A New Adventure - The Alpine Challenge, Victoria, Australia

I like reasonable people who keep their feet on the ground in their comfort zone, who take less risks and make less mistakes. I appreciate them, but clearly i am not one of them. In some way, i am addicted to experiencing new adventures no matter how hard or crazy they may sound. Besides, I have always wanted to live abroad for some time. So, now there's little time left before I start living my new adventure, Sydney. Therefore, if i am about to start living in Australia, what comes first, i mean before finding a job, a place to live in, a car to hire, some friends who can help? The answer is ;) a new ultra-marathon to join!!! So, welcome to my world :)  

Yes, after some searching done, i came across "The Alpine Challenge". More will be here soon :)

Confessions of an Ultra Newbie –NUTS PALLAS 2016 (16th July, Lapland, Finland) Race Report

During my never ending quest for a new race to join, I came across this one http://nutspallas.fi/en/. I have always wanted to cross the Arctic Circle, so I thought it would be a great challenge for me to complete a race of 55k with +1642m/-1801m elevation. (There are also 26k and 134k categories for the same race.)

The race was on Saturday. I arrived at Hotel Pallas on thursday. I flied to Helsinki from Istanbul and then to Kittila from Helsinki. It was interesting that the plane first landed on Ivory and then to Kittila. I felt like I was on a bus. The nice French guy I was sitting with told me that Ivory is much better than Kittila and that he goes there for fishing every summer. No matter how fun his stories seemed, I had a little bit more on mind than fishing, just a 55k race on a terrain I had no idea about. He warned me to be careful about the flies. Yes, the mosquitoes that conquer beautiful Lapland in July. Flies, insects, i mean all kinds of such small creatures do love the taste of my blood. Moreover, the race organizers strongly recommended that runners carry insect repellents. Years before, I had watched a movie called “Lovers of the Arctic Circle” (Los Amantes del Circulo Polar). I didn’t remember any mentions about disturbing flies on that movie. Neither did I know that I would fall from slippery rocks rather than falling in love JJJ.

A nice girl I met at Kittila Airport told me she had come alone like me and asked the race organization to be a volunteer till the start of 55k. This was such a nice idea, she followed 134k runners, who had started in the evening on friday, on the GPS. I decided that next time I join a race, I will ask to be a volunteer if I don’t have much to do before the race.     

I had hired a car at Kittila Airport. So I decided to see around. I went to Muonio and Enontekio, nice, underpopulated small settlements in the heart of nature. The only problem seemed to be the deers that literally jumped on the road with no hesitation. Driving slowly and very carefully is a must in Lapland unless you want to face a painful experience.

Beautiful Lapland with several such spectacular lake views

                                                             View from my hotel room :)

Lapland Lakes and a poor innocent girl with no idea about future on the bottom right :)

The weather was nice, warm and sunny the day before the race. I thought the only problem could be the mosquitos, so i bought insect repellents and put them in my newly bought CamelBak hydration pack. Here I should add that the price I paid at the race center was much cheaper than Intersport shops in Helsinki. Although I had used it for the first time, it was very comfortable, it caused no problem at all. Buying it was a great idea J

As soon as I woke up on the race day, I learnt that my country, Turkey or Türkiye (I prefer the second nameJ), was going through rough times. Extreme events (by extreme, i mean an unsuccessful coup, thankfully unsuccessful by the way) involving killings of many citizens had happened the night before. I talked to family and friends, read the news, tried to follow and comprehend what was going on back there until the last hour before the race. I hesitated whether I should join or continue following the news but later i decided that there was nothing I could do being thousands kilometers away. And the more I learnt, the more my heart kept aching. The stress I had was eating me up. What would people like me do under such stress? Eat or run? I had the chance for doing both at the same time, an ultra marathon ahead of me. So finally I got dressed and joined the crowd. Being among other runners changed my mood a bit. Also, Finnish runners, actually Finnish people in general, seemed so nice and warm to me. Even my instagram friend had lent me a charging cable for my Suunto watch the other day.

It started raining heavily on the race day. The temperature had dropped suddenly. The race organizers warned that Goretex waterproof clothes would be a must to use especially at the hill tops. I couldn’t imagine how cold it could be up there. The best was yet to come J

Rain before the start (and almost until the finish)

                                                                 Some happy runners :)))

The hills on the terrain were short but the terrain was rocky. There was no other way to go than slippery stones. In addition, we crossed several swamp like surfaces. I thought of going through the sides but those places were even muddier.

Looking on the bright side, stones are your friends if the surface is covered with water and mud.

If you love running on rocky terrains, you will love the hills in this race:)

This many stones ehh im not used to :)

                                             

Climbing up 

There is a good saying “Run as good as your training”. That is exactly what i couldn’t do for the first 15 kilometers. Normally, i had started slowly and paced myself while climbing the hills but after that i got faster while trying to run through wet rocks and slimes. That’s mainly because i am not used to running on such technical terrains. Therefore i used up my energy, lost my concentration and an inevitable fall came shortly afterwards. I kinda slided through stones for a few meters and cracked a right rib meanwhile. When i got up, i heard my fractured bone say “This race is over” J

Hell yeah! The race was over but the torture had just begun. I am not a good, fast runner who can even run up steep hills fast. But at least i know i can run 50k in less than 8 hours despite of steeper hills or equally technical terrains. However, this time i was not able to run any further due to a very disturbing pain in my chest. I even thought that the broken rib was tearing tissues apart while i was trying to run. I continued like this until the first check point at around 25^th kilometer. There i was delighted to see a restroom. Something that seemed too luxurious to have at that time. Due to heavy fog especially on higher grounds which caused danger of falling from rocks and getting stuck in mud, my eyes were exposed to people peeing very close to the path we were running through (Don’t panic their backs turned of course J).

First checkpoint

Filling water at the checkpoint

I checked my chest and i was very relieved to see no blood. I got in the queue at the checkpoint, ate a few slices of bananas and filled my hydration pack. Before the race, a more experience runner had adviced me to remove kernels of dates and fill inside with walnuts. Those dates were the main source of energy for me during the race. I didn’t use any carb gels or protein bars but took 3-4 salt tablets and other 3-4 magnesium tablets totally. 

A song that played in my mind "Show must go on-Queen"
"Inside my rib is aching, my make-up may be flaking but my smile still stays on :)"

The cold weather had soothed the pain by which i could continue till the second checkpoint at the 43^th kilometer. The hills were foggy, cold, windy and snowy, by snow i mean ice cubes. I don’t remember exercising at such severe weather conditions even in winter time. A runner from the north may respond this statement with a violent laughter but unfortunately this was the case for me. I was totally wet, i mean a non-runner has to be thrown into water with clothes on to understand how wet. If i could be running, i wouldn’t have gotten such cold. All my motivation while walking was to be able to see a doctor. Because I thought there would be a doctor at the checkpoint.   

Views which make this race worth joining again, again and again :)

Where there is no fog, everywhere you look becomes a feast for your eyes... 

Small but foggy hills...

Finally i arrived at the second checkpoint feeling as if a miracle had happened. Firstly, i happened to see another restroom, again a feeling of pure luxury went through my veins J By restroom, i mean no water, no flush, no toilette paper (something we should be carrying ourselves) and so on. But at that time, it felt so comfortable that i would return to God if I were an atheist.

A Finnish sauna waiting for you at the finish line :)
Of course ones who seek more privacy can use the ones inside the hotel :)

Unfortunately, volunteers at the checkpoint told me that the ER doctor was at the finish. Though they were very friendly and they told me that someone could come to take me. Then i thought i would have to wait in wet clothes until someone came and i was freezing. In addition, I had become numb, i felt no pain in my chest and there were only 12 kilometers to the finish line with no hills left. I decided to run, very slowly but I ran anyway. In this way, I was able to see the finish line and get my medal, which i loved since it is small enough to be worn in a necklace, bracelet or earrings. Since the same organization gives similar medals for each of their races, one can even spare a jewellery set after joining a number of races J I just loved the idea. 

I just hope every medal could be this small and pretty, ready to be worn as jewellery :) 

The ER doctor relieved me by telling that I had a small fracture and no treatment would be necessary. But I would have to wait a few months before I could do any sports activities. My not being able to run was enough pain in the ass but anyway i was lucky. Because I had fallen 4 times and yet I had gotten off lightly. 

The runners could use shower and sauna facilities at Hotel Lapland Hetta, which was unbelievably relaxing. Being clean and dry again with my blueberry soup in my hand and my medal in my bag, there is no explanation that I know of to express the joy I felt at that time.

I went back to my hotel by the service bus. As for my thoughts about the race, the landscape was spectacular. The untouched nature we witnessed during the event was not something you could easily see. It was easy to follow the path, there were flags in orange color and wooden posts to show us the way. The food at the checkpoints and at the finish line was adequate, volunteers friendly and smiley.

Long story short, no matter how much I suffered from my fractured rib during this race, I believe that it can be an excellent adventure once I have accomplished enough training and I have obtained necessary equipment. A Finnish runner used to running in such terrains may not need shoes with spikes such as Salomon Spikecross or Goretex clothes as desperately as I do. But I would like to join this race once again and run more of the race this timeJ. I loved Finland, especially Lapland, meanwhile Helsinki is one of the most peaceful and beautiful cities I have ever visited. I loved Finnish people, I made friends with nice runners. 

To sum up, at NUTS PALLAS 2016, I had the time of my life JJJ

Visiting Roveniemi, the land of Santa Claus where the Arctic Circle passes through

Helsinki, one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited... 

Enjoying peacefulness in Helsinki

Beautiful Helsinki, a one time visit is never enough...

İznik Mountain Ultra Marathon 50K Report 2016

What is İznik Ultra? An ultra marathon that takes place in İznik, Turkey. For a better explanation than mine, here is the link: 
http://www.iznikultra.com/english/


İznik is a very old settlement in northwestern Anatolia, historically known as Nicea or Nicaea. The city is surrounded with ancient walls, towers, gates and ruins of mosques, baths and ancient houses which have been relatively preserved. The history of the city dates back to Ottoman Empire, Byzantine period, Roman period and even further. Even some ecumenical councils were held here in the early history of the Christian Church. İznik is famous for its world-wide known chinawares and ceramics.

Piri Reis's Galleon from http://www.iznikcinievi.com/

If it is your first time in İznik, it is strongly recommended to wander around the city center and check the local stores selling ceramics, olives and ornaments while visiting the historical tourist attractions. 

The photographs used below are taken from the event's website. The crazy girl with a pink half cap may be the author of this blog!!:)) It is not clear in the photos but after the race i have spotted a sticker on my half cap. It was a Granny Smith apple sticker?!? I have no idea where that came from but I ran 50K with it on my cap, i am such an unconscious fruit advertiser :)))

So, this race has several options like 5K, 15K, 50K, 80K and 130K. The runners in fact  run around some portions of Lake İznik whose view from air is below:

The İznik Lake

Of course, runners do not just run merely around a lake for God's sake, who am i kidding? The terrain involves many difficulties such as steep hills, narrow paths, paths right in the heart of forests and creek crossings. In short, the path is technical, i mean hell yeah technical, especially the 50K part, which is also the last part for 80K and 130K. 

So, I ran my first 50K here last weekend in 7 hours and 34 minutes. What an experience for me!!! At the finish line, I felt such an enormous self-esteem that i might have grown taller several inches, which would be nice if it were real :))) 

They took us from İznik center to Narlıca, the start of 50K so that we could run back to İznik center. There were many people around, people chatting, hugging each other, drones flying above us and an unlimited amount of selfies taken for sure. Immediately, i started to chat with people as well. During race days, i can not believe how chatty i might become. In front of us, there were the villagers staring at us as if we were astranauts from NASA. Actually, each year they are getting more and more used to these weirdly dressed running people struggling to finish insane kilometers. Soon, it was time to gather for the start. I had no excitement at all, i was just happy, very happy much like a jumping puppy. I do not know if it's from the vitamin D from the sun or the happy crowd. But at each start line, all i feel is stupidly pure joy far from any kind of stress at all. 

I started very slowly, which caused a huge pile of runners ahead of me. We ran uphill a little. The truth is i do not run uphill in general. I only run uphilll when i spot a photographer :)) There, i must have seen one. 

Some crazy runners

Meanwhile, i saw many people gathered waiting. I realized that the path down was so narrow that people had to go one by one. It was a bit boring to wait that line since many of the runners ahead of me seemed to be a bit inexperienced for the difficult downhill path. I don't know where that arrogant thought of me considering myself more experienced! came from, from boredom probably :)))

Thankfully, I could reach that path and on the way down a rock rolling down hit my calf. To the surprise of people shouting above to warn me, i had no pain at all. But my new pink BV Sport compression calf sleeves had gotten dirty!!! It is difficult to be a woman sometimes :))) I had to deal with the truth that they would get dirty and even worn out sometime, I pulled myself together and went on :))). The whole path for the race was very carefully signed with reflective markers. However, some of the villagers, especially one of them called the village idiot, loved collecting them. While we were going downhill on the narrow path, one mentioned that we should be more careful on following signs, i happened to mention this fatal hobby of the village idiot, which we had been told during prerace briefing. Suddenly, one man behind me claimed that the village idiot in fact could be suffering from autism and we should be more cautious while talking about such people. He kept on talking like that for a while. Actually, i had no idea that the village idiot could be suffering from autism and probably neither did he. But he could have a friend or relative in that condition, which could cause him to be more sensitive. Besides, the last thing i would want would be to tease autistic people or people with any kinds of such sufferings. I promised myself not to mention village idiots to anyone forever and kept on moving. 

I kept on to run nice paths. It was like a festival of different tones of green colors that my eyes kept staring at. Thank Godness, the 50K race did not involve any water crossings unlike 80K or 130K. Since i was wearing Gore-Tex Asics Fuji Trainers, i felt lucky for this.

The first CP was at Müşküle, a nice village whose inhabitants consisted of elderly women, men and children giving runners cheerful high fives. They kept giving us sincere invitations to have a cup tea. Even one of my friends told me that he entered a village home and took his time there to eat a slice of homemade pizza and to have a refreshing drink during the race :))). I love those women... 

Helpful funny pretty cheerful villagers ready to offer us tea or give us high fives!!

The volunteers were incredibly helpful and equally motivating. I felt as if i were a Formula 1 racer at a pitstop. There was a nice selection of food supplies, from very salty apples to bananas, cookies, chips, etc.   

A representative sample for the food served at İznik Ultra CP's (actually how i saw it :))

I kept running downhill and walking whenever the path got even slightly steep till i made it to the second CP, which was Süleymaniye. Süleymaniye is another nice village. The third CP was at Derbent, the third village we passed through. The three CP's were all great both in terms of volunteers and food supplies. 

While i am running, i usually think of funny videos, movies, etc. In my most recent runs, i have been remembering scenes from a Turkish movie called "Tosun Paşa", one of my favorites. Therefore, others sometimes notice me smiling for no reason but i can't help it :)

Other than the fun stuff, i check when to slurp a carb gel or to take a salt tablet. In this race, i might have taken more salt tablets than necessary. I could hardly recognize my hands. If only they were green, one could tell they belonged to Shrek rather than me. 

While i was running to the third CP, i came across a runner who was singing alone loudly and by heart literally :))) I was running behind him and heard him finish a couple of songs. He suddenly turned back and insisted that i should sing a song, too. Oh my God, he wasn't joking at all. I had to sing!!!. I was ready for steep hills, i mean ready to walk but ready:))), i had prepared for long miles but no, not a bit of preparation for singing. Besides crows have brilliant voices when compared to that of mine!!! But an ultra runner must cope with every situation on the terrain, so i took a deep breath and started singing a local song. But i changed it a little to adapt it to ultra running. He was rather shocked to hear these weird lyrics but at least he could recognize the song. At that time, I had completed my ultimate challenge, I could sing!!! Normally, i can't even sing to myself, but there i was singing loudly even with a stranger right beside me! After the race, we became friends with this guy and he told me i was a cheerful running companion. I thought he would ask me for some compensation to repair his damaged hearing ability. But no, he was a gentleman :))) 

Until the third CP, he kept on performing different attractions such as racing with village children and collecting fruit from the trees. As i was following him, I did every crazy thing that he did and had alot of fun :))) It was a great pleasure to race with the kids. It was difficult to tell who got happier, me or the kids. We had raced for only a couple hundred meters with the kids but my calves started swearing at me. Anyway, it was worth it :)

I passed the guy telling he would catch me anyway and kept running. I met many nice people on the way to finish line. I saw a couple of girls running ahead of me. When i see women running faster than me, ahead of me, I get happy since trying to follow them gives me extra motivation. The more female runners in a race, the luckier i feel. There is no point in getting a good position among very few runners. And i always keep in mind that every race is a training. So the more amount of good runners in the race, the more they contribute to our training. 

After the race next day, the event area was very crowded and equally full of activity. There i got my new running shoes, my Salomon Mantra's, which i am wearing right now :) Yep, i admit it is uncanny to wear sport shoes at home but they are clean and they look great (for now:)))

I also had time to chat with many experienced ultra marathon runner women. One of them was the famous "Bakiye Duran", the first and according to me the most powerful, the most durable, the most humble and by far the best ultra marathon runner woman of Turkey. She told us a couple of stories, which we listened our mouths and eyes wide open :))) She also complimented me, something i wasn't ready for :)). Instead of saying "Thanks", i told some weird stuff while trying to mention her strength and courage. But i am sure i sounded like a weirdo !! Soon i realized that and told myself "WTF are you talking about you wacky, just say thanks and shut the f.ck up!!! Anyhow she responded back still politely and i promised myself to just thank back next time a talking legend compliments me :)))

As for the mistakes that i have done during the race, the first is that my bag was bigger and heavier than necessary. I could have found a smaller bag that could also contain all the mandatory equipment. As a second thing about my Raidlight Olmo 8, the bottles are located at sides, which cause chaffing on my elbows while running. I should find a way to keep the bottles at the back, it shouldn't be too difficult :) Another mistake i did was taking too many salt and magnesium tablets, way more than necessary. Although there were many fountains with drinkable water on the path, i didn't use any, another obvious mistake :) Anyhow  i had alot of fun and i was able to finish as 8th among all female runners, a miracle had happened for me :)))

As a summary, i would recommend every ultra runner to experience this unique adventure, the İznik Ultra some day. I am sure you would never regret it :)))

First steps, baby steps...

   

  

Intro

Hello world :)

This blog has been written in order to witness the eerie, bizarre and equally mind boggling?! process of me helplessly trying to prepare for a couple of ultramarathons. I have read several blogs, most of them written by professionals, and i have wondered how it would be to read a blog written by a newbie having gone under the whole process. Therefore, i am planning to write as things happen until i have finished or survived the third and last race i plan to join this year.

So, i am planning to run three ultramarathons this year??!!?? Have i run one before? If not counting the 46k one that i and my friend completed with more chatting than running for about 9 hours, no i have not:))) I am a computer engineer and a PhD candidate, which together assure that i spend at least 10 hours daily sitting on my butt :))

So one would first ask where that courage comes from remembering that there is a thin line between courage and insanity. Mine may look closer to insanity for now. But my inner voice tells me "keep going, you are on the correct path". I may have to silence that voice for good soon :)

Another issue is the U-curve of courage vs. experience through which i am having fun sliding :))
In addition, I have bursitis and plica syndrome on my knees, my faithful companions!

So, let's put all the hesitations aside for a while and have a look at the races on mind.

1) İznik, 50k, April 16th
2) Armstrong Redwoods, CA, USA, 50k, May 7th
3) NUTS Pallas, Finland, 55k, July 16th

That's all for now.
More will be here soon.