LEKI JEŠTĚD 24 SUMMER — 24h relay on the trail
Last Friday, I got a voice message from J telling me that his running team was potentially looking for someone who can sub for a team relay trail race this weekend. I had 2 hours to make a decision, wrap up work, pack my things and head to the station.
I was in my worst shape ever, had not trained, but was really really desperate to get out of the city and clear my head somehow after a baaad week. And it felt like the universe was pushing me to just say yes.
So I threw in some changes of clothes, my sleeping bag and sleeping pad in my backpack and left. I got the call around noon, and was already leaving Berlin on a train at 2:50.
The event was called LEKI JEŠTĚD 24 SUMMER which took place near Liberec, a city near the German/Czech border on the Czech side. It took us around 5 hours with 3 transfers by regional train using the Deutschland ticket (at no extra cost!).
Here’s the route:
It’s a 10.5k loop and the idea is for each team to run as many loop as possible within 24h (Sat noon till Sun noon). Teams could consist of one person to five people (I think) and our team was 4 people including me.
We stayed at Hotel Praha that looked something like a Wes Anderson movie, had an amazing pre-race dinner at an Indian place in town called Indická Restaurace Mountain (or I was just simply hungry) and headed to the race venue the next morning.
The start/finish point was at the bottom of a ski slope (didn’t know you could ski within a few regional train rides from Berlin) and some people brought tents to sleep in, while others stayed in a big hall and other lucky ones like us had our own little containers with heaters and electric plugs.
It was rainy the whole weekend which I thought would be unfortunate but turned out to be quite fun regardless. Probably the most rain I had seen this whole season which meant that the entire route was muddy and slippery and got worse as time went by as all of us ran in loops on the same route.
The whole event is kind of crazy, with people running in loops sometimes up to ten, eleven times. That’s 100km, with a 600m ascent + descent per loop, in the rain, sometimes in pitch dark without sleep. Like, who comes up with these things? I was surprised to see a few hundred people turning up on a rainy day like this.
I was a bit nervous because I’d never done a trail race with this much ascent/descent, especially in the rain and mud, or ran in the dark before. But then I guess there’s a first time for everything.
I went fourth in my team, which meant I had a few hours to kill before my turn came. I uploaded the GPS route to my watch (so glad I did this, got lost a few times nevertheless) and bought a pair of new LEKI hiking sticks which were a bit expensive but I’m really glad I did. Don’t think I would’ve finished without them.
The route was varied, with some nice hike up on rocky terrain, long gentle downhills on asphalt and on gravel. Some parts were so muddy and slippery that I could barely walk while others flew past me (not sure how they manage to hold on to the ground) which was cool to see.
I forgot how much I missed running until this weekend. I’ve been mostly running on flat land the past few years and I had forgotten why I started to run in the first place. I especially enjoyed running down a gentle downhill on the trail, dodging tree roots and rocks. You’re so in the moment, and you get tunnel visioned from the darkness. You feel like you’re going faster than you really are, it almost feels like flying. The cool fresh air. It’s quiet. Just you and the mountains. I forget everything — and that, is everything. That’s what I came here for.
I also thought the whole relay thing was a genius. It lowers bars for trail beginners like myself because you can always drop out, come back to base depending on how you feel that day. It’s motivating at the same time because you want to do your best for your team, to pass on the baton (or GPS tracker in this case) and keep the relay going. There was something really nice about being able to see your team members and other teams every time they came back to base (start/finish point).
Also, the vibe was amazing. Good 80s music that my parents would’ve loved, good food, good people, not too big or intimidating but friendly and local. Good toilets and enough toilet paper!
I ended up having to stop after two loops because of pain in my right foot, which I should’ve known was going to happen (was wearing my 2 year old worn out trail shoes because I had been too lazy to buy another pair) but funnily enough, I don’t regret going which is rare when I injure myself. But well, let’s see. Going to the doctors tomorrow, I just hope nothing is broken or too long-lasting.
Because now I really want to run again. And train for running again. I’m a bit more excited to be alive and that feels amazing. Thanks J for sending me that voice message on Friday.
I really needed this.
