First of all, let me say that we have always said that we have good karma and we will have an excellent weather and the whole route will be done. On the morning of the contest we were woken up by an SMS announcing exactly this. We wanted to do all the 100 miles as that... either we're finalists in 100 miles, or we're not.
I took a few pictures at the beginning, with the gust of world, we hoped NOT to start in 3 trances like at CCC, that there were a few kilometers of running on asphalt, and through a forest where there was still room, there was no single trail and I heard 10, 9, 8... and I quickly put the phone in with the thought of Seb who had been trampled by the crowd a year ago.
Until the first checkpoint I ran with Marius; eh, "running"... when I was walking, when I was running a little... I'm going to put a video to show the crowd from the beginning. But it was good here... you could at least run. But through the city, if you weren't in the first "wave" ... harder.
Around Les Houces (1012m) I find Tzale who said that he was at the concert of a local band on a stage located in the city. We ran easily, because the first climb there started to Delevret (1739m). We don't run much and we see Kilian, who I understand has moved right there. I take the picture for Tz, he does the same for me, but I find that the picture didn't come out on my phone and I think I missed the picture with him, but I think that nah ... maybe I'll catch him later in the area (what happened when I was going to Mer du Glace - haha).
After us there was a queue for pictures with Kilian :) Let's go back to our race ... as the climb started I ask Tz to take out my sticks attached to my backpack. Towards Delevret on the way up I lost Tz but a little further on, I find him on the side of the road saying that he can't anymore, that he thinks he's giving up, that he was sick from a gel from the new ones I received and I shared them with him. I get my hands on him, I think I give him a little energy and I tell him that he will recover (with my well-known optimism), to get up, to let go of nonsense. Then he comes and tells me that he has regained his composure after he throw-up. I also know that somewhere in this area, on the> 20 km climb from Saint Gervais (815m) to Croix du Bonhomme (2439m) I felt very tired, I always stopped on stones where I could sit and take another sip. of water. I talked to a Dutchman here, but I was so dizzy that I didn't know exactly what I was talking to him about. I can only say that from here I took a few days later the train that goes up to Nid d'aigle (2380) from where many started the ascent to Mont Blanc.
Around Les Contamines (1160m) I was on 1264, I'm starting to feel really bad, I don't know what I have, I also took an Overstim's gel. Up to Col de la Seigne I struggled a bit ... and with sleep, as my eyes fell on my mouth, I had "to pay" for that gel with which it seems that I was not used at all and it made me sick , I had to sleep in Chapieux and on the Col de la Seigne I was in the worst position in the whole competition, on 1961. But after that I started to recover.
So, on the descent from "Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme" (2439m) to "Les Chapieux" (1553m) for the first time in my life I was about to fall asleep running ... and more it was also in the valley ... I arrived at Chapieux at 2:24 I ate something and saw that I could sleep there. Shortly before I saw the sleeping place, I had seen a fire and a few people next to it and I was seriously thinking of going to bed by the fire a little. I didn't think too much and I went in, I set the clock to "sing" in 30 minutes and I left at 3:35 from there very rested and full of energy, especially after sleep I drank a coffee that made me serious on his feet. Initially I had the impression that I would not find people on the road and seeing a few in front I pulled hard towards them to get them not to go there alone but approaching them I kept seeing people in front and I realized that I did an excellent thing that I "reset" and my sleep does not close with the price of only 30 minutes. Slowly, I began to see more and more people in front, it was a slight climb initially, on asphalt (about 5 km) then began the serious climb to the Col de la Seigne (2507m) (about 6 km with about 700m difference level). However, the sleep at Chapieux, plus the very low speed on the descent, brought me to the Col de la Seigne in the weakest position in the entire competition (1961), although I had recovered somewhat after resting a bit. At Col de la Seigne we enter Italy and I was going to start to recover seriously from the differences from those who overtook me on the "end of France". The whole climb I "congratulated" myself in the thought that I made the decision to go to bed for half an hour and drink a coffee then, it was really a very inspired choice after which I only had to win afterwards.
From La Col de la Seigne followed a descent to Lake Combal (1964m). I remember going down at night, but I got there just as it was getting light. There were some benches in front of the tents, I got a hot soup, I put my jacket (night) in my backpack and around 6:30 we left from 1905, I was already starting to recover from the sleep at Chapieux and with the coming of the light we enter the biorhythm of the day, full of energy and with the desire to run. At Courmayeur (1192m) I stopped and ate the famous soup in the envelope and I expected to find the girls but I didn't find them initially then, when I was about to leave I found them and I stayed another 10 minutes with they in the grass. Here something very important happened for the rest of the race, namely that it was around 10 o'clock (morning) and the station closed at 11 o'clock, that is, I was one hour before the closing time of the stations, which meant that I had to shoot from here. harder not to close these posts to leave me in ... air :) The idea is that I had no idea that there are some hours to fit in, in the way that I did not think about them at all but only that I don't intend any time but to fit in the 46 hours because I knew it would be hard to cover such a crazy distance of 168km ...
Well, the fact that the girls told me this helped me a lot and from here I started the engines (although only after 17 hours and 77 km) :) well, I had problems from that gel miracle, and no more I had vomited since I was little, I think, and I didn't know what I had, but it all worked out when I got rid of that overstim's ... system. But I kept thinking that at the first marathon (MPC) about 3 years ago ... can I finish it, how do you feel this fatigue after so many kilometers (tired and on board a car) :) will the ankles last / knees, how to sleep after 2 sleepless nights and all sorts of questions like that.
Around Bonatti (2015m) I had a surprise. I was holding my breath after the climb from Courmayeur (1192m) - Bertone (1979m) and I was sitting with my head on my hand a little and I suddenly hear ... "what are you doing Mihai?" I think until I raise my head, who else will be here to meet me? I didn't think that I had written Romania on the T-shirt and I also had the number with the name on it in sight ... I looked at him, I asked him who he is, what's wrong with him there, he told me that he works there, that he also talked to Marius (who also had an Eco T-shirt - quite easy to intuit the nationality, especially if you saw his contest number with the name and flag of the country).
From there we descended a little to Arnuva (1771m). On the climb from Arnuva to Grand Col Ferret (2527m) I knew that up, I would enter Swiss soil. I was a little enchanted above the Mont Blanc seen from the Swiss land and I took some pictures.
From Grand Col Ferret (2527m) to Fouly (1603m) it was a rather dubious descent, to the point that at one point the La Fouly point could be seen and there was some noise from there but we had been running for some time, because it was down ... and I still didn't seem to get close to the checkpoint. It's as if I saw that parking lot (which I still have in mind) for about 30 minutes and I saw it sometimes from the left, sometimes from the right, I see that I did about an hour and 50 minutes from Grand Col Ferret to Fouly but it seemed a Eternity that I saw and heard the checkpoint and I was still far from it :)
Eh, in the end I got to La Fouly and here I found a medical tent where there were all kinds of people with foot problems, I wanted to take 10 minutes to close my eyes and lie down on a bed because it hurt a bit the back. After the race, when I took my backpack again, I kind of realized why ... I carried 168km of luggage ... Talking to the Swiss (in English of course), I saw that she was a girl doing massages some there and I asked her to make me too for fear of taking my quadriceps that stuck at 7500. She gave me a very good massage, I closed my eyes for about 10 minutes and in just about 20 min I left there and massaged, and slept about 10 min, I ate something.
Before Champex Lac (1481m) there appears Praz de la Fort (1151m), after La Fouly. I arrived in a small town / village and I saw at one point Praz de la Fort written on a box but no one outside, there were a few in front of me who ran easily and did not stop, it seemed to me that someone was shouting from inside like ... hey, don't you stop here? :) I also waited for those who came from behind and asked them what happened to Praz de la Fort, if someone had to "scan" us? I was a little worried but everyone said it was like Champex Lake. I wanted to go to bed for about 20 minutes and I hoped that here, thinking it's an ascent to Champex Lake, but in the end the girls will be there and I'll give them there ... and I'll sleep there a little.
I arrived at Champex Lac (1477m) around 21:30. I knew I would find Cris and Bia here. I was seriously thinking of going to bed here. I was going up through the forest and I kept thinking about how a bus could get there because it seemed to me that I was going up quite a lot (but it just seemed to me). I thought that the girls were waiting for me there and I greet them and go to sleep :) but I didn't have much to do, I had to take advantage of every minute. Initially I thought I would see them at the entrance from the forest to the tent but I did not see them there. Then they told me that they stayed there initially and 5 minutes before I showed up they changed their position. I finally found them among the "fans" and they brought a smile to my face ... it matters so much to feel supported in such an attempt that I have no words ... I hugged them and I said I fell asleep a little. Here I found out that Marius abandoned in which I had high hopes that he would have a very good time, but I think he has been pushing hard a lot lately with too many ultra-marathons and he said he couldn't even rest because of the long road by car (although only Marmota and I drove). Anyway, Marius didn't have that desire to finish the race anymore, he had set himself some times and if he couldn't keep them due to fatigue he said that there was no point in struggling in vain, just like I suffered at 7500, if I had any problems I said it didn't make sense to finish again in 30 hours and I gave up quietly :) I also know that I told the girls to stay calm that I will finish for sure in the time that I should have started anyway I am recovering from that hour that separated me at Courmayeur from being disqualified. Zsolt was holding well in front, Marmota was very well and he and Tzale were a few hours behind, but he would recover when he started some foot problems for Marmota.
I set the clock back to that magical half hour but I hadn't taken into account that two Asians (I don't know exactly what nation they were) would talk non-stop. The idea is that he looks a bit finished and she was supportive and kissed him, encouraged him or whatever, the idea is that I could not rest at all, I looked at my watch and saw that I already have only 10 minutes of sitting and I put the clock back to 30 minutes and I focused more on sleep :) I don't know if I managed to fall asleep at least 10 minutes and I didn't prolong it, I took the equipment from the head of the bed "(which was actually a mattress) and I was going to make a big mistake, I didn't go into the food tent to drink my coffee and I didn't get much sleep either, so I left thinking that I hope to start to get people like in the first break the night before. At the moment I am talking to a Swiss who is still moving a bit hard. I saw how we were starting to enter the forest that there were a lot of people in front of me, I said something like ... eh, look, the world is starting to appear. I gave a little harder then but again my eyes closed ... it was around 23:30 and my biorhythm kind of demanded its right ... to sleep. I was walking a little longer, I was still thinking about the coffee I could drink ... and yet I have an idea that in my luggage I put a dose of energy drink without caffeine and taurine but which the seller told me was good to drink it in the morning, instead of coffee. It was the official drink of the French athletics federation and I had high hopes for it. Looking for her in my backpack, I was overtaken by several other groups, as the world had already formed into groups of 10, 15 and so on. I was really sorry that I couldn't keep up with a group like that because my eyes were closing and I kept stopping to drink a mouthful of water on a stone. Eh, this drink changed my "race destiny" :) In fact, the drink and two Italians I saw just as I stood up to whip him, feeling a little more energized. The two of them, seeing me so determined, told me to go in front but I told them that there was no need, and they told me ... "then welcome", that is, they received me in their group . Only then did I understand what kind of group they formed. They were professional "overtaking" :) I started on this climb, towards Bovine (1898m) to keep a very good pace, I was overcoming all the groups that I felt incompetent to follow earlier. The first of the Italians found lateral "gaps" in the groups that moved quite hard and overtook, after him came the other and I after them.
On the way up to Catogne (2009m) I followed the example of the Italians and I overcame many groups again and I gained about 80 places and I arrived around 5:30 and I can't wait for it to light up to get in the shape of the day as I they had been tired for two consecutive nights. At Catogne we were already on 1227 and there was a descent of 700 and a few meters to Vallorcine (1263m) which was the last major stop to Chamonix. The girls said that they no longer come to Trient and Vallorcine where there were points for "supporters" and see you directly at the finish. I got there around 6:30, it was really light and I was starting to feel very good knowing that this day I was going to finish the race. I was already far from the deadline and I was also in position 1191 (but I didn't know that then) but I knew that I overcame a lot of people lately, which couldn't be anything but good. At La Flegere, the number scanner didn't work anymore and I saw someone in front of me taking pictures of the competitors and telling them that their toy didn't work and their picture was taken as proof that they were there... I thought a bit that there would be no problems because of that (at the final validation) but someone just came to me with the "repaired toy" and everything was ok :) I just drank a glass of cola there and I ran away.
My father took a picture of the live cameras at the finish. I received a message from Ady and mine, I refrained from crying, but in my soul I did it in full. It was a hard work race and it seemed like a long human life ... Thank you very much to all those who followed us, I felt their good energy sent to us! Thanks also to Mihai Orleanu, Adi Fako, father-in-law, who wrote after I finished some messages on the facebook page that moved me a lot ... Also, thank you very much Nico for being with us non-stop , you were a kind of sports commentator :) And thank you very much to the girls who helped us more than they imagine through their support (Bia and Cris). After the competition I did a few more hikes and from where I thought I would get sick of the mountains after such a race, after only 2 days I did 54 minutes on a route of vertical race from Chamonix - about 3 km with ~ 800m level difference. During this period Marmota and Zsolt climbed Mont Blanc in ~ 14 hours - Kilian style, with trail sneakers, without ice axes, corners and helmets. Congratulations to them and to the other group that did Mont Blanc the next day after the competition, especially since Tz was the only one in the group who had done the 168km of UTMB. I promised that I would not risk anything after the accident because I did not want the world to worry about me, so I was satisfied only with UTMB.
On the way back, we slept in a campsite in the Lindau area (Germany), we visited Salszburg and Budapest where we tried to sleep at "our" home in Piros but it was full and we stopped to sleep in Arad. Through the Lindau area we were walking with some Italians in parallel and we were looking for accommodation and it seems that they were the first to find a boarding house, but we found a more ... mocha campsite so people were at a party there and they were all ... drunk (German like that) ... and in the morning, normally, we woke up later too, leaving around 8:30 there was no one to take our camping money.
I understood about these locks that two lovers put a padlock on this bridge and then throw the key in the water hoping something like that their love will not unravel as the lock will not unravel (we no longer have the key); beautiful...
