100/18 – A Hike in Honor of Latvia (And Me)
This is almost like my diary, where all my thoughts, feelings, and experiences are compiled.
I hope I’ve written it interestingly enough to make it enjoyable to read and inspire others to accomplish something unimaginable!
P.s. You can follow the route in parallel with the story here: balticmaps.eu
That’s it, I’m signing up and there is no backtracking. To make sure, I immediately pay the whole fee and in the registration survey I mark my age as 17, but when the event comes, I’ll be 18.
Yes, it is what it, I’ve made the decision that the first hours of my majority I will spend starting (and hopefully finishing) my first 100km hike. It’s not as if I’m a beginner – I’ve been running rogainings for six years, on two occasions I’ve spent 24 hours in the woods. The information given about the hike is minimal, I heard about it from a relative and signed up without a second thought. I hadn’t planned to celebrate my 18th year like this, but I don’t believe there to be a better time for my first 100k.
Started in Līgatne at the “Lapsa Rogaining” with two friends from Jēkabpils and in twelve hours we conquered 50 kilometers. It doesn’t sound like much but orienteering in the dead of night wasn’t easy. I have completely forgotten agreeing to a 100km hike earlier.
Started a little closer to home, at the “Riga Rogaining”. Asphalt and a wrong choice in footwear heavily affected speed and in 6 hours I’ve done 37km, after which my movements were quite impaired, my legs felt like rags. I remember about the hike and start worrying about sneakers – I have one pair in which I’ve done long distances, but they are not appropriate for flat ground. The stress starts to mount, but I calm myself with the classic “It’ll be alright, we’ll figure it when we come to it, as always!”
Excited before an excruciating 12h in Līgatne
A very unexpected 3rd place in the regaining – was thinking that the competition was stronger
Finally, there’s more info on the hike, including a route! Starting at Mangaļsala at moving towards Baltezers, then Zaķumuiža, Ikšķile and then (according to my math) 40km heading home to Riga center. Does the route excite me? Honestly, everything until Ikšķile feels appropriate, but looking at the map I realize that 88km will lead me right to my home in Dārziņi. In my mind, something worse can’t happen as I will be thinking of a warm home, a soft bed, and pajamas since starting and having defeated 9/10 of the route I’ll be right there.
Of course, it will hard, but I’ll live,
there is something in my stomach I recognize it, it’s anxiety. No
worries though, I start making a list of necessities.
The last day of my minority has come, the feeling is weird. Everybody is dressed up, including me, the concert at school was beautiful this year. My classmates are discussing the fact that this our last Independence Day concert at school, as we’re graduating this year, so we enjoy it to the max. The thoughts of majority and a huge hike start sneaking up to me, stress mounts. During lunch break I tell my friends of my weekends plans and everybody tells me I’m insane. I laugh and think to myself that this hike is just the start of it all.
It’s here! I spend the first moments of my 18-year-old life at my home with the appropriate “Birthday song” and pizza. I go to bed at about 5AM, but that was the plan – to sleep as little as possible during the night, so I can sleep all day before the adventure.
I have woken up and dressed up and gone to the store to stash up on foodstuffs. I’m wearing my mom’s sneakers with holes in them, which are soft and comfortable, a little oversized, almost perfect for a hike. My shopping list, oddly enough, consisted of those little yoghurts for babies, a couple of chocolate bars, chips, three (and not more or less!!) red onions and condensed milk with cocoa (the regular came only in cans and I sure as hell wasn’t going to carry that around with me). I also picked up a can of whipped cream, thinking of the 56th kilometer when I’ll definitely be craving something of the sort.
My alarm rings at an odd time, but I’m waking from my nap. I hop into a boiling bath and as per usual I sort my belongings at the last moment. The plan is that I arrive in Mangaļsala with only the necessities, I go for 65km, then in Ikšķile I’ll meet my mom, who’ll bring my bag and walking sticks, just in case. In my finish bag, I pack comfy clothes and Crocs, of course I doubt if after a 100km I’ll even be able to put ANY shoes. Everything is packed and nothing has been forgotten, but I can’t find my light pants, to wear over shorts and long socks. But as time is running out – I switch shorts out for capris, thinking that as I’ll be moving a lot, I won’t get That cold.
I have successfully arrived in Riga center; I get something savory at my favorite place. Obviously, I can’t eat anything more than half a burger, I wrap it back up thinking I’ll have something to snack on while en route. I feel perpetually anxious, everything feels slanted and wrong. I reconsider the meaning of life and arrive at the question “why am I even doing something this stupid?”. I encourage myself with the fact, that I’ll probably be the youngest there, no one celebrates their birthday like this, I’m special, but also – I can’t wait to see mom.
Very remarkable last meal before the torturous walk
Time flies and we get dropped off at the starting line, along with Endijs and his friend, both of which I’ve met for the first time just now we march to the start. I’m telling them of my plans, even though my gut is telling me “stop, turn around, this is a bad decision”. We arrive at a café, where I head to the registration stand to receive my number and a map.
Got lucky with a very representative number 18. In honor of me and in honor of Latvia. Throughout the hike I believed that there was power in it.
I meet a few friends; I find a space on the stage and sit down for the last time in quite a while. I think of repacking my bag and answering the last birthday messages, stuffing my pockets with snacks and Focus. My calm plans are ruined by Ausma, who has decided to pull out a guitar. It seems that she has been trusted with the task of entertaining the public, setting the mood with songs just before start. Endijs sits down next to me and we start the improvisation choir “AEE” (t understand you have to read the name out loud and confident). I try singing Ausma’s songs, while doing my tasks in parallel, the songs get better one after the next and the mood is amazing, and the time has come for the speech and the hymn.
I exit the café, turn on my headlight and put on gloves. I breathe in, I breathe out and head on. The night is long and right now is when I can warm up, I’ll have loads of time to get to optimal tempo. Most of the other hikers have divided up into little groups and pairs, I’m all alone in my individualistic ways here. By the conversations I’m overhearing, it seems as though the goal for many here is just to make it to the controls, where you can sit or lay down and keep on talking. I laugh to myself, as I’m not even thinking of stopping anywhere before reaching the 100km mark. I switch to marching on the other side of the road and I start to understand just how slow the kilometers are. SO SLOW. Running orienteering competitions, you have to concentrate on the map and control points, here there are none. I feel good though, so I start going a little faster, then I realize that I’ve got a follower. There’s a guy on the other side of the road, who switches to walking when I do and runs when I do. I try to decide if I want company or not as I’m enjoying running on my own.
We take a turn off the asphalt onto a smaller gravel road. Even in the dark I recognize this place perfectly – I’ve done at least 5 orienteering camps in the woods. I felt at home and started running as well. I slowly gain on some groups and notice some people ahead, running without any lights. I pass them and the route takes us through a bunker. Just before I get up there, I hear the group I just passed speaking about Madona. I get super excited and yell that I too (from my dad’s side) am from Madona. I ended up joining them and we discuss our roots for a while. I’m joined by a couple (I’ve completely forgotten their names) a girl from Liepāja and a guy from Madona as well as a boy studying in Jelgava. I tell the ma bout myself and my birthday plans, I get to know them, and I realize that this “fast-walking” tempo is ideal for me. We move together for a while, they tell me about a hike “From Hell to Paradise”, which is a 100km distance where you have to carry a heavy bag with you, at least 10% of your body weight. I laugh about maybe attempting it and we reach the end of gravel and the beginning of sand as Mangaļsala fades into Vecāķi. I complain about the holes in my shoes and the sand and I try to walk more carefully. The sand was followed by a long, dark road, we pass some people and the people passing us are few and far in between. At one point I tell the guy from Jelgava that I want to take a bathroom and meds break. We take one and we continue together. We went on discussing religion and our life stories, but as he was speaking, I couldn’t help but notice that behind us there was one headlight, I made a joke about the headlight spying on us and they joined us. Turned out it was Kristaps from Canada, who had gotten lost not long ago, so he began tailing us. I was content that somebody had joined us to take over the storyteller position as I was getting tired, sleepy even. Yes, it appears that the sleep I got before was definitely not enough.
19km, but Baltezers is nowhere in sight until we see a huge lake and church lights, I get excited and some new energy finally courses through my body. Kristaps is taking photos, but we run into “The Nest” for the checkpoint. I meet Emīlija and shake the sand out my sneakers, I get a coffee and a badge it was very nice!
10 minutes go by and we are back on course. I agree to stay with the Canadian and the guy from Jelgava and we decide not to hang out too long at the checkpoints. After the coffee and meeting people I gain energy, we start slowly running on the freeway. Later, while searching for a turn we meet more company – Pāvels (who was carrying an army bag, looked like a thug, and was overflowing with dark humor) and Vasja or Artūrs (he was a little quieter and taller). So, we continued on as a fivesome, crossing the freeway by Langstiņi, going through the woods to Makstenieki. I can’t complain about the company – I loved it.
We run for a while and then we walk. We don’t take breaks almost at all, but despite that, the kilometers are going by hellishly slow. It’s interesting to speak very diverse topics with people you’ve just met, sharing life-stories. It felt as if the last 4km weren’t passing at all. I was holding out for the first rays of sunshine in hope for more motivation to come with them. I worry that we’ve passed by something and gone too far, but just then checkpoint number 2 has appeared just over the horizon.
Here, the guy from Jelgava and I try to eat morning porridge
I can’t manage to eat anything and my wrapped-up burger flies into the trash. One thing doesn’t stop worrying me though – the little toe on my right foot, a blister just there has never occurred, but oh well, I have to continue on. Pāvels and I decide to cut a little hole in my sneaker with a knife, to let my toe breathe. Not sure if that’s going to help, but it’s all in my head anyway. We receive the second badge and keep on trekking.
Marathon has been conquered in 7 hours, I am very glad about what’s been done, with the state of my feet and the support. I send a very positive good morning message to my mom, and we continue. Not really running anymore, even though the morning air is refreshing. A 5-6km long, straight trench awaits us, not excited about it though. We’re surrounded by the woods and I sink deep into thoughts about my future and other topics. I’m not sleepy, but I wish to get home quicker to lay in bed more and more with every step I take.
And then suddenly sleep comes over me. A real hard sleepiness comes on – with tears and complaining and almost calling for evacuation, everything is bad, everything is terrible. And not even just terrible or bad, all my spite disappeared with my goals and I wasn’t even halfway through. Kristaps and the guy from Jelgava refuse to slow down, they join a different group, I thought that’ll be the last time I’ll se them. Pāvels and Artūrs stay with me, they complain along, with me but can also make me laugh. Our tempo slows, but we’re keeping on. We arrive at the woods and I decide to put on a layer of thermal wear and another pair of gloves. Pāvels makes me a walking stick of a branch for me and we march. Feeling horrible, but what can you do? I knew that I just must get over it. Vasja leaves us as we’ve slowed down too much.
The only company I have left, pulls his phone out and it turns out that we have similar taste in music. I start feeling better about everything, there were even moments on the freeway, when we ran, I even ate something and the biggest surprise – we meet our old companion from Jelgava. He was having issues with his knee and had called for evacuation. Later I receive a call from mom, that she’ll be in Ikšķile soon, we do some math and realize that there’s 8km left on this section. The 8km were extremely slow, the arrangers thought to make us go up Ogre’s Blue Hills was genius, I was complaining occasionally, and Pāvels made me shut up whenever people were passing.
It was cold as hell, but the stick was supporting
Yes, we arrive to a warm room and get soup! Mom has brought me several extra things, some of which I reject, but the whipped cream I eat with delight. I meet up with Kristaps from Canada, who had already managed to arrange transport home to Salaspils as he didn’t want to go further. I heal up my feet and receive a shot of magnesium, a new badge, and a walking stick! That was so important now! I feel happy again, but my energy levels have fallen below zero. 20 min later Pāvels and I get back on the road. We don’t want to stop just yet as it feels as we don’t have that much left to go.
We depart from Ikšķile in a good mood. I’ve seen mom, I’ve eaten, but the energy still isn’t there. My muscles are aching and never in my life would I’ve thought that the next 15km to Salaspils would be the hardest and longest of my life. It’s beautiful though and I’m feeling better. A kilometer later the route takes us to by the river Daugava and I already had the feeling that I can see Salaspils. I thought that my brother’s watch was broken for a while there, as the kilometer counter was going so slow. In the end, of course, I realized that the counter was fine, because what I had been looking at was Saulkalne, which actually was just half the distance. I was dredging onward, eyes closed, clinging to Pāvels. I thought I was going insane, the wind was extremely cold and obviously, as if nothing more could go wrong, it started to rain. We completed another 8km and got to another freeway. Here, I realized that we’re a 10-minute drive away from Salaspils, I started loudly talking to myself, trying to cheer up not only myself but also my only companion, who too was starting to look dead inside. Slowly, but somehow, we did manage to get to our destination.
In Salaspils we arrived freezing and completely without any will to continue. I was thinking about quitting, about how awesome it would be to end this, but at the same time, how awful of me to quit now, feeling like the end only 20km away. 20km through my region, I could run this with my eyes closed, if only I wasn’t this tired. I lay down next to a dude, discussing that he has room in a bus going to the finish line, I order a chocolate ice cream to be brought to me and continue mingling. I receive an amazing foot massage from Ilze and suddenly I’m freezing again, I’m shaking, and I can’t stop. I was offered a blanket and a pillow; I lay down in a tiny little room and try to tell myself how much I would regret quitting. I doze off, and I wake up to Ilze asking me “how much 5 times 4?” and “what color are your sneakers?”. I realize that I’ve been sleeping for half an hour and the feeling’s horrible – it’s dark and cold outside, I’m still trembling. I sleep for another 30minutes and Pāvels is sleeping too. I was doubting continuing, Ilze sat down in front of me and gave me a motivational speech on famous ultrarunners who haven’t said NO in time and have continued running and died. I start crying and I remember Edijs saying “I knew, you couldn’t do it”, this just leads me to anger.
I have no other option. I get up, I put on Pāvel’s second thermal shirt (I’m now wearing three) and a jacket on top, I drink a cup of tea, put on my sneakers and tell my companion that we’re leaving. It’s completely dark out and we exit Checkpoint 4, with a new badge in hand.
We’re slow, but not as hopeless as before. We get to the railway and there’s a weird bunch of thorny brushes there. I’ve gone completely quiet, in my head I think only of the finish line and getting to it. Trains are passing by and no one can even comprehend how much I want to get onto one. The railway takes us to the freeway and Pāvels says that he wants to run, I say that I don’t have a choice and we run slowly. At this moment I start to blackout – I don’t remember anything. Every once in a while, I shut my eyes, to make it seem, as if the time passed quicker. We got to the Southern Bridge successfully and I literally don’t feel my legs at all. Then we arrive at the mall, where I warm up with an iced coffee, cause why not. There are people coming from the celebration fireworks and I use this as an opportunity to entertain myself, I run towards children, scaring them and bump into the people not looking at the road. It’s their fault really, they should be giving way to somebody completing biggest feat of their life.
We run onto Salu Bridge; I know this place the back of my hand. On the way I manage to get into an argument with some grannies blocking our way. But on the other side of the bridge there’s my first surprise – my brother waiting for me. We switch to walking and I start happy crying. Just before the finish, at Zaķusala, we’re greeted by Pāvels’s parents.
We’ve arrived! We cross the line and the pictures follow. I thank Pāvels from the bottom of my heart and I fall to the ground – I don’t want to get up ever again. My family congratulates me, and I feel as if I’ve completed something that I don’t even believe myself. I try to talk to everybody else, who’s just finished, but I’m overly tired. One dream has been fulfilled, what comes next?
I, Elīna Krēmere, am sleeping in my own bed, which is warm and soft, after a nap. Of course, it’s hard, I’m surviving however I can, but I won’t get into details. I ask Pāvels, how he’s dealing with the pain, he says, his legs are still aching a bit, but overall, he’s fine – he’s back to driving and living his normal life. Excuse me? 12 hours ago, we finished a 100km hike, how am I in more pain than he is? When other hikers responded the same calm way, I realized that gender, age, experience, and the right choice of footwear really determines your recovery.
My mom comes in, with creams and pills. I complain to her again, she just smiles and offers to bring some water, I point to the shelves which contain a whole array of water bottles. Believe it or not, 2minutes later I have a beautiful black bottle, with “Riga – Valmiera 107km, 2018” written on it in my hands. Is this a hint?
Collected all my badges
It’s been a week – the emotions have subsided and thoughts of doing it again are coming. I’ve already marked some destinations for next year and I can promise that it’ll be interesting. Running will be hard for the rest of the year, as one of my toes is still recovering, and hypothermia is enough for me to be a little scared to go outside to run. Maybe sometimes I’ll get over it, there isn’t really any other option, but right now I can only dream of future runs.
I’ll run more, again and again.
