ULTRA MILANO SANREMO, NON-ENDING 285 KM
09. 06. 2018
Although the UMS 2018 is listed as a race which I could participate in without support, given the mere 4 checkpoints, this option began to seem inappropriate the moment I considered participating. I offered my participation on the team to my joker friend, Peter, who brings me a lot of happiness. He accepted the challenge and the team furthermore was complemented by a female element, Jana, and the child element, with her son, Patrik. This very strong line-up later proved to be one of the decisive, success factors for the race.
One of the main goals for the pre-race period, that is to say, to sleep well, failed. A translator never sleeps … At about five o’clock, I knocked off from the office and went home, where we put all our luggage together as a whole family. Our expedition had two directions in the end - my wife leaves us in Milan and goes on to Florence, while I remain with Patrik and my team in Milan.
During the meeting, before the race, nothing essential was said, just a subtle change in route. At 17:30, surprisingly on time, the ceremony to receive the starting numbers, GPS trackers and materials began. Each participant is personally invited to step up in front of the crowd and his or her sporting results are read out. It is a survey of all sporting successes. I know a lot of people from the Spartathlon and the Ultrabalaton. Finally, I go up for my number thirteen, the waiting had been long, almost endless.
I prepared my equipment for the run itself, on one stack and put the material that I may need during the race into a plastic box. My equipment is different to the previous years. I changed a trisuit for three-quarter, elastic pants, a compression t-shirt, and a Kilpi racing t-shirt. The cap, thigh-gaiters, and calf-gaiters remain the same. The set off is scheduled for ten o’clock on a Saturday. The travel fatigue drove us relatively quickly to bed.
Part 1: Milan (0 km) - Casteggio (54 km)
I woke up around 7 o'clock in the morning. At 8.30, I had to be at the starting line, soon to turn on the GPS tracker. So I left my company to their sleep. Before eight, I squeezed into my equipment, in which I am to spend the next 40 hours. I left the hotel at 8.15 and slowly walked the 400 meters to the gate of Porta Ticinese. I'm the center of attention on the street, since they do not often see a man „dressed“ like that here in the morning. It‘s about half-past nine at the starting line, turning my tracker on and wondering what I should do for the next 60 minutes before my company were to join me. I decide to interview myself on my camcorder.
Besides taking a few photos, I wandered around and thought about what it was going to be like. The crowd thickened. Many people were wondering chat was going on and when they find out that we were running to Sanremo, some of them tapped their foreheads, a sign of madness Perhaps, I should have listened ... There was a countdown to the sound of the Conquest of Paradise and at ten o'clock (surprisingly on time) we all set off in motion.
I wanted to follow the strategy I had used on the Spartathlon and Ultrabalaton, which meant keeping an average pace of below 6:00 / km within the 150 miles and we shall see. In the beginning, I got used to a pace of 5:20 / km, so that I would soon be in one of the top positions. I saw Joao Oliveira in front of me, but decided not stick around him as he was something else.
As we ran along the cycle path, many bikers were passing us by. I was almost struck by one of them focusing on his cell phone rather than watching the track in front of him. It was my first moment of profane language. There were to be many insults as we continued. When it seemed that the deadening straight line was to end after the next bend, there was another. As the silhouette of the city of Pavia appeared before me, and at the beginning of the 28th kilometer, I met up with my team for the first time. To stave my appetite and add energy, I had a Cola drink.
An unexpected crisis arrived. I still hadn‘t run the length compared to my Saturday training, and I had a stitch in my side, with back pain, feeling queasy, and with little energy. I have never been in such a state at such an early stage of a race. I even had to alternate running and walking. I tried not to panic, and I hoped it would pass. It was hot, but not as in Hungary or Greece, so there was no reason to start to panic. The crisis took ten kilometers and did not want to stop.
Part 2: Casteggio (54 km) - Ovada (123 km)
The order was not bad, but I did’t care much about it at this early stage in the race. Sitting on a bench seemed to me a waste of time, that’s why I got up and finished eating the pasta while walking. The last thing I needed was to become stiff so I left with a hollow laugh. The pasta was slowly getting into me, and I ate it up, drank and tried to run. It was hard going, but no big deal. After about ten kilometers, I decided to recharge my batteries with a hornet nectar. I downed half-litre and an hour later, another half-liter, and after a few minutes, I felt the emergency of effect and energy. I was a different person from the seventy-kilometer race. I ran pretty much all the way, nothing hurt me at this moment and I tried to shorten the service time (refilling bottles etc.) to a minimum to make the most out of my great state. Maybe it was because I drank about 3/4 of a can of Radegast beer at the 70th kilometer and it was pretty cold.
Part 3: Ovada (123 km) - Genova Voltri (160 km)
A long and difficult climb up to the Turchino saddle, the highest point of the track, was awaiting me. Appearances are deceptive. It's only 528 meters above sea level, but the climb is worth it. We ran together with the participants in the accompanying race and it was a fine mess. My company should have known me in the tangle of the headlamps. I was full and drank more hornet nectar and OS-1 and had to slow myself down from going up the hill with the others. Good condition cannot last forever. With the increasing slope and fatigue, I turned to walking. The 137th kilometer was in the form of another Bolognese pasta that my company had prepared for me.
Part 4: Genova Voltri (160 km) - Borghetto Santo Spirito (223 km)
At eleven o’clock, at 186th kilometer, I slept for five-minutes under an umbrella on a blanket, on the sidewalk, next to a road where there were many cars and motorbikes. This was exceptional for me, but I expected a short sleep would fuel me up and I really felt very refreshed. We weaved our way through the little towns along the serpentines among the rocks. The road was narrow and dangerous; you did not know when a car or motorbike would rush out from around a blind corner. It is well known what kind of drivers the Italians are. It kept me at least in a high state of alertness. The sun gained strength and burned us a lot.
Part 5: Borghetto Santo Spirito (223 km) - Sanremo (285 km)
I went to the toilet and asked for hot tea. It was late afternoon, the temperature had dropped and I shivered with exhaustion. I lay down on a deckchair and asked for a wake-up call in fifteen minutes. Then I addend another five minutes. I kneaded my thighs and ordered a pile of pasta, again without anything.
The hot tea made me feel superb. During my rest, several runners had run past the station, but I did not care if they stayed or overtook me. I wanted to go on, but I realized how cold I was, so I lengthened my stay at the station.
Goal!
I replenished my fluid intake for the last time. I was like a flow heater: what was going on inside, was immediately going out. My body could no longer take the fluids. The bottle in my hand was like a fetish, a friend whose hand I could hold. I ran along a wide cycle path to the finishing area. Competitors had more than an hour leeway, three runners were in front of me, which I could theoretically catch up with if my legs did not get too numb.
At 6.30, I got a message from Martin Hokeš: Fight, with a little effort you have the chance to draw ahead of six people! It seemed impossible to run faster, so I "sprinted" 50 meters and went 50 meters. The last 200 meters. I turned to the beach, took off my softshell jacket and adjusted my hair for the shooting at the finish line and I ran under the arc at 45 hours and 30 minutes in at tenth overall.
A feeling of great relief overwhelmed me. Despite all the difficulties, exhaustion, and occasional megrims, I had shown a stout heart and reached the finish. I got a medal and a compulsory photo shooting followed.
Evaluation
I have achieved two-thirds of the goal set for this race: to finish the race and to end in the top ten. I did not fulfil my third goal, to do it within 40 hours. There is still enough time for analysis before the Ultra Gobi race, but there was a lack of acclimatization- we had arrived just before the start, with lack of sleep from the previous days and weeks and perhaps too long between training during which my body grew lazy. The positive side is that, despite all the difficulties, I never really thought I would give up. The pain and exhaustion had been under control and I had eaten and drank a lot.
I would like to thank, more than ever, my company for their support. Without the incredible care and devotion of Peter and Jane and the help of my son, Patrik, I would not have seen the finishing tape. Someone recognizes real determination in emergency situations, and my company showed its determination to the highest extent. Thank you with all my heart. Last but not least, I want to thank the Kilpi brand, who equipped me with its clothing.
You can find out more information on my blog http://www.norseman.cz/?p=2998