I waited with emotions the last week. I knew it would be difficult for my body and mind but I didn`t belive it will almost "kill me".
The week started for me with a big problem: a cough that pissed me off very hard! So the plan was like this:
Monday - Tuesday: Bulgaria (Middle and Long @Variant 5 Cup - Targovishte)
Wednesday - Friday: Orsova (field practice for school)
Friday (afternoon) - Saturday (EcoMarathon Moeciu)
Saturday (afternoon) - Sunday (Ultra Long Distance National Championships in Orienteering - Oradea)
The first day in Bulgaria started with already one night of no sleeping (we waited for Ionut Zinca in the airport and slept only 2h that night). The race was a middle distance and even though I was feeling tired and my cough was at it`s place I managed to have a good running speed but with a lot of orienteering mistakes i finished 16th in the middle distance rank (I will post the map later).
After the middle distance I tried to recover my sleep but the cough was getting worse. I had some mixed feelings for the long distance (WRE) because of me being tired but mostly because of the iritating cough. I did some mistakes in the first part of the race but I killed it at the 5th control! I tried to recover the lost time and did no mistakes after that, but on the way to the 13th control I started coughing real bad and had to stop because I just couldn`t breathe. So this was my first abandon of the week...
After the long distance we traveled to Bucharest very fast and in the next morning I tool the train to Orsova for my last field practice. The plan was to stay there 2 and a half days and then leave for Moeciu. I talked to a friend from Craiova and he was waiting for me on Friday with a car and we would have traveled together to Moeciu.
The days there were pretty hard because we had to wake up very early and be on the field for most of the day.
But the real adventure began on Friday morning. The plan for me was to get back before 4 o`clock at the accommodation and leave as fast as possible to Craiova. But faith had something else in "her" mind for me. On the way back we were supposed to travel by boat from a Punicova Cave, on the Danube river all the way to the accommodation. The big problem was that we stayed a bit to much in the cave and we left it only at 4 o`clock. I asked the boat man how long it will take for the road and he gave me a big shock: 2hours.
I was lucky that I found another boat that was traveling fast and the tourists on the boat were really nice and let me accompany them. The boat man took me by car all the way to the place we were staying. I was late but still had a chance of reaching Craiova.
But to my surprise when I tried to open my room door...the lock was broken and the door stuck. I tried all kind of solutions but nothing worked. In the end I took a ladder, jumped in the neighbor`s backyard and climbed a ladder 3m up the wall and finally entered the room via an open window.
It was close to 6`o clock already and I knew that I had 3 hours drive to Craiova. So the only option for me was hitch-hiking my way to Moeciu. I took a bus to Craiova and was there and close to 9 o`clock. I than walked for about 4-5km to the exit to Slatina. I was lucky that I caught a car that drove me to Slatina and immediately another on that took me close to Pitesti. I had to walk again for some kilometers from the entrance to Pitesti to the town`s exit to Campulung. I waited there for another 10 minutes and a nice guy with a big truck took me to Campulung. There my friend Costica Bulgaru was waiting for me and we drove into the night to Moeciu. We were in Moeciu at 4 o`clock in the morning and before I went to sleep for 2-3 hours I thought that a performance for me at the marathon would be only to finish it in one piece.
Something felt wrong before the race, my feeling was bad and after 3-4km I started feeling it inside. My liver was not in it`s place and it started hurting. I took a energy gel and for the moment it felt ok but the big problem is that I was again coughing very bad and to top it all I was feeling dizzy and powerless on the uphill. I wanted to quit after the first 14km loop but the encouragements I got from my friend Zsolt Kovacs made me try to finish the race. But I just couldn`t do it and after 18km I stoped. I started crying because I was so pissed on me for putting my body to such tries and because I knew what EcoMarathon ment for me. In the end I could only cheer for my friend Ionut Zinca who won the race in style, proving once again he is in the Champions League of mountain running.
I decided not to go to Oradea because that would have ment even more punishment to my body. Monday morning I woke up after close to 12h of sleeping and after something to eat I went back to sleep for another 6 hours. This is what my body needed at this time..
I didn`t have any plans to participate in Hercules Marathon this year, because it is one week before the International Bucharest Half Marathon but I want to prove myself that I didn`t train all winter for nothing!
See you everybody at Hercules Marathon 2012!
So there I was on the road to Baile Herculane with Dan, Alex and Ana. I didn`t feel nervous but at the moment I reached the place where we took our bibs I started feeling pressure in my mind and body. The next morning I was ready to start and this time things didn`t feel bad in my mind and body, on the contrary I was feeling calm and strong. I started fast and I was in the second pack when the climb started. My objective was to be in the top 10 and not get beaten up by the mountain running legend Emanuela Brizio! All the race I felt strong and confident and ran most of the uphill parts. All the race I felt the pressure of Emanuela even though I knew she was some way behind. It was also really nice to ran and talk with Balan and Marius Roca. After 30 km I passed Marius and Balan was in front and I couldn`t see him anymore. I was alone and tried to run as hard as I could both downhill and uphill. 5km before the end, where the last downhill starts I saw Emanuela Brizio, around 2 min behind me and from that point I pushed very hard on the downhill even though my fingers were hurting very bad because of the socks that were destroyed during the race. In the last part of the downhill I was running and crying, something like a release of emotions that were inside me since EcoMarathon!
I finished the race with the time of 4 hours 42 mins and 31 seconds, 8th in the OPEN category and 5th in my age group, under 1 hours of my friend Ionut Zinca who won again with style and in front of Emanuela Brizio. Now I only hope to receover fast so I can run as good as I can at Bucharest International Half Marathon!
