REAL TRAILS
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What a timely warning that was! There was not a soul for dozens of kilometers around me. 30 kilometers is not a huge distance. I would cover it in 3 or, maximum, 4 hours. Something made me look back. I turned around and saw two unwinking eyes 30–50 meters behind. They were reflecting the light from my head torch, which made them look mysterious and baleful.
“Must be a fox or a hare”, I thought and continued running. After 3 more kilometers I looked back again. The same unwinking eyes were still staring at me, gleaming with phosphorus.
I decided to scare the curious animal away and clapped my hands but it didn’t even move. “It’s not scared at all! So weird! Foxes normally try to get as far from humans as they can. People don’t even have a chance to come close to them. This animal is chasing me but keeping at distance… and not even trying to hide?!”
I started to see more and more animal footprints on the snow. They were very specific: this animal was stepping on its paw pads and its claws were pressing into the snow heavily. They were footprints of a wolf chasing its prey. Maybe, there were many wolves. I felt the rush of adrenaline in my blood. My instincts sharpened. I felt calm and composed. “No, big bad wolf, I’m not easy game!”
…The wolf was showing his supremacy in speed for 15 km, trying to overrun me. I looked at the animal and every time met its unwinking stare.
When there was only 10 kilometers to the village and I could already see the lights, the footprints on the snow disappeared…
Elton’s shores are dotted with hollows. They are the favourite habitat of steppe wolves where they are feeding their breed from spring till late autumn and teach them how to hunt. A wolf in its natural environment is far stronger and faster than a human. A human in a straight fight with a wolf would have absolutely no chance. They are able to gather speed up to 63 km/h when chasing prey. Due to their sharp sense of smell, they can detect prey 3 kilometers away.
After my 80 km trial around the lake I was really impressed. Extremely impressed.
Later in my room I was having a cup of tea and reading the local news online. They informed that more than a hundred sheep had been attacked and killed by a pack of wolves in Pallasovsky district of Volgograd region. Local shepherds suffered heavy damages.
I got on the train and walked to my compartment. My fellow traveller introduced himself as Nikolai. He was going from Kazakhstan. We talked, and he told me he was born in Ukraine, lived in Kazakhstan for a long time, and now he was a Russian citizen. In my opinion, he looked like a gypsy. I made tea. Hot strong puer tea warms your soul and sets your mind for philosophical thinking.
I imagined mountains. The day before, the 11th of December turned out to be the day of mountains. I had celebrated it by climbing Mountain Ulagan. In Turkic languages it means a mountain with smooth slopes.
Mountain Ulagan is a growing saline dome. It gains a few millimeters each year. If a light breeze blows over a soft rock mountain for a long time, it will finally turn into something shapeless and structureless. When it comes to a granite cliff, even storms and hurricanes will not destroy it. They will blow away dust and other waste, and the cliff will transform and have beautiful and firm facets. People are also affected by “winds”. Some of them are like sand dunes. Others are like granite cliffs.
I thought I would sleep on my way to Saratov but I couldn’t. I was making one cup of puer tea after another and spent all the time thinking, overwhelmed by emotions and thoughts. Some historical facts came to my mind whilst we were going over the Saratov railroad overpass.
From 1941 to 1945, fascist planes tried hard to bomb the bridge, but Soviet antiaircraft gunners held the line, shooting down the hostile bombers. I remembered my grandmother’s story. She lost her husband during the war. She was telling me how dark it was in the city when they turned all the light off for the night attack and only one strong light, a searchlight beam, was hunting for targets.
I came back to Saratov and went to the dacha – my small house in the countryside. Large snowflakes were falling from the sky. It was only a little frosty, –8
When you run, a kilometer after kilometer, along a snowbound steppe road, your nerves are tensed to the maximum and your brain catches and processes multiple signals and impulses, both external and internal. When I started to feel over-exertion and my knee joints began to hurt, I just kept running, trying not to show my weakness and pain. I was like an actor, performing to a full house, the only difference that I could be eaten instead of getting another round of applause. The brain filters and simply doesn’t accept the signals about pain. It is its conscious choice even though your pain and tiredness are real. The wolf becomes you, gets inside you. You can feel its sharp teeth within your thoughts and your consciousness…
I woke in cold sweats, threw some food on the fire, and remembered the recent adventure with a smile. It was a good hunt…
A night of emerald stars
I was on the waiting list for long five months after I had applied to participate in the marathon when the registration had already been closed. The most important thing for me was to believe and not lose hope that I would still have a chance to take part in this epic run in spite of everything. Five months later I received an e-mail from a registered participant. It was a girl who got a sports injury and wouldn’t possibly be able to take part in the race. I paid for the slot and her slot number was transferred to my name.
I had been waiting from October to February 2018. I didn’t lose my hope for a single day! Those last three months before the race acquired a new meaning. Now I felt calm. Now I was 100 % certain I would do it. This 82 kilometer night trail was going to become my first ultra trail. At that time I didn’t have any idea how I was going to complete this distance. I had only had experience in running marathon distances, but ultra was still new to me. There was something else, something tempting and unknown, waiting for me beyond 42 kilometers. I felt 100 % physically and mentally prepared. I felt even 200 % prepared. I was ready to run and make it to the finishing line whatever it takes. I had so many training tasks to complete for the following three months. I was going to run more than 1000 kilometers over the time before the race.