!! I haven’t seen any markings for a while!” I realized and started looking around. I ran another two or three minutes and when I haven’t seen any pink tapes hanging on the trees I turned back and ran to the point where I saw them for the last time. Of course that the well marked track went to the left and for some reason I turned right!! “No problem. It’s just 10 minutes lost!” I tried to calm down and continued running. I tried to focus more on the markings and keep my head up, but soon I was again heavily stumbling down a steep forest road feeling and also watching pain in every step. “Not again!!! There should be marking on this intersection!!” I said helplessly. There wasn’t, so I had to go back again just to see well marked turn few hundred meters backwards. On the third CP I got confirmation of what I already knew. Jose didn’t get lost that many times and was ahead. How far? I didn’t know. I didn’t see him!

          The rest if the stage was long, mostly downhill, so I was running slow and struggling. Close to the CP4 at 40km mark I lost couple of minutes again on a wrong turn and ran out of water. “Great!!” I though while walking back. “Jose has to be at least 20 minutes ahead now. That’s going to be really hard to run him down on the next stages!! If I thought it is going to be easy to keep ahead, I was terribly wrong!” But still, even with this defeatist mood I kept moving as fast as I could.

           And not giving up paid off again, because after two kilometers I saw Jose few hundred meters down the road J Such a relief flooded me that at the river crossing just in front of the CP4 I slowly took off my shoes, stood for a while in the cold stream closing my eyes, sat down at the CP, had a cold coke and relaxed with a cold towel around my neck. “The last section is a steep uphill. It’s not going to be 20 minutes” I smiled.

          And it was way less than that, because with the time 5:34:49 I finished 6^th just two minutes behind Jose.  The fight was still on!

Stage 3: 39km, 980m elevation gain

          This was supposed to be a rest day, but for obvious reasons it was not J The four leaders set up a fast pace right from the start. Jose stayed with them and I was slowly falling behind worrying that like this I will have to speed up too and leave my comfort pace. False alarm, because at 10k they started REALLY running and immediately shook off Jose back to me J

           And like this we were playing “Cat and Mouse” the rest of the stage! I passed him on the uphill and he passed me back on the downhill. Exciting, challenging, but also frustrating: “When I will finally get him out of my sight for good!!” I’m sure we both thought. I felt my chance on the steep section just after CP3 at 30km. I was usually walking up fast all steep hills, because I was only a bit slower that other people running, but was saving more energy. But when I started running uphill I was usually way faster than others.

          There I did exactly that and quickly left Jose out of sight. The following flat section on the ridge was a pure running pleasure in the cool breeze surrounded by great views and bright colors of white stones, blue sky and green trees. Unfortunately after every uphill comes downhill. All pleasure was gone and I had to push myself through my downhill muscle pain to feed my chances of staying ahead of Jose. “Man!! You are incredible!!” I said desperately when he caught me just on the bottom of the hill.

          I followed him keeping close behind and waiting for a chance to attack for a win. It came 2km from the finish when we turned from the road onto a narrow forest trail and it gave me wings. I leaped forward sprinting up the grassy slope, jumping over big roots and running slalom between trees. That energy I gained in the forest was enough to get me to the end of the stage gaining another 2 minutes of my precious lead!

The winner took slightly over 3 hours to finish the stage. It took 3:32:59 to me, but I was happy. Good time for a trail marathon, good running, good race J

Stage 4: 67km, 2031m elevation gain

          Shortly said: “The stage of truth”. For everyone! The four leaders were within striking distance from each other. Jose was just 4 minutes from me. Plenty to fight for. And if there was anything major to gain or lose, it was going to happen there. Three big climbs and the last 20k on the shadeless road in the biggest afternoon heat was promising a big challenge. To my surprise I was not feeling more tired that after the first day. The opposite. I felt great, relaxed and ready J

          The initial off-trail run on the dry river bed followed by a narrow and overgrown trail across a ridge up to CP1 at 10k was fun. I almost kept pace with two escapees Argi and Victor trying to open a gap on Tommy and Timo taking it easy. It was a long stage so everyone had different strategies. My fifteen minutes of fame on the 3^rd position ended just after CP1 on an asphalt stretch where T&T train passed me and as a present they brought Jose! Fortunately soon started a beautiful 10k forest path full of sharp turns and steep slopes along the shores of a blue lake and I was able to leave Jose behind.

          On the top of the second hill at CP3 at 30k I filled my camel bag with fresh water and ice, put on the music and moved on in a happy pace overtaking people who started one hour earlier than me. I usually listen to music only during training and during a race I run without to stay focused on what is happening inside and around me. I tried to put on some music on the Stage 3 and it was great. When there is no serious pain, fatigue or technical track to follow, the music merges with my pace and creates a mood which feels like a motor delivering speed though an escape to the void of trance beats. But sometimes it is just not enough, because there is serious pain and fatigue!

          Up to the half of the way to CP5 on the top of the mountain ridge and through a cool forest valley it was beautiful running full of energy and optimism. Even more joy confidence I got on the hard ascent to the CP5 at 50k. “Yeah…another photographer!” I thought, rose my hand and smiled for a picture. “Strange…I haven’t seen this guy yet! And his car looks familiar…WOW!!! JAAAN…THAT’S YOU!!!” I screamed with joy when I recognized by brother who managed to come to surprise me one day earlier than I was expecting! He ran a bit with me, made some more photos and left me again to battle the rising heat.

           And then it came down the last 17k of the stage and I came down with it! It was a bit hot, but the track was just a nice more or less flat ridge road. I should have been flying, but no…not at all!! I don’t know what claimed me, but I was walking a lot, feeling muscle pain in every step...suffering…I even couldn’t hear the music in my ears! And it felt endless to get to the last CP. “You are almost there…just last 8k to finish…and it’s mostly downhill!” said the CP marshal thinking that he would encourage me. “NO…this is exactly what I didn’t want to hear!!” and I prepared to die.

           Stumbling down the steep hill reminded me the Borneo 100k between kilometer 80 and 90…shouting, sighing, almost crying and moving slowly and heavily step by step down. Only difference was that there it was in the night, but otherwise everything was like copy & paste…including the very end!

          “It’s just a question of time when Jose catches me again!!” I kept thinking even though I haven’t seen him since CP1. And there he was of course!! Around 3k to the finish I saw that red hat devil running strong downhill after me. “He got me this time” I was sure, so a bit resigned I got on the top of a small hill, crossed a little 300m long depression and looked back across my shoulder just to see Jose reaching the other side. “He looked faster…” I didn’t finish the though when my subconscious racing mind took over and I sprinted forward without thinking. “Only 3k to go…this is the chance…we’ll hide behind the hill to attack his confidence…overcome pain possible…now or never!!” quick instructions blazed through my head while dashing down though trees. 

          And the rest I knew from Borneo J Pain forgotten in a flood of adrenaline, sudden absolute focus on the terrain and the route, draining power from hidden emergency reserves, shouting “BE HERE!!!” when taking turn after turn still not seeing the finish and finally jumping though the arc with the fist high in the air!!! The last similarity was that I managed to outrun the pursuers by several minutes on few kilometers. This time it was with total 7:04:34 by 8 precious minutes…but this time it was not completely over yet J

Stage 5: 37km, 1120m elevation gain

          The last beautiful stage of one extraordinary race. I had on the 5^th position around 15 minutes lead over Jose, so I just followed him closely behind to keep pressure. It was not needed, because just before CP1 his knee gave up and he had to slow down. And then there was basically nothing in front of me to worry about and I could just enjoy another beautiful sunny day in the mountains running and thinking about all that wonderful time and experience I went through in the last five days.

          Before coming to Al Andalus I knew only the big names like Marathon Des Sables or 4Deserts races. A lot of runners, strong competition, famous, recognized, beautiful…but expensive, commercial and not that friendly. I haven’t been to any yet, but my friend Milan told me this about Des Sables. Before I thought that the recognition of the achievement in such race is what I wanted, no matter that I would pay some excessive money and possibly face some bad organizer behavior. After completing a very similar event like Al Andalus I had to think about some comparisons and during my last kilometers running down mountain through quarries and orchards back to Loja where we started, I think I changed my perspective.

          In Al Andalus for fair money you get everything you need. Flexible, enthusiastic and friendly organizers arrange airport pickup, few nights in the hotel, water and support on the trail, refreshment and recovery after the stage and all the comfort and background at the overnight camp including some food, tents, race baggage transport, showers and sometimes even pool! With such service you can really focus just on why you actually came…focus on running. And the race itself is a big challenge. Many hills, heat, long distances and no annoying rest day after the “long” stage J Tough for sure and on the paper maybe even tougher than its famous brothers!

         So you feel well rested after the good night sleep, you enjoy the race and running though stunning sceneries and when you come back you go and chat with other competitors in super friendly and relaxed atmosphere, share experience and tips and at the end of the day you go all together to have a cold beer!! Isn’t that a runner’s paradise?

          I guess it is very, but very close to that! I think that if there is slightly more participants, but not too many to make it a mass event to lose that friendly spirit and more real technical sections, this event would be no brainer to come to every year!

          So after 3:42:11, which made my total running time 23:46:08, I was in the finish of 2012 Al Andalus Ultimate Trail. I finished 5^th out of 41 runners and was full of emotions and happiness! It felt great to see my brother and father in the finish and all the other people cheering and supporting the runners. But on the other hand I was happy that it is over. 5 day and 230km of running was just enough!! Definitely the best event I’ve done so far and if I can, I’d like to come back one day. We’ll see!

          Btw: Do I really want to go to Marathon Des Sables still…when I now know that things can be done a different way too J

Happily busy Qatar life

        Well…it has been a long time since I wrote anything here…but it was definitely not because there was nothing happening!! It was exactly the opposite. There were way too many things to do, that I just didn’t have time to tell you about it. OK…enough excuses J

          First of all, for the last year I was studying an online course of Project management with the University of California. I had to do homeworks, projects, reading assignments and online discussions with other students, all of which was taking me around 10 hours a week. I had to pass six courses of two or three months in duration, which basically meant that once I finished one, another started and once I even had two courses running in the same time.

          It took me a lot of time, but now it’s finished. And it was well worth it! I could probably say that it was one of the most useful and applicable education I’ve done. I just need to get the final certificate from them, which got probably lost in an envelope somewhere between USA and Qatar J

         Then there was my kiteboarding instructor career! Since January I spend almost all weekends teaching my friends and their friends how to kiteboard. Usually I have two to three students a day for two hour sessions, so I’m enough busy to almost not have time to kite myself!! On the top of that I made contact with my friend Mostafa from Dubai, we started to cooperate and I’m now promoting and selling RRD kite equipment in Qatar, which is excellent, because like this I can see many new happy kiters flying shiny new RRD kites…including myself J So you can imagine that there is much more than just tutor for two hours and leave…helping people with their new gear, giving advice after the training is finished and trying to watch the students that they are safe and having fun. Sometimes I spent 10 hours on the beach and don’t out to ride at all! But I like to do this, I like to do it this way...so no problem J

          And of course into all this there was training and going to all the races and competitions possible in the region. I was not doing as much training as I wished, because of I was suffering some knee pain for like half year and because of the obvious lack of time, but I never missed a race in anything around Qatar J And to my surprise even without much training I was still able to keep pace with the best. I guess that “The race is the best training” is true…and there was some racing to be done!

          It started when it was still too hot with a 20k MTB race in Lusail. I smartly forgot to bring the camel bag, so the dehydration (a bottle next to track obviously didn’t help much) and humid heat meant that I couldn’t compete with Davy and ended up second. Not even my new 29er bike helped. Fair start anyway!

          Next race of the MTB season was technical 20k in Duhail. I finally got the puncture proof tubeless tires…I was confident. But only until the third lap when I got 5mm rip in the tire! “Man…such a bad luck! If I put a spare tube I will be dirty from the sealant and the race is lost anyway” I thought, pumped the tire again to try to seal it and then retired from the race from the first place, because it didn’t work. Jonathan finished first unchallenged, but Davy got a wire stuck in his wheel and retired too and Ondrej got two punctures and ran the last kilometer to the finish pushing the bike! Could have been easily third. There is something on the Japanese “Never give up!

          But then I got luckier and won the second Duhail 20k race, Duhail three hour endurance race, Zikreet Run&Roll (30km bike and 10k run in the desert) and 40km Inland Sea dune and desert bike traverse. King of the Qatar MTB season?        Probably…although nobody said there would be any J

          There was also a triathlon-ish serie of races and couple of individual ones. But road cycling and swimming is definitely not my strong discipline, so no trophies this time! Aspire Friday morning serie of five aquathlons (500m swim and 5k run) just showed me that I cannot catch up on the run those 3 minutes I lose on the swim, so I was finishing around 7^th place. There are definitely many good triathletes and swimmers in Qatar.

           No better luck I had in the Al Khor sprint triathlon where I went the wrong way. The best was Dukhan duathlon where after the initial 3k run I was leading until the second half of the 25k road bike section, where a guy with tri-special bike and aero helmet flew by and disappeared and I just couldn’t find enough energy to try to run him down in the last 3k run. Second then…not bad though J But the helplessness I felt when the guy with such ease overtook me and took the race didn’t keep my mind still. So I decided to buy a cheapest carbon triathlon road bike and see if it was just because of the equipment! And I will be able to participate in all the road bike races the next season too J Woohoo!!

          And then there were the three most special races of the season. Dubai International Marathon in January was the most painful. Like every year my company signed up whoever wanted to participate and for the second time I was running the full 42k marathon distance. Problem was that that I was not training for couple of months because of the knee. So I armed myself with trance musical distraction, ordered to run fast that my muscles start to hurt earlier and more than the knee and I hoped to finish.   

         And everything went as planned. First 25k was pleasure running to the beats, then the tiredness and muscle pain came and I was finishing barely walking with legs on fire. Little knee pain was overridden! Kilometer before the finish I checked the watch and realized to my great surprise that I’m almost same fast as the last year. So I roared and put my stone legs into the last elephant sprint. 1k and one elephant roar later it was over. 3:23:39 was one minute faster that last time. Which meant only one thing…if I can be faster without training now, what about the next year with some J

          Abu Dhabi International Triathlon was the toughest one. I’m sure you’ve heard about The Ironman. This race was almost the same. 3km of swimming in the sea, 200km of cycling on the road and 20km of running in the streets. When Davy signed up and pulled Ondrej into and when Jaro was doing it, I had basically no chance than to try it also! No matter than I never swam that long and never ridden even close to 200km, not mentioning that I don’t have a road bike. Challenges have to be accepted! And at the end Davy didn’t get holidays, Ondrej got sick, so I went from Qatar alone!

          So I rented a road bike, mounted aero bars, put on my kiteboarding wetsuit and jumped into the sea. I didn’t have my own goggles, so the borrowed ones got foggy immediately, but even then I finished the swim in one hour. Then I jumped on the bike. I didn’t know how to pace 200k and I wanted to save the knee, so I started rather slowly. I didn’t have any special goal apart from finishing the race below 11 hours, so I could J. But after the first quite easy 80k lap I speeded up and continued like that until the next transition where I almost fell of the bike! Sitting 6 hours on the bike and then try to walk again if harder than I though. And even harder was to run after that. I just couldn’t! I think I walked the first kilometer eating, drinking and hoping to recover and gain some energy…which never came. I was really struggling and even seeing Jaro 200m in front of me didn’t give that extra push.

           But still…after the long almost 2 hours of slow running and 9 hours 23 minutes of moving I was there, in the finish. The feeling of accomplishment set me finally free, nothing especially hurt…I felt great! But just until I saw the overall results. 9:23:41 is a good time, but nothing special I thought. But that I would be deep in the second half of the field, I didn’t expect at all! Even if I’m one full hour faster I would still be just an average triathlete! Demotivating? A bit, but still…triathlon is fun and you can always race against yourself. So I’ll be back J

          The last and the easiest race was The Doha Torch staircase run. Just run up the emergency staircase up the 51^st floor and you are done. Piece of cake I though and sprinted up. In the fifth floor I was so tired and breathing hard that I stop for a second and thought “I cannot do it like this and if I don’t I will definitely not post a good time!” But then I just continued walking every second step and pulling the handrail as fast as I could anyway.  The way up was surprisingly quick and on the top I felt my arms hurting more than my legs. “Good exercise” I sighted catching up breath and went downstairs to get the time. To my big surprise 8 minutes and 8 seconds were enough for third place! I lost 5 seconds on the second guy and 20 for the winner. Handrail magic J It was great feeling being on the podium and in the newspaper afterwards...and a dinner for two in the Tower restaurant was just a perfect cherry on top.

          Dinner for two? That might be a problem you probably think. But not anymore! One thing my hurting knee was good for was that I went for a physiotherapy to Czech-Qatari therapy center in Doha and how it sometimes happens, if you are lucky you meet a pretty Czech physiotherapist J

    I guess that was my last excuse why I was not writing anything for last six months, but because I always wanted to, I promise that more will be coming and I will make time to tell you about it in my happily busy Qatar life J

One fine year

          Would you believe that? Another year has passed!! Another and already third year in Middle East, first full year kind of focused on racing, another year without boredom…another year of my life J

          Maybe for someone it would be an important year, because of the 30^th birthday I had, maybe even more important that the others, because they would feel they are getting old and would try to catch up with things they haven’t done yet. But this definitely doesn’t count for me!! Without my friends I would have even forgotten that I had some birthday. Btw…Thanks you guys for arranging the cake…I have never been the one the restaurant personal are singing “Happy Birthday” to J

          For me all the years have the same goal, either I’m 18 or 30 and I believe even 40 J. Do things I like, be satisfied with myself and be happy. Of course, in different years I like different things, so I do them. If I don’t like something, I don’t do it. If I’m happy, I stay. If I’m not, I go. Like this, there is no need to look back and say “Man…I missed that…I should have done it”.

            Definitely you cannot do everything you would like to do for various reasons…that’s fine too! But that’s why we have future and dreams to fix it J

          So what’s my future, my plans, my things I like to do now? I want to compete more and try to win some more trophies. Can I do it? Yes, I can…Check…so let’s do it! And what are my dreams? That I would like to keep for myself for the time being ;) Can I realize them? No, I cannot…at least not now I mean!! But it is fine like that, otherwise there wouldn’t be anything driving us forward…anything telling us what we like…anything reminding us how to be happy.

!!!One fine year 2012 to everyone :) !!!