Kullamannen 100 miles - "Heaven, Ocean and Hell"

 

I had to choose to DNF after 113km to avoid complications with my already sore groin and other ligaments and tendons. I feel good and no damage is done!

 

I actually enjoyed the race up to the last part that was really muddy and tough to move faster.... 😱

 

This was really an interesting experience. To run almost 100k almost flat-ish was something I never done before. I usually choose races with a lot of climb in order to "rest" non-working muscles. Here I had to push the whole time.... I was really mad when my ligaments and my groin started to hurt after just 20k! On km 35 I decided to put my long pants on before dropping and.... WOW! From dragging myself I started running again! I felt amazingly great! What a feeling! That moment is the moment that pays off the whole race! 😁

 

I'm not sad that I decided to avoid those last 3 loops. The conditions of the trails were really on the edge and hurting myself again was not an option.

 

After all, 113k is a great run! 😍🤪

 

I'm closing this year with this race. I learned a lot and I hope that the experience that I gained will help me perform better during the 2020 season! 🏃‍♂️😁

 

THE RACE:

 

I started the race this time very relaxed. I felt no stress at all. Nothing! I just wanted to have fun and enjoy this race. The only thing that I really wanted was to see the whole course. The last part, the part where the course turns into a loop where things goes really crazy I have already seen during this summer and it was great! The trails there were both lovely and challenging.
So the race started and I started the race from behind..... listening quietly to people chatting and cruising without pushing a thing! It was actually a lovely thing to do. This time I had a race in front of me where I had no goals.... great!

 

I was enjoying the course up to the 20-ish km where my groin started to kill me. The pain was getting into my head and I started running slowly, I started to run with a poor form and that started to create other issues as well. To run many miles poorly was nothing I was ready to do! But I wasn't ready to DNF there after 30k! No way!!!
During the km35 I was thinking to get myself a pain killer or something, the suffering was irritating me a lot! But I stopped and I did something that I never did before! I opened my running bag and I took my Dynafit pants on!!!!

 

WOW!!!!

 

And I mean it... WOW! From a 7:30 pace I started "flying" with almost no effort. I started running easily after just 5 minutes! What a game changer! I was BACK!!!!

 

So I ran into the first real aid station - Ängelholm - where I needed to change my GPS tracker (the organization called me on the phone because the device failed and needed to be replaced). I got a new GPS device, some warm soup, some Coca-Cola, refilled my bottles, took my gels and I was away.... running like before! Great!
This was the first race where I was actually running nicely and effortless - well, after the initial issues with my tendons and ligaments that probably got chilled in the cold wind. I was initially running slow, but after a few km a runner with the BIB number 430 passed me. I don't know what or how, but I just started chasing him and the whole thing got interesting in the dark. I could just sit back and cruise relaxed there in the dark woods.... amazing! Thanks m8! :)
After a while I met Tomas as well. We ran many miles together chatting and having fun while running a little bit slower pace. But what the h***, we were enjoying the race... well, up until the point when we realized that we were off-course! Well, no issues there.... we managed to get us back quickly through tiny trails between proprieties and we were back running on course...

 

The Abyss Overturned!"

 

Yes, this is how I call the "mountain". That thing that is the "inferno" when things get wet and muddy! It was an abyss for many! The chilly winds, the mist, the mud, the rain.... the steeeeeep climbs - not many but after 100k in the legs you feel that alright! I actually appreciated the pain, I embraced the muddy trails and I tried to enjoy that crappy moment. Even when I needed to switch to my spare-headlamp with only 80lm! I had all under control. Even the muscles and tendons were quite.... But something was in the air. Something dark! I stopped.... I was lost! Shit!!! A wrong turn!? That is something that I hate! (later on I found out that there was a sabotage there)... That stressy and messy situation contributed that I fall one more time.... once again.... I was done!

 

After 2-3k I was back running together with a fellow runner from Stockholm. Well, we were speed-hiking, not really running! I needed to get to the hotel to get my crap together, but once we arrived there the only thing that I got was the ascertainment that I did not need to be a finisher, not this time, not today! I needed to be happy with the race, with the new things that I learned, with the feedback that I got from my body and the fact that I didn't need to hurt myself there on those loops that were really tough, potentially dangerous, tricky as hell in some parts as well.....

 

The Kullamannen race is a challenging one! You will engage both body and mind up to the very extreme to the test! You will suffer! But if you beat the beast and finish this race you will be a double winner! You're gonna be a star!

 

This time the race won..... I might return one day.... maybe.....

 

Huge thanx to the organizers! Amazing people indeed!!!

 

 

See you.... and huge thanks for the support and love that I got! You ppl are amazing!!! 🙏😘

 

N.B. I made this video with my phone! Sorry for the shaking hand!