The Next Level - Sugas Race

Actually this title is the polite version for A New Level of Holy Shit! Because that’s exactly what this was. I’ve seen my friend Bogdana and some others going to these mountain races and as I have always rather enjoyed the mountain, I figured I need to try it. They all seemed so happy in the pictures, and smiling with a great landscape in the background – I mean how hard can it be! Treacherous little bastards! They mislead me! Haha

So I decided to register to this race back in August before I got my infamous “entezita” – namely a deep muscle in my right ass chick decided to hurt like a mofo. And it so happens it’s a muscle I use for walking so I couldn’t really take a break from using it. The treatment I got initially for about two weeks did nothing. So I went to a trauma surgeon next and he prescribed further anti-inflamatory pills and this spray to “refrigerate” my ass so it numbs the pain. I spent two weeks and a half without training which was a killer. And I worried some more knowing that I’d be doing a lot of walking in my one month vacation. Eventually, when I first started running in the States, the pain was bearable so I managed to train quite decently. Even participate in a local competition scoring my best time ever on 5k (3.20 miles), namely 24” 16’. And then, right when vacation ended, I pushed my 23kg luggage down the stairs and I twisted that muscle again – I felt the pain slash through my back! Oh man! The relay was days away and I had just done it again!

Regardless, during the relay – a phenomenal experience by the way! – it did not hurt a bit, in fact I managed to come two minutes earlier than my usual time. Still, after the entire ass chick-fright all month, I figured maybe registering for this hiking adventure wasn’t the most sane thing to do. The trauma surgeon did say that I could climb the hills, sure. But coming down would make me bite the dust with pain. How excitingly motivating!... if you know what I mean. The thing was, one of my good friends, who is a passionate biker, decided he’d like to participate in a running competition. And as he is not keen to run on flat terrain “cause it’s boring” and he is a mountain lover, he concluded this race would be the perfect combo for his first try. Now, Bogdana – the friend who told me about this race, said, "it’s not the easiest, but not the hardest either”. I guess she was talking in her terms of expertise…. !!!! So, eventually, I let myself convinced to go for it. I did not run the entire week after the relay to make sure my “entezita” does not flourish in any way.

Because both my friend and I were working (his name is Vio), we decided we’re going to leave early in the morning on Saturday and arrive there on time to pick up the racing kit and… race. It takes about 4 hours to drive from Bucharest to Baile Sugas were the race was happening. The day before I managed to convince his wife to come with us so she can keep us awake on the road haha. So I got my stuff together the night before. Running gear, clothes to change, a few energy bars and hydration juice, a hat just in case, my running watch, my portable cell phone battery and MP3 player. Now all I had to do was wake up at 3:15AM and get ready for the road.

Of course I could not go to bed early, what do you think? Dracula’s daughter is incapable of doing that even when the times and circumstances require it. So after about 5 hours of sleep, I woke up, put my running gear on, got the backpack and I met my friends downstairs. No-bo-dy anywehere! It’s Saturday morning, 4:00AM. 20 minutes into the ride I realized I had brought everything BUT my ID and I knew those people wanted it when checking us in. Bitch and (&^&$#*)++* if you know what I mean! I find a copy of my ID on my cell and I’m like, fuck it! It should be valid! So we continue our journey. Amazingly, I only slept for another perhaps 45 minutes right before arriving there.

My feet, well taken care of before the race. Those toes must be tied up otherwise they fight and always end up bleeding - NOT in my favor! haha Ballet consequences.

Imagine Sugas Bai. About 6 houses and one paved street. That’s it. The rest, woods, hills and a few stray dogs. We arrived about 7:00AM. Race was starting at 10:00AM and we could pick up the kits until 9:30AM. No soul in sight. Vio opened the door to the car and immediately shut it back! “Shit!” haha he froze to death. Haha. We continued staying in the car for the next half hour, eating our sandwiches and laughing like idiots. Finally a guy showed up right next to our car. He looked as if he had just woken up and was suffering from a hangover. I cracked the door open to ask where the registration party was. He showed us one of the houses further up so we decided to finally face the cold outside and go register. Registration happened without incidents despite me not having my ID. So now I had my t-shirt, my number, I was ready. I just couldn’t bring myself about to change and go out. It was way too cold still. So I kept my warm jacket on as I roamed around looking at the competitors arriving. Wow. I mean wow. They were already ready and set to go. The muscles on some of those legs. You know, when I first raced in May and looked at the big boys from the "big league” I felt small. Considering how difficult this kind of race is, I felt completely stupid now. Eventually we went out and started warming up. We were late to start almost half an hour, but it wasn’t like I was in a hurry or anything haha.

They explained the map. Now this was new to me. There was a 10 mile race – the short one that we were running and the 24 miles one. Yeah. So they kept saying something about red and white ribbons and pink spray. What the fuck is a pink spray?! And the guy kept saying, everyone is familiar with the pink spray. No, not everyone! I figured it was some sort of marker they used to signal the road next to the white/red tape. In street racing, they use tape or metal fences across the whole length of the route. Somehow, in my mind, I expected that here, they’d have enough of that tape for me to spot it fast. But alas… I’ll tell you all about it in a minute.

That;s the map. See that last climb? KILLED ME!

Finally, we take places at the start line. We’re – I figured, more than 250 people there. 114 alone are competing in my short race. I am up front. Not that it mattered haha. People started counting. 5 4 3 2 1! And go! I was used to the 11,000 people racing at the marathon sprinting like the insane. Here, right after the first curve we started climbing so whatever speed you got out of the first 10m, you lost it once we got up the hill. Now – that hill! I inspected it thoroughly before the race and it seemed doable. Didn’t seem too abrupt, didn’t seem too long. I WAS WRONG! There was no trail, we literally ran through the branches and high grass and wet leaves up to the edge of the forest. And then into the forest. That was no trail! It was a goat fucking highway! Too tiny for 250 people to run on it at the same time. We could barely fit two of us at the same time. And no, you couldn’t run on the side ‘cause you would’ve fallen and tumble straight into the ER room from that height. And there were people using hiking sticks so I was looking for those being – possibly! – stuck in my foot ‘cause it was just too crowded! There was no friggin’ way I could run that slope either! Everyone was hurrying, pushing, moving, sliding, passing me by while I was literally dying. Collapsing. How can anyone run up that thing?! I have never even considered it! Plus, no warm up in the world would have ever got me ready for that kind of mountain climbing, Jesus Christ! Vio on the other hand, seemed in his full element, despite him never running. He waited for me once or twice. I said, “Buddy, I can’t fucking run this thing!” he then jokingly said outloud, “Woman, you’re the reason I am running late!” People around started laughing – more like choking – in between breaths.

Eventually we made it on top. I dragged. And then … then the gates of heaven. FLAT surface. Wassup biaches!!!!! Make room ‘cause Mela just came around on her turf! I sprinted! Hell yeah! Vio managed to keep up with me for a short while but then the slope went down and I went from a 10 pace to a 4.13 pace and eventually I lost him. I started warming up, my feet were burning baby! Haha. At some point I thought he was still behind me as I heard these very heavy steps following me and I yelled at him to stop running like Goliath and step lighter or he will burn out fast and mess his joints. When I look back I see a woman and I was like “Shit! Sorry! I thought you were someone else!’ Pfff hahaha. I had stuck my number on my right leg, pined it down with 4 needdles to make sure it stayed on but with the sweatpants stretching on me the damn thing broke lose and I had to stuck it underneath my wind coat so every time I past a check point I had to tell them my number out loud. Suddenly, we end up on top of this hill where I can see the entire village underneath. The slope going down was so steep and so uneven that I started doing the math on how I’m going to break an ankle going down while speeding. Because of the rain, the water had dug a canyon through the middle of the dirt road so there was no way in hell you could run on anything flat. So I kept jumping from one side to another whenever the surface was way to jagged but because I always went left, the slope was always at my left side so at some point I stepped wrong with my left ankle – my good ankle! – and twisted it! Mother***** It like hurt. And every time I’d step on it in the exact same position it would hurt again. By this time I was down to 7k (4.6 miles). So I figured, I need to watch my step if I want to finish with both my ankles intact.

I had trained for a while in the park while in the States and had noticed my right ankle – which is my bad one – to dislike it, because I had to flex it all the time with the wholes and stone and sand and whatnot in the way. So this is what I feared most. Plus, the doctor had warned me about my ass chick going insane when going down slopes. So I made it to the bottom of the hill, through the small village, across the street crossing the village – with people staring of course! I mean seriously. You have all these nice looking warm hearted old people, born and raised peasants, working their land, gathering their crops, with horses tied to the tress around and here you have a bunch of bright color weird looking people running through their corn field! What the fuck?! I could read it on their faces “don’t they have anything else better to do? We could surely need a helping hand to gather all this corn if they are looking for a good work out!” haha. And they were right. It crossed my mind that I have been raised in places like this and as a child I never pushed myself to run for miles up and down slopes unless my cow ran away mad chasing other animals. And now, at 33, I am volunteering to hurt myself through forests and mud wholes and God knows what else was ahead of us. Funny how life evolves isn’t it?

So past the corn fields, we exit at the end of the village where the first recovery and hydration point was. I would never do this in a race on asphalt because of timing. But here I just didn’t care. I stopped and had a glass of water and a slice of orange then off again. Most of these runners had water and energy bars with them. Bogdana gave me her pouch to carry all that with me. But I didn’t take it eventually, because honestly, I can’t drink or eat while I run. I am too focused for that. After that point, we started climbing. The following 5k (3.20 miles) were all about going up! **** my life! I sort of ran the first part. And sort of ran the path through the forest. There weren’t many people left around me. I didn’t know what that meant. For a moment there I thought I was a complete failure. And it was different than the complete failure I felt I was when running the first time in the half-marathon. I knew that eventually there I’d recover and do well. Here, I knew that there was no way in hell I could actually run that friggin’ slope for 3 miles continuously. It was just impossible, I wasn’t trained for that! Eventually, half way through I stopped running and just walked. So I dropped from a pace of 5:40 to about 10 even 12. When this one guy who ran with his chocolate Labrador called Athos caught up with me again (he was also carrying a small backpack!!!!!!!!!!) and says “What are you doing?” “I can’t run anymore.” “Why not?” “I’m not trained for this. This is my first hiking race.” Let’s remember I ran together with this guy and pretty much the same group of people for the entire time. He said, “It’s ok. Small and fast steps. Come on. Follow me!” Easier said than done, brothers and sisters! But I did it. I did it until we got out of the woods. Then I had to walk again. He went ahead. And that dog, he was a chubby little buddy and yet he was there to run 23 fucking miles! Holy Shit!

Now this part right here. The second half of the climbing strip was HELL. Let me say that again. HELL. We were out in the fields, no trees, on top of the hill with the wind blowing 250 miles per hour!!!! I froze to death half of the way. I couldn’t feel my legs anymore. My hands had swollen and were red. And the slope was so steep I had to push down my legs to push myself forward. It’s like I used my own legs as walking sticks haha. Because I wasn't running and I was sweaty from before I cooled down and I froze completely. I put my hood on to keep the freezing wind to go down my neck line and freeze my back. And then up some more on a sandy road and I was literally, I promise you, literally, a step away from giving up. I walked, struggling against the wind looking at my shoes drowning in the rising dust. And because my wind coat was so flimsy and thin when the wind hit against the side of my head the noise in my ears sounded like I was in a tent. It was so friggin’ weird haha. Finally I made it on top. The view was beautiful. Splendid autumn landscape with the village set at the foot of the hill, smoke coming out from the red chimneys, people looking like ants in the distance. I reached for my phone in the back pocket of my jacket. I realized I could not bring my fingers to grasp the zipper, that’s how frozen they were. I gave up. Now we were back on flat terrain, unfortunately, I was so numb and cold I did not think it was possible to defrost to such a level where I could run again. But I did. Slowly at first as we got back into the woods, than faster as we got inside and the wind was deviated by the trees. And suddenly mud wholes. Huge mud wholes covering the entire surface of the road. There was no way to avoid them so I went in pig style, trying not to slip and fall. My panties were already soaked wet, I didn’t need the extra muddy moisturizer! A girl in front of me slipped on the muddy grass and fell to her knees! Oh boy! That’s not good! I watched my step looking how the mud invaded the blue of my shoes. Bye bye color! Hello mud! I past the mud volcanoes and I went back into the woods. Second hydration check point. I was so thirsty by this point. The only one time when I truly felt thirsty. I gulped down a glass of water then ran away. Literally haha. The forest grew darker and fallen dry branches were everywhere. I stepped on some, jumped sideways to avoid others. Eventually I stepped on one a little too hard, it broke and somehow twisted to hit me in the right leg! Auch! AUCH! The distance on my watch said we’re about 1km (2 miles) away. A girls passed me by and I asked her to confirm. She said the trail was actually longer, about 4 miles longer. What?!! That’s not what they said on the website! The people at the next checking point confirmed it.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ___(&*&^%$(*)__ !!!!!!!

Slope down. Wohoo! Let the legs run! I warmed up again, but, suddenly I was all alone in the woods. Where did everybody go? I realized the races had split. The long race runners had turned right and I was supposed to go left. Follow the pink spray remember?! The red/white tape was placed here and there up on the branches and I always kept my eye out to not miss a turn. I was literally running around all by myself in the woods. The slope got again very abrupt going down. It was in the middle of the day but the forest was so thick that it was quite dark under the trees. I couldn’t see rocks from leaves and roots anymore. Especially when you’re running so fast and your eyes are “bouncing” with the image. Normally, it’s not healthy to run down a slope with possible wet leaves and an obvious danger to slide and fall. But this is a hiking competition right? The roots are so many and so clustered together there is no way you can make a huge step above them. It felt a bit like the military training where you are asked to run fast jumping through tires. I was afraid to step on one because at that speed perhaps my ankle would take a wrong turn. When the roots were done, the roller coaster went even more abrupt, only that this time we had stones. Small, large and of different colors, brought down from upstream by the many rains falling through the woods. Placed randomly along the path, more or less embedded in the ground, I didn’t know which ones were safe to step on and which ones were shaky. Not a lot of time to guess! So I kept going left-right-left-right, slamming on the breaks at every step. My leg muscles were so tense you wouldn’t believe it. By this point my ass right chick started making its presence felt. Oh hell no! Suddenly, I started hearing the cheering from the people at the finish line. That gave me wings! I wiped my eyes clean – they had dried up from the wind and everything was blur! – and rushed down decreasing my level of cautiousness to almost 0. I heard some heavy steps coming fast from behind me. This skinny not very tall guy past me by at such speed with limbs throwing in all directions like he was broken or something and I was wondering what kind of steel joints he had to be running mad like that!

Out of the woods and back on the same hill we first started! The grass, the leaves, the branches. My shoes were tangling in them. I knew there was someone behind me. She had tried to catch up with me for a few miles. I hadn’t even looked back to see whether it was a boy and a girl. I realized I needed to take my number out from underneath the wind jacket. As I opened my zipper the damn thing, torn from the sweat, fell to the ground. I missed it and continued running. Then I realized it’s not on my chest anymore. I turned around and that’s when I saw this girl passing me by and my number tangled on the grass. I ran up and retrieved it and as I went down my friend’s wife started shouting at me as she was snapping pictures of me trying to catch up with the other girl while holding tight the number in my fist. I took her again and I know she was struggling a bit to keep up the pace with me. We were a curve away from the finish line. I stretched my hand to her and said “Come on!” And she took my hand, that was so awesome! We were both frozen! We ran down the last mile hand in hand and crossed the finish line together. A huge hug and a good laughter followed right after they hanged the medal on our necks.

I limped my way back to my friend. As usually, the moment when I stop running my as chick hurts. I grabbed something to eat and some apple juice on the way. I needed sweets!!!! I spent my time telling her how insane everything had been. I was trying to release the pressure on my swollen feet but my fingers were so cold I couldn’t really untie my shoes. It took me a little while. About 17 minutes later her husband (Vio) showed up the slope! We went to cheer as he ran down his last 2 miles! He had made it at an incredibly good time for someone who had never done this.

So, considering my wet ass and muddy shoes I took a minute to go change. I wanted to take a picture of my feet but they were gross! haha. We spent a little bit more time to cheer the last coming racers in the short race, Vio changed as well and then we got moving to Brasov where we had some well deserved lunch - I was famished! haha After being sick in the car - I have motion sickness especially after having been through so much effort. And by sick I mean they had to stop the car on the side of the road for me to get some fresh air, then I managed to take a nap until we got to Brasov, then I was fine. Sleep solves it all with me. Because I never really have enough of it haha. We got home in the evening. Took a long hot bath. I was so frozen even warm water seemed too hot. haha.

By 10:15PM I dropped dead. Couldn't even keep my eyes open. I spent Sunday making tea, putting anti-inflamtory cream on my front muscles 'cause they hurt like a bitch. I managed to clean the house at snail speed haha. Sitting down reminded me of pregnant women during their last month when they have a hard time breathing. Only that I had a hard time tensing my muscles haha. 

So that was it with the Sugas Race. Am I going to do it again? Yes. It was strange enough and hard as all hell, but motivating. Plus I have always loved the outdoors. I need to learn how to run up slopes. That's it. The rest I'm fine with it. But, I won't do it again in this kind of weather. I'd rather get a tan and a possible sun burnt than a major flue and pneumonia. God all Mighty that was cold! haha

So go out there and try something new. Remember, Mind over Matter. The Matter will try to make the Mind think it cannot do it. Deceit! You can! Only that it takes time and it is your mind and your matter, so make them collaborate!

Have a lovely warm week! Mela out!

Mwuah