The Lone Sky Runner

August Sundays with good weather are a good choice for running alone in the high mountains as it is the height of the holiday season and there are many tourists along the way. 

So when I saw the blue skies early in morning, I immediately started to prepare for a run in Bucegi, the highest mountains in the area.

The weather was just perfect for running. Sunny, dry and cool, actually quite cold above 2000m. It took me five hours to traverse the Bucegi Mountains, starting at 8AM in Busteni and finishing at 13PM in Bran, on the other side of the mountain. The highest point of the route was Omu Peak (2505m altitude),  more than 1500m higher than the starting point of the run.

Here is the track of the run recorded by my mobile phone.

And some photos I took with my phone camera along the way:

Going up along the steep Jepilor Valley

On the way to Omu Peak

Inside the Refuge at Omu Peak

2505m altitude, Omu Peak, Bucegi.

On Scara Peak (2422m)

View from Scara Peak

Ciubotea Valley

This is not snow! It is hail stones from the storm two days ago!

View across Tiganesti and Malaiesti Valleys towards Bucsoiu Peak (2492m) and Omu Peak (2505m)

The lone runner...

The refuge on Tiganesti Ridge

On Clincea ridge, on the descent to Bran

Hit The Top!

What a wonderful mountain running race I had today! Hit The Top, 6'th edition. My 3rd time running this race, after previously taking part in the second and fourth editions.

My previous participation in 2014 left a very deep impression on me. That year it rained from start to finish and it was also quite cold, making this intense and tough race even harder! Some runners that were not well prepared for such a race had a quite hard time that year.

This year the organizers decided to open the race just to well prepared runners. Only those invited by the organisers or athletes with a convincing portfolio of high altitude running could take part. There is a good reason for this as "Hit The Top" is a rather technical mountain race. Although the route follos marked hiking paths, it is quite a steep and technical route, climbing almost one vertical mile from around 1000 meters altitude near Bran, to Omu Peak (2505m), the highest peak in Bucegi mountains, one of the highest peaks in the Carpathian mountains.

I was very pleased and honored to be invited. If you followed my blog, you might know that over the the last year and a half I reduced the intensity of my running sessions, trying to increase the quality of my running. As a consequence I greatly reduced the number of competitions... but I could not refuse this invitation!

This year I was afraid that we will experience again the rainy and cold weather. I was following the weather reports for the whole week before the race, and as the days were passing, the weather reports got worse and worse... The weather report the night before the race got a bit better, but it was clear that the weather will be very unstable so I had to be prepared for anything!

Luckily, in the morning the weather in my home town Brasov was quite good: a few patches of blue sky and even some of morning sunshine. However, I could see that the atmosphere was saturated with humidity and it was clear that it could rain at any time. If the morning would have been rainy, I have doubts that I would have had the will to go to the starting line... and that would have been quite a mistake...

On the way to the starting line in Bran, a pouring rain suddenly started... It did not look too encouraging, but the rain eased after 5 minutes. One hour before the start the weather became quite calm and we had good reasons to be optimistic. The volunteers up the mountain also reported reasonably good weather... unstable with a few rain drops, a bit windy and rather cold in the wind, but nothing to be scared of. And indeed, the weather was quite good. It rained only a bit during the race and it was even sunny for a while after the race!

The trails were quite good, given the very rainy last two months. Of course, there was some mud on the trail, but nothing out of ordinary.. The snow up on the mountain was almost completely gone. We had to pass only a few snow patches here and there above 2300m.

We were just 52 athletes at the start. Few compared to other more popular and commercial trail running competitions in the area. But this is why I like this competition. It is kept very simple, yet very well organized, with very good athletes taking part.

The start was precisely at 9:30 AM exactly as  announced by the organizers in the race schedule!

I did not push too hard uphill but I tried to keep a constant and sustainable pace during the ascent. On the way down I was quite relaxed and careful. I knew that several runners will overtake me on the descent, but I did not care. The safety and the health of my knees were my top priorities so I really enjoyed the descent and had absolutely no knee issues. Back home, analyzing the GPS track of other competitors that started the descent from Omu peak at about the same time with me and I have seen that I finished the race 5 minutes behind them. No bad at all given my relaxed descent.

My dirty running shoes after the race.. The only photo I took today...

If in a popular mountain race I can finish in the first 10-20% of the runners, here, running along so may elite runners the situation is different!  My realistic objective was to finish not too far behind the middle of the pack. I think that I kind of have achieved it: 38th out of 52 finishers. I reached Omu Peak in 1 hour and 36 minutes and descended in almost precisely one hour.  This was about 35 minutes faster that in 2014, but this year the race was shorter, as the start/finish line was moved around 3km up the valley, at the end of the forest road. The race started directly on the mountain trail - not a problem in a race with so few competitors, especially that for the first kilometer the trail is quite wide.

Here is my GPS recording of today:

As in the previous years, the race was very well organized. A big thank to the organizers and the volunteers, especially to the volunteers that endured the wet, cold and windy weather up the mountain!

I hope that this race will continue with new editions during the next years! See you then!

Piatra Craiului Marathon 2014

Back in October 2012, one year after I begin to be serious about trail running, Piatra Craiului Marathon (MPC) was my first ever marathon.  Last year I participated again and got a very good time. This year however, I decided not to participate. Since May I did nor attend any running race. I actually ran more than the previous year, but I did not feel the urge to participate in any races. It is a sort of downshifting... I try to run slower and without any constraints so I can enjoy more the mountains and the nature also avoiding to put too much stress on my heart and joints.

Although I did not participate in the race, I visited Zarnesti on the day of the race. Together with my wife we were at the start area around 9AM, the start time. As the start was delayed and the weather was quite cold, we decided to move on, so we walked a few kilometers along the race route before the runners overtook us. We took photos of all participants. I hope I did not miss anybody. Well , the photos are nor artistic, but they help documenting this great race.

Here are a few of Photos. The whole album can be found here: MPC 2014.

Sheep on the streets of Zarnesti... Good that the race did not meet them...

First runner! This guy finished first wit a new record of the race: 3:42:46. Amazing time for a technical mountain race with over 2000m of accumulated  climbs

The elite runners

The tail of the race

After taking photos of the runners, we followed the race route up to the picturesque Magura Village. From there we walked down to Moieciu Village, taking beautiful photos along the way. The first autumn colors add color to the landscape. Here are a few photos. The complete album can be found here: First signs of Autumn at  Magura

The trail to Magura Village

Pastoral Landscape in Magura

Birch Trees

Magura

Autumn flowers

The road to Moieciu

Moieciu Village

Hit The Top. 2014 Edition

The Logo from the event home page

2014 Edition in a few words:

• Tough, wet, wet, wet, bloody wet and cold... 
• But what a great day!

This was the fourth Hit The Top edition, my third time here and my second time as a racer. It is a special race. It is short but tough, with more than 1600m of accumulated altitude gain in just a few kilometers. The number of the participants is kept at under 100 and the level of the runners is very high, including a few professional athletes.

I participated in the race in 2012, when it was one of my first trail running races. At that time the race was shorter; the return point was on Scara Peak at 2308m altitude. Last year the race route was extended by two more kilometers until Omu Peak (2505m), the highest peak of Bucegi Mountains and I decided not to race, but instead to run along the route and take photos; Here is my last year's race report with photos and GPS track. This year I had to compete again; I had to do the complete race to Omu Peak!

I tried to prepare well for this race. I accumulated many meters of altitude gain during my training runs the weeks before, followed by a few days of resting before the race. However, nothing prepared me for the wet weather on the race day. I often run in the rain, but on bad weather I keep away from the mountain heights. Yesterday, during the race, I went up all the way to 2500 meters altitude on Omu Peak, in a weather I would never plan myself such a trip!

Actually the weather during the race was better than the forecast a few days before. It rained all the time and it was foggy, but otherwise the weather was stable. The wind on to mountain tops was rather weak but not at all pleasant on the wet clothes. There was no thick fog so I had no orientation problems. A volunteer, on the rather flat Scara Peak, where fog could cause orientation issues, made sure that the runners took the right path. Also the abundant snow that fell in April was mostly gone. Just below Omu Peak there were larger patches of snow.

The start of the race was at 9:15 AM. I started the climb at a comfortable pace and all the way up to Omu Peak I tried not to run too fast and to conserve energy. I did not want to exhaust myself in that cold wet weather, especially high on the mountain. 30 minutes after the start my clothes were already quite wet. I felt like in the middle of a soaked sponge and I knew that it will only get wetter... . My biggest worry was the wind. I was prepared to abandon the race if  the wind would get too strong high on the ridges. Hypothermia can be a serious issue high on the mountains. Luckily the weather was OK high there. The wind, mixed with raindrops and even a few snow flakes was constantly blowing from the north Luckily, most of the trail from below Scara Peak until Omu is on the southern side of the ridge so it was rather sheltered from the wind.

My choice of clothing was not too bad. I wore a thin woolen merino shirt and a thin runner wind-stopper jacket on top of it. The wool got soaked in water and sweat. Well, anything would have got soaked in that weather, but the wool retains the heat better than other fabrics when wet. I had gloves that got so wet that I would squeeze the water out of them every two minutes just by clenching my fists. However, even so wet, they protected my hands from the cold wind so my hands stayed warm. I had long running trousers - I chose thicker warmer ones. Maybe not the best choice as they also got soaked in water, but at least they kept me warm. I heard from other runners that thin trousers were not enough. As head gear I had a thin running cap and a headband. I also had a thicker winter hat with me. I did not use it but it was good to feel it in my pocket!

After the race, when I have weighted my wet equipment I realized that I was carrying more than a liter of water in my clothes and shoes... maybe close to two liters... Speaking of excess weight, half way up the mountain I realized that I could have run without my bottle belt. The water offered by volunteers at the three hydration points along the route would have been enough in this cold and wet weather. What a difference from 2012, when the race was on a hot day and the one liter I have carried plus the water from the hydration points were hardly enough to extinguish my thirst!

I have been the 29th runner to reach Omu Peak. I did not stop there so I left behind a few runners, but not for too long as I am a too cautious downhill runner. I felt well and warm enough to skip the hot tea offered by the race organizers at Omu Peak. I know that other racers, that were not so well equipped for the cold weather, dreamt about that warm tea during all the way up!

First part of the descent went quickly for me. I tried to run as much as I could on the snow patches by the trail. The snow was quite wet and soft, but hard enough so I would not sink too much and could safely run fast with long steps. It was better than on the trail which consisted of a mixture of melting snow, water, mud and rocks... Soon, below Scara Peak the trail becomes steeper. From here until the end of the race I was overtaken by many other runners on each steep section of the route. I was joking that if the descent was longer all racers would have overtook me. But I preferred to be on the safe side. Lower in the forest the steep trail was extremely muddy and slippery and again, I did it at a very slow pace. Some other runners asked me if I was OK while they overtook me... I must have look quite hopeless. But I did not care. I then quickly ran the last 3 kilometers of the race on the forest road and finished the race on the 35th place, happily and in one piece! I can proudly say that I had no falls during the race.

[Added a day later] Now that the official results are ready I can see that I had the 45th descent time... Somewhere in the middle... Not so catastrophic after all, but it is the worse descent time of the top 40 runners.

After the race, the organizer offered us a nice warm soup and a tasty desert at a local restaurant in Bran. How nice to have a hot soup after spending so many hours in the cold wet rain. Time to socialize with the other runners before the awards ceremony.

All in all it was a great experience! The difficult weather and trail conditions made it an unforgettable race. The volunteers and mountain rescue members had a much tougher time than the runners. While we were running, keeping ourselves warm, they had to endure the rain and wind, up on the mountain heights for almost 10 hours! A big thank you to all of them and to all organizers of this event!

Let's hit the top again in 2015!

Hit The Top 2013

Since I started to be more serious about trail running I participated in quite a few mountain races in my area around Brasov. "Hit The Top" is probably the most challenging one. As the organizers claim, it is the race with the highest elevation gain in Romania. There are races with more cumulative elevation gain, but not in one go. The route of this race climbs more than one vertical mile in just 9 kilometers  returning to the starting line on the same trail. An iron heart is needed for the climb and iron knees for the descent! Due to the high altitude and steep slopes of the route, this race fits more in the sky running category rather than just simple trail running.

The number of participants is limited to 70. A good proportion of the racers are elite athletes. So even though last year I was right in the middle of the results table, it was the result I was most proud of!

This year the route was prolonged from Scara peak (2.422m)  to Omu Peak (2505m). Omu is the highest peak in Bucegi Mountains and the 2km from Scara to Omu are above 2300m so the race became even more challenging! The longer route, with a more than a third of it at altitudes over 2000m, seemed a bit to much for me. Also the time of the race, in May, meant that one could really expect any kind of possible weather ranging from a hot summer day to deep fresh snow of even worse very thick fog or a snow blizzard! Of course, the race would have been canceled or maybe shortened if the weather was really bad.

So instead of participating I made the decision to go there, do some trail running and also take photos of the runners.  The complete album with the photos I took can be found HERE.
After a stormy Thursday and a rainy Friday I was not too optimistic about the weather. The weather forecast for the Saturday was not too good either, but to everyone's delight, the sky cleared during the night revealing a deep blue sky on Saturday morning! The cool and partly sunny weather was very good for running.

At the second hydration point on Ciubotea Valley. It starts getting windy and cold !

In the morning, Nusu, one of the top runners, took me and two other guys by car from Brasov to Bran Poarta village, to the starting line. The other two were Manu from CPNT and Vlad, a young talented runner. Only Nusu was participating, so the three of us quickly started the ascent to Omu peak. We started just an hour before the official start of the race. We knew how fast are the best runners so we hurried up the mountain. It was a cool morning, just right for a quick uphill. It was nice and calm in the valley, but higher it was quite windy and it got windier as we climbed higher towards Omu Peak. At least the wind was pushing us from behind. 

The trail crossed a few snow patches

Going up towards Scara Peak. A panorama of Piatra Craiului Mountains and the  mountain villages in the Bran area

A look to the north. In the distance Postavarul and Piatra Mare massifs

Volunteers on Scara peak. Omu peak with the meteorological and the mountain huts are visible in the background

We reached the very windy Omu peak just before the first racers arrived. My plan was to take photos of all the runners, but sadly I did not succeed. After reaching the top I had to change my wet t-shirt and put on me something dry and warm. Although I had quite a few items of clothing in my backpack, including a woolen t-shirt, a fleece, wind jacket, gloves and cap, it was not enough to stand in the cold wind. It wasn't very cold, around 5C, maybe a bit warmer, but the wind was constantly blowing.

This is the GPS track of the race route that I recorded. The downhill follows the same path.

I went in a sheltered spot near the Omu mountain hut and put on all the clothes I had. I then rushed back to take photos only to find out that in the couple of minutes I was missing the first 5 runners were already gone! I then resisted out in the wind for exactly 45 minutes. By then my hands were so cold that I could not feel the shutter button of my camera. Back home I have discovered that most of the photos I took were tilted to the right - I guess that my struggle to press the shutter release button was rotating the camera.

Volunteers waiting for the runners as they reach Omu peak

The photos I took are not too bad taking into account the fact that I only had with me an small old camera. As the plan was to do trail running I wanted to be as light as possible. I was also afraid that it might rain and the expensive DSLR camera I would have use is not waterproof.

Runner reaching Omu peak

Running poles are very useful during this race

On Omu Peak

Waiting the runners on Omu peak 

More runners approaching the top

The countdown begins from the top!

Collision course?

After 45 minutes of taking photos I started to feel the first signs of hypothermia. My extremities were cold I started to shiver and feel all of my muscles contracting. I ran inside Omu mountain hut where they were serving pottage soup! Manu and Vlad were already there. It was so nice to eat the warm delicious soup! After finishing the meal I still felt cold! So we started running back, down the mountain. This warmed me quickly. Until the base of the mountains I stopped several times to take clothes off, eventually ending up in shorts and a t-shirt...

The Checkpoint on Omu Peak

I can smell it! More runners are coming!

The joy of reaching the top

Almost there!

On Scara peak again, during the descent

Descending from Scara peak towards Bran

Descending on Ciubotea valley. Snow stairs left by the runners

I am admiring all the volunteers along the route for their endurance! Especially those on Scara and Omu Peak. They had to endure the constant cold wind for several hours! At least most of them were well prepared with warm clothes. Although I could see that they were not feeling very warm they all were a bunch of happy enthusiastic people assisting every runner in the best way they could. And that included me. As I was in running gear, they would think that I was in the race. When I told them that I wasn't they told me that it does not matter and asked me if I wanted a glass of water or something else. I had plenty of water with me, but eventually, down in the Ciubotea valley I could not resist the temptation to dink a glass of diluted pine-needles sirup! It was delicious!

Volunteers on Ciubotea valley. Thank you for the delicious pine needles sirup! 

A look back on Ciubotea valley

Volunteers on Ciubotea valley

So this was the 2013 edition of Hit The Top from my point of view. First time for me to attend a race as supporter. It was nice and relaxing. Now that I know the route better, I may participate again next year.

The steep descent through the forest

The Salvamont (mountain rescue) hut

I hope that the runners I did not manage to photograph are not too angry on me. This is the best I could do. I also hope that those who can find themselves in my photos will forgive me for using a crappy camera...

Congratulations to Outdoor Romania and Ion Trandafir for organizing such a great trail running race! Congratulations to all volunteers and of course to all runners!

The finishing line

On Scara peak. The author on of this post wearing all the clothes he had...

See you in 2014!

The complete album with the photos I took can be found HERE.