V100

I don't know where and how to exactly to start this. My first attempt to run a distance longer than the 42.195km of the marathon. V100 is 100km lap around Vitosha mountain located in Sofia, capital of Bulgaria. It takes place in June every year and there are two disciplines. Early in the morning on Saturday first go the mountain bikers and later the same day at 23:59 pm is the start of the ultra marathon. Who wants and is brave enough can compete in both. Beautiful nature and totally runnable course all the way. It's becoming more and more popular, more people attend and more finish which is awesome! You go guys!!! 

So here I go ... at the start line at 23:50pm with 10min to go. Full of adrenaline, excitement and good emotions around the start area. There with my teammates from Asics Frontrunner Bulgaria /Zornitsa Hristova, Zornitsa Daskalova, Viktoria Danova, Nadezhda Stanilova, Alexander Dimov, Zdravko Ivanov, Ivan Ivanov and of course, me Vadim Chergov/ and my fionce who lately has been very helpful during my running ummm.... "career" .  Everyone is well prepared mentally, physically and with full backpacks with everything necessary for running an ultra marathon. 

23:59 and off we go. We took off towards the mountain, up up and away... 
For the first nearly 16km I ran with Zornitsa Hristova and it was very nice and lots of fun. We got off to a good pace from the begining . And when approached a downhill I started to chase her like a shepherd chasing his runaway sheep, because when she sees a downhill she goes insanely fast. We past the first "snack bar" of many along the way for a quick bit and drink of water and we continued our way up. Running and sharing stories and listening to the stories of the guys behind us which were very interesting life stories, such as - "when exactly will be the best time to stop and hide in the bushes to relax" or " why is that guy who just passes us is running so fast in the first stages of the race...?" 

We were changing often who to be in the lead of our small group and one time while I was running ahead I heard  this noise of something falling down and than I saw Zori behind me on the ground. She tripped on a rock but managed to stand up quite fast and continue to run. Strong girl I said. We continued like this for several kilometers more Ivan Ivanov - Vankata appeared from nowhere. He was chasing us for the last 5 or 6 km as he said. We welcomed him to our group and than after some time we continued just the three of us together. Three Asics Frontrunners at 2 am running in the forest. Just awesome! I noticed that my choice of running shoes was completely different than theirs. Zori was running with the fast Asics Roadhawk FF 2 and Vankata was with Asics Gel Nimbus 21 on his feet. Me on the other side was with the "Tanks" as I like to call them the Asics Fujitrabuco 7. Very stable, comfortable and you can go threw everywhere with them. While Ivan was running in front of me I've noticed that he twisted his ankle at least 4 times for the last 2kms. And of course we had to stop to take care of it. But he managed to pull himself together and continued. Tough guy!
We reached the second "snack bar" but I was already feeling bad. I had huge knee pain for the last hour and my legs were tired. So I decided to walk a little bit, take a break and to mix it up with some running. Zori was rushing to reach the half way "snack bar" during the night so she left Vankata and me and went ahead. I knew I was slowing him down but he stayed with me, walked with me when I was walking. I tried to run with him when he was running. The pain was terrible. 
Usually I don't let any pain bother me during a run. It hurts, ok , it will go away - I say every time. But not that time. I've passed 30km and I had 70 more to go and I could barely run... not good. So I took the tough decision to stop and retire from the race at the first checkpoint.  I left Ivan alone. Of course he wasn't alone but I felt that way. I abandoned him. He twisted his ankle 5 times but was still running, and me quitting because of some knee pain. It felt awful. The feeling of quitting and not finishing for me is something huge. I still can't forgive myself for stopping. /Deep inside me I knew it was the wise decision to make, because I make my living on the tennis court and I need to be in proper shape to work... on big injury could put me out of work for some time and I don't want that.... not yet/. 

So I was waiting at the checkpoint at 4:30 am  for the car to pick me up and I was looking at other runners. Stopping at the checkpoint, refueling with everything they get their hands on, sharing a few loughs with the others and move on. It was nice. I felt this is where I need to be. But hopefully next year I will continue with them and not wait to be picked up...

At the starting line Zori, Ivan and I, we weren't the only frontrunners participating. Zornitsa Daskalova, Nadezhda Stanilova, Zdravko Ivanov also were there and they DID FINISH! Alexander Dimov finished took 8th place in the general ranking - he's a machine. But for me the biggest here in our team that weekend was Viktoriya Danova who competed in the duathlon. Earlier the same morning of our start, she completed the same course  with her bike. And in the evening she was at the starting line with all the runners. And she finished. And she took 3rd place in the women's duathlon. So for me she was our hero that day. Congratulations Viki! 
And congratulations to all of you who finished and I promise you, next year I will cross that finish line as well!!