Beauty of finishing the fourth

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It is raining again and the muddy trail gets soaked even more. My attention in a sharp focus on the tricky terrain rather than the charming scenery of the nature reserve Grybla where I am now in the middle of the race. Deep in the woods I don't care that the temperature descended close to the zero, but once I get to the open hilltops the wind bites me with frost. That's alright! Anyway, I should be more concerned about the broken lacing holes on my left shoe. The very first mental challenge of the day. My unfailing Hoka Mafate betrayed me badly while lacing them up tight, just before I got to the starting line. No matter what, my brains have already shifted to another diversions. I am keeping my fourth place on the course and I am resolved to push as such to the finish.
 
 
Hungry and hyped I entered for my first running contest of the 2024 year, ultraPUNKtrail Pyselsky kopecek of 81 km distance and 2 500 m elevation gain. The round course winds across the runnable hillocks of the picturesque region south-east from Prague, with the start/finish in the small town of Pyšely. The top cherries are the climbs to the two lookout towers with the checkpoints. The trail race can live up to its name and be really punk once the April weather plays its tricks. For sure, it does play them every year.

There is that usual stuff on the way which some might call a strategy. Again I stick to the same routine: letting the sprinters dash away to pick them up along the course later into the race, enjoying random chats with the fellow runners, a gulp of GU gel every 10k after three hours of running, a banana at each refuel station. On that background, I am trying to relish the trail as much as my concentration on its tricks allows. The trail diversity is a part of the amusement. I run through the refreshing forest greenery, on a verge of the steep slopes, up the stony paths and down the slippery muddy trails. These make the story of my run complete.


And then comes beauty of finishing the fourth. Not as a dropout from the lead, but as someone born from the middle of the pack. Someone who shares company and parts of the experience with others along the course and then pulls away. Someone closest to the top of the race, yet detached from it. Someone in a place where the major driving force dwells for an evelasting run. I finished the 2024 edition of ultraPUNKtrail race Pyselsky kopecek in 8 hours 30 minutes.

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