Trail Kuršių Nerija

Having been registered since June, today I finally got a chance to race 70 km along the Curonian Spit in Lithuania. Running together with Elin, we were off to an incredible start just as the sun was rising over the lagoon separating the curved sandy dunes of the Curonian Spit from the mainland. Starting next to a large granite sundial only a few hundred meters from the Russian border, we got to run through the most beautiful pine forests as we made our way north. About nine kilometres into the run, we ran 800 meters along an abandoned Soviet-era airfield! 20 km later again, everything shifted as we had to follow the beach for ten gruesome km while our feet kept sinking into the sand. Passing the 40 km cut-off with almost an hour to spare, the last 30 km were demanding in their own right but fairly runnable. With only ten km left, I realized that I could not keep up with Elin’s pace so I fell behind, calling Anna in Umeå and my mother in Kalmar, before making it to the finishing line in 8 hours and 16 minutes. Elin, on the other hand, raced ahead to an incredible sub-8 hour performance, finishing as number 13 of the women in what was clearly an elite field. For my part, I ended up as a slightly less impressive number 85 of the 139 runners who completed the race.

All in all, it was a fantastic ultra adventure. Already tomorrow morning at 5 am, I am off to Vilnius with the train followed by a long day of travelling before I am back in Umeå. Hopefully, the race will post some cool photos from the day but right now I only have this blurry one from the short ferry ride back to Klaipėda after the race.